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Open Letter to You, Skepticon

by Katie Hartman

On the night of November 17th, 2011, I dreamed about Skepticon.

To be more specific, I nightmared about what Skepticon might be. An empty theater with a few dozen would-be attendees wandering the aisles, asking “Hey, where’s the party?”

This turned out to be what you might call an irrational fear.You showed, Skepticon.
And you brought friends.

I can’t even express how happy I was to see you all. Being able to share this with you — the talks, the middle-of-the-night debates and discussions, the hugs, the jokes — was just incredible.
You’re incredible.

And now it’s time to do it all over again. Please help us make Skepticon bigger and better than ever before.

It’s a little difficult to explain to someone who’s never attended that Skepticon is not just about the talks and panels; it’s also about the immersion, the total envelopment into a genuinely accepting (and interesting!) community. We don’t do all this just because we love to hear PZ Myers talk (though we do). We do it because events like Skepticon are front and center at the beginning of the story of how you and I — and him, and her, and them, and we — find each other.

And then we stay up all night, downing cheap drinks and discussing the day’s panel and Newcomb’s paradox and the frequent terrible misuses of the term “evolution” in the world outside Skepticon.

"Skepticon IV. Wow. Fucking wow." - JT Eberhard

Every year, our event grows — from 200 to 350 to 1,000 to 1,200 to …? — and it’s not just because our movement grows. It’s because as you’re packing your bags, you think to yourself, “I want this for my kids. I want this for my partner. I want this for my friends.”

Skepticon grows because you grow it. It’s an event powered entirely by people like you. You’re the lifeblood of this event.

It used to be that if you didn’t have a few hundred dollars to spend on registration fees, you didn’t have a place at this kind of conference. Students, teachers, and other low-income folks were being left at the door. Not at Skepticon! If you can get here, you can get in.

Please help us keep it that way. If you’re able, please consider making a donation toward Skepticon 5. And if you’re not able to give, please try to make it here in November!