I think we are all used to skeptic meetings of some sort. There are the big mega meetings like TAM (The Amazing Meeting). You and 1000 of your close friends in a huge venue. Big name speakers and all the glitz of Vegas are featured. Then there are the local SIP (Skeptics in the Pub). Drinking and skeptics in an intimate pub atmosphere, just the locals. However, on May 26 in St. Louis there is going to be a new kind of skeptic get together. The focus, in fact, won’t be on skepticism. The focus will be on fun! A chance for skeptics and critical thinkers, or perhaps it’s better to just say the curious, to get together. The ve
nue reminds me of a giant playground for adults. The speakers are going to talk on things we all are curious about. There will also be interactive workshops, with a focus on fun. Children have Disney world, the curious have the College of Curiosity.
I’m going to be speaking on alien abductions. The focus will be on how I interact with alien abductees, and to dispel the sad media driven image of the average abductee.
There will be also a fun workshop about aliens! I’ve spoken over the years at various events on French superstitions, ghost hunting in New Hampshire and my skeptic books for preschoolers. The most popular topic, by far, though is when I speak about alien abductions. Everyone probably knows someone that has had the abduction experience, but most abductees have learned not to talk about it. Learn what their world is like, and how often it’s more exciting and interesting than the everyday world most people inhabit. Plus aliens are just plain fun.
I’m sure there will be plenty of time to hang out with all the speakers, and part of the fun for me is answering questions one on one. This will be a very different kind of get together, and I hope it becomes a yearly event!
oh that’s Petey and Pete my favorite aliens in the photograph.
Wow! That looks like fun! TAM is an extraordinary experience – I’ve attended three times. I’ve never gone to any of the other “cons,” although there are several in Southern California where I live, and a couple in Northern California, not that far away – I save money all year just to attend TAM, and I doubt I will fly again until the TSA is abolished. But – what I wanted to mention is that locally, we have the Greater LA Skeptics Meetup that lists, in addition to the twice monthly lectures at the Center for Inquiry-Los Angeles and monthly meetings of the Independent Investigations Group, Los Angeles, skeptidinners, Drinking Skeptically, Brewing Skeptically, the CFI-LA Book Club for Skeptics, and other events that are social occasions. Although not all skeptics are atheists, and not all atheists are skeptics, one thing that skeptics experience is being “different” in a society that has a million TV shows about alien abduction, say, from a nonskeptic point of view, and acceptance of all forms of woo so-called medicine, and just plain nonsense that is being blown out of proportion in our political process. The opportunities to have fun with like minded individuals is comforting and refreshing.