Q: PLEASE bring Teresa MacBain as a speaker this year!! Please, please, please! A: We already have our (tentative) lineup for this year, but I can assure you she is being added to our speaker database for future Skepticons.

Q: I think after the event it would be great to get a special link or somewhere where we could capture the talks or get the option to get a DVD with them all. A: ...]]> In response to all of your questions in our recent survey, we wanted to address some things. 

Q: PLEASE bring Teresa MacBain as a speaker this year!! Please, please, please!
A: We already have our (tentative) lineup for this year, but I can assure you she is being added to our speaker database for future Skepticons.

Q: I think after the event it would be great to get a special link or somewhere where we could capture the talks or get the option to get a DVD with them all.
A: Each speech has been uploaded to Youtube by Hambone Productions, but that is a great idea to help us raise money for skepticon.

Q: Need a streamlined check-in/registration process–long lines and waits last year.
A: We are working out the details about registration and hope to have everything working smoothly this year.

Where’s the billboard? At the intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Seminole Street in Springfield, Missouri.

Is there a press release? Yes!

I am disgruntled. What should I do? If it would make you feel better, we have a contact form you ...]]> Why?
When the idea of an adorable atheist billboard was proposed on a prominent blog, we immediately loved it. When donors started saying, “Hey, I’d pay to see that!” we were thrilled. We really couldn’t have asked for a better way to interface with the local community in Springfield, MO.

Where’s the billboard?
At the intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Seminole Street in Springfield, Missouri.

Is there a press release?
Yes!

I am disgruntled. What should I do?
If it would make you feel better, we have a contact form you can use to air your grievances. Otherwise, I recommend a glass of wine and this video on repeat.

Who paid for the billboard?
The billboard funding was provided by you, the internet, with the explicit purpose of making a horrendously cute billboard for atheists. Most of the donors were readers of the Friendly Atheist blog, where Richard Wade first suggested a generation of totally innocuous atheist billboards.

Those are cats, not kittens.
Yep.

What are you going to do with the billboard?
The billboard is printed on vinyl that we’ll get to keep after it’s been taken down. It’s 36 feet wide and 10 feet tall – so… kitten tent? Kitten parachute?

More likely: we’ll auction it at SK5 in November.

Springfield, MO – Commuters on Glenstone Avenue may be surprised by a new billboard with an unexpected message.

The advertisement, created for the Skepticon atheist convention, features the innocuous tagline “Kittens are cute,” framed by several inquisitive-looking tabby cats.

“Atheists are among the most despised minorities in the United States,” said Skepticon organizer Jeffrey Markus. “We want to set the record straight: we’re not evil, and we’re not scary. We’re part of this community.”

A 2007 Gallup poll showed that 53% of Americans ...]]> LOCAL ATHEISTS PUT UP KITTEN BILLBOARD

Springfield, MO – Commuters on Glenstone Avenue may be surprised by a new billboard with an unexpected message.

The advertisement, created for the Skepticon atheist convention, features the innocuous tagline “Kittens are cute,” framed by several inquisitive-looking tabby cats.

“Atheists are among the most despised minorities in the United States,” said Skepticon organizer Jeffrey Markus. “We want to set the record straight: we’re not evil, and we’re not scary. We’re part of this community.”

A 2007 Gallup poll showed that 53% of Americans would refuse to cast their vote for an otherwise well-qualified atheist candidate. The following year, another Gallup survey found that only 13% of Americans have a positive view of atheists as a group.

Skepticon’s director of development, Katie Hartman, says that last year Skepticon attendees were briefly barred from a local Gelato shop after the owner discovered the conference’s irreligious content. “The ‘Skepticon not welcome’ sign was up for only a short time, but we got the message – and it doesn’t have to be this way moving forward. We’re a friendly, playful bunch of people. The billboard is an olive branch.”

Billboards raised by atheist groups in other parts of the country have sparked public outrage and been subjected to vandalism. Hartman says the Skepticon organizers don’t anticipate any setbacks. “They’re kittens. Who could possibly be opposed to kittens? They’re intended to make people smile. I can’t imagine this offending anybody.”

Skepticon has been held in Springfield since 2008, when it was created by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster at Missouri State University. The organizers anticipate an audience of about 1,500 at the 2012 event, which will be held November 9th-11th at the Springfield Convention Center.

The billboard will remain in place through July.

Press Contacts:

Micah Weiss
(417) 425-6150
micah@skepticon.org

Katie Hartman
(360) 450-8678
katie@skepticon.net

Thanks to our speakers for allowing us to put their recordings online Skepticon has received around $125 from online support. In accordance with our promise we wanted to give this money back.

We decided to put the funds into individual loans through Kiva. “Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.” www.kiva.org

For more information on who Skepticon has been supporting, take a look at the links below.

Eufemia Margarita

Azhar

Fazilat

Bothina

Halima

Also i want to give a special thanks to our Media Production ...]]>

Thanks to our speakers for allowing us to put their recordings online Skepticon has received around $125 from online support. In accordance with our promise we wanted to give this money back.

We decided to put the funds into individual loans through Kiva. “Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.” www.kiva.org

For more information on who Skepticon has been supporting, take a look at the links below.

Eufemia Margarita

Azhar

Fazilat

Bothina

Halima

Also i want to give a special thanks to our Media Production Team for making all of this happen.

Please spread the word and stay tuned for more updates.

I could sit here and tell you how much your contribution means to us at Skepticon, and I will! You are the ones that allow us to put on this event; it is all thanks to your donated time and effort that lets us make the decisions that keep Skepticon going, but when it comes down to it, you volunteer because you want to. Also, getting to spend time with the speakers is an added bonus.

Thanks to your generous donations, we’re able to move forward on our ridiculously adorable billboard!

This is our current frontrunner design – but we’re looking for your suggestions and criticisms. By all means, have at it!

If we’re able to afford a second billboard, we’ll be using the next most popular image:

Your support makes us feel warm and fuzzy!

To which we at the Skepticon team say:

We’ve priced billboards in the Springfield area and think it can be done for as little as $2,000 – and if we end with more? We’ll put it on buses in St. Louis and Kansas City. Here’s our concept template:

(Note that this is an updated version of our first concept, altered based on your comments and ...]]> Richard at the Friendly Atheist recently posted his suggestions for ‘soft sell’ pro-atheist billboards, including:

To which we at the Skepticon team say:

We’ve priced billboards in the Springfield area and think it can be done for as little as $2,000 – and if we end with more? We’ll put it on buses in St. Louis and Kansas City. Here’s our concept template:

(Note that this is an updated version of our first concept, altered based on your comments and suggestions.)

But, internet – we need a star. And there are so many deserving candidates! Like these kittens punching holes in their known universe:

And these bulldog puppies:

And this fluffy kitten! And this awkward pair! And this slightly less awkward group of baby critters…

Help us decide, internet!

[poll id="2"]

And please, please help us pay for it.