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SK11 Important Stuff!

OMG, Skepticonites! SKEPTICON 11 IS FINALLY HERE!!!!! Here are some important things to know: Parking is $5 per day for attendees not staying in the hotel. Get a ticket when you enter the parking garage, then make sure to get...

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Introducing Allegedly: a Night of Comedy

Hello Skeptifronds!

Skepticon is delighted to introduce Allegedly: a Night of Comedy. One night of laughs to help put the FUN back into fundraising.

Featured comedians include:

Tina Dybal

Hailing from the Former Soviet Union but growing up in Kansas City, Tina Dybal is no stranger to the Midwest. She started her comedy career in Saint Louis and was recently crowned Helium Comedy Club’s “Funniest Person in Saint Louis 2018”. Tina’s unique background, caustic humor, and memorable stage presence have landed her opportunities to open for some of the industry’s best comics such as Michelle Wolf, Christina P., Joey “CoCo” Diaz and Cameron Esposito. Outside of stand-up comedy, Tina is an accomplished comedic improviser. She completed training at The Improv Shop in St. Louis. Tina is also the co-host of Slop City, a podcast created by Tina Dybal and Libbie Higgins.

JC Sibala

JC’s comedic style has been described as straight-forward, no filter, with a dash of sincerity as he shares his experiences growing up ethnically ambiguous in midwest suburbia. Coming from a diverse background, at an early age he developed the ability to fit in by standing out. As a single father, he also gives audiences a glimpse into the life of a bachelor in the world of parenthood. His funny, onstage charisma allows him to connect with a variety of audiences.

JC is also the co-creator of Wild Card Comedy, the longest running weekly independent open mic in St. Louis.

He is a genuine entertainer from his musical talents and his days as a former model/actor.

Sam Lyons

Sam Lyons spent his childhood watching Jeopardy! and Judge Judy- and it shows. The son of a blind jazz musician turned black republican, he understands the importance of finding humor in everyday life. Whether it’s reliving his first Brad Paisley concert, lamenting failed relationships and deaths in the family, or testifying to the complexity of growing up “technically black” in the South- every moment has a punchline. In addition to regular appearances on shows in the St. Louis region, Sam also co-produces a monthly showcase “Yours, Mine, and Ours”, has hosted for America’s Got Talent’s Taylor Williamson and YouTube’s JP Sears, and took second place at High Ridge, MO’s 2018 Toasted Coffee House Gilmore Girls Trivia Night. Listen to Impolite Company every Monday on ImpoliteCompany.com for his podcast, “The Lyons Den”

Chris Cyr

Chris Cyr  is the host of Impolite Company, a podcast out of St. Louis, Missouri.  The show is part “Old Man Yells At Sky” and part interviews with other comics from the St. Louis scene.  The show airs daily on 920 AM in St. Louis, or can be streamed from the show’s website, iTunes, Spotify, etc.

A writer and  stand up comic, he lives with his wife, two dogs, and a cat. He hosts and features regularly at comedy clubs in the St. Louis area, as well as many of the area’s independent shows. He’s been fortunate enough to open for a number of national headliners including Christopher Titus, Kyle Kinane, Dick Gregory, and others.

Chris has been a contestant on NPR’s “Ask Me Another” (he lost) and was an expert commentator in a History Channel documentary (about zombies).  He also maintains a website and social media accounts for information about the St. Louis Independent Comedy scene.

Sarah Pearl

Sarah Pearl is a comedian and storyteller from St. Louis. Her style keeps the laughs rolling. She’s shared a stage with Todd Barry, Ron Funches, the Sklar Brothers, Nikki Glaser and Greg Hahn. Sarah has performed at the Laugh Factory Chicago, helium St. Louis, and is an NPR featured storyteller. She performs all over the midwest!

Jonathan Venegoni

Jon Venegoni began performing standup comedy in 2010, and is currently based out of St. Louis. He performs in clubs and venues around the Midwest, and has opened for the likes of Brian Posehn, Sinbad, Rosanne and more. He writes for and is a cast member in local award-winning sketch comedy show Fatal Bus Accident. Give him a hug when you see him.

Doors at 9pm, show at 9:30pm.

Tickets are $10 – CLICK HERE to purchase today!

All proceeds from this event will go to pay Skepticon’s ongoing legal defense bills. Thank you for your support!

See you there!

Love,

Skepticon

P.s. You’ll notice this is a paid ticketed event (our first ever!). Skepticon is committed to keeping our conference as accessible as possible and will continue to keep the restof our entire three day event FREE and open to the public. Don’t forget to register today!

By Lauren Lane, ago

SK11 Cram Session: Pre-Registration Raffle!

Howdy, Skepticonites!

Team Skepticon loves all our attendees, but it makes us super happy when you pre-register for the con. It helps us figure out how many things to buy, like badges and lanyards and merchandise, and makes other planning so much easier. But even now, 2 days before the con starts, pre-registering helps us out, and it helps you out, too! If you pre-register, you get through registration so much faster, which frees up time to check out the vendor tables or the activity room or the media room or make a new friend or… well, you get it!

And we’re going to give you an incentive to pre-register! Register before Thursday, 11:59pm Central time, and you’ll be entered to win this adorable giant plush dino!

Plush green triceratops, a whopping 44″ long!

Have you already registered? No problem! You’ll be entered in the raffle too!

GO HERE TO REGISTER NOW! https://skepticon.org/register/

We hope it’s YOU who wins this cuddly new friend!

Love,
Team Skepticon

By Bluebecca, ago

SK11 Cram Session: Activities!

Skepticon Attendees!

The big day is almost here, and there’s so much to tell you all! Yeah, I know I was supposed to tell you all this in my promised blog posts, but when you see how flipping fantastic the Prom centerpieces are, you’ll understand why blog posts have been lacking. But anyway, on to the amazing activities offered at Skepticon 11!

Friday Night

  • Allegedly: A Night of Comedy — For $10, come have a night of laughter, and help Skepticon with our legal bills! More information here https://skepticon.org/introducing-allegedly-a-night-of-comedy/
  • Game Night — Bring your own tabletop games! Bring your ID and form of payment, as a bar and bartender will be available to keep you hydrated until midnight! But even after the bar closes down, the good times keep going, because our cool new venue is letting us keep the room open until 2am!

Saturday Night

  • SkeptiProm — Of course we’re having our famous dance night again! Just like high school, but waaaaay better, because you get to bring the date you wanted to bring, or wear the clothes you wanted to wear, AND there’s a bar! Bring your ID and your form of payment, but leave your cares at the door and dance your worries away!
  • SkeptiLounge — Dances not your thing? No problem! We’ll have one of the rooms available until 2am for playing games, chit chatting, or just plain hanging out!

Other Activities

  • Activity Room — We have a whole room dedicated to fun activities! Check the schedule outside the room to see what’s going on when. Want to host an activity? Email me at [email protected]! Ideas for activities: knitting group, sobriety group, meetup for local groups, whatever you want to do as a group! When there is no activity scheduled, the room will be open for general gathering, and will have coloring and jigsaw puzzles available for everyone to enjoy.
  • Vendor Room — We heard your requests for more vendors at Skepticon, and now we have a whole room of them!
  • Media Room — This room is available for anyone who records any kind of media — bloggers, vloggers, reporters, writers, etc. There’s enough room for a small audience, if you want one. Sign up for a time slot on the schedule outside the room. Please bring your own equipment!

We hope you find enough to keep you busy all weekend long, but don’t forget to take care of yourself, too — eat, sleep, and hydrate too! (With water, not just alcohol and/or caffeine!)

We’re super looking forward to a fantastically active weekend with you all!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Donate if you can, and have your donation doubled by our awesome anonymous donor! https://skepticon.org/sk11-fundraising-update-and-matching-challenge/

By Bluebecca, ago

SK11 Fundraising Update and Matching Challenge!

Audit Cat is examining the moneys.
Image by imarksm from Pixabay

Hey there awesome Skeptonites! We’ve been examining our finances, and need your help! With one week to go, we still need to raise about $10,000 between now and August 11th, when the last SK11 attendee floats home on a lovely cloud of post-con bliss.

The good news is that starting today, August 1st, we have a donation matching challenge. Thanks to very generous and very anonymous donors, for every $ donated to Skepticon between now and the 11th, they will match with a $, making $$! They didn’t give us an upper limit, so let’s take ridiculous advantage of these awesome people.

So please donate! Claim your SK 11 Amazeball with a $100 donation! (Maybe even donate to our legal defense fund if you think that speaking out is worth fighting for!)

Help us if you can! This year’s conference will go on no matter what, but if you love Skepticon and want it to continue, we need you.

For the curious and detail-minded of you out there (Us too!), here are some of the gory details of our current moneys:

As of 7/31:

  • Expenses already paid this year (speaker travel, merch, equipment, etc.): $11,411
  • Anticipated venue expenses (space rental, rooms for speakers): $15,300
  • Anticipated conference expenses (captioning, child care, DJ, rentals): $4,900
  • Balance in the conference fund: $9,408
  • Amount needed to cover conference expenses: $10,792

And then the legal defense fund:

  • Amount of legal bills on credit card: $20,754
  • Legal bills unpaid: $8,533
  • Balance in the legal fund: $1,490
  • Net legal bills needing to be covered: $27,797
  • (We’ll be receiving another large bill next week for July. Yay us.)

By James Hammond, ago

Skepticon Clothes Closet

Hello Friends of Skepticon!

We have had a Prom Clothes Closet for several years now, and it has been quite the success. This year, we decided to take it up a notch, and make it just the Skepticon Clothes Closet. That’s right, all clothes are welcome!

Do you want to get fancy for Prom, but your bank account is looking a little light? Visit Skepticon’s Clothes Closet!

Arrive at Skepticon and realize you forgot your suitcase? Visit Skepticon’s Clothes Closet!

Everything in the Clothes Closet is free to all attendees. We are not the government, we’re not going to make you fill things out in triplicate just so you can pick out an outfit or a bit of bling or whatever. We just want everyone to have a good time!

Do you have clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc, cluttering up your closet? Skepticon’s Clothes Closet is a great way to get rid of them! For every piece you bring in, you’ll receive a ticket to use at the Raffle Table! (Up to 5 tickets per person, but please don’t let that stop you from bringing in more stuff!) We will take *clean*, gently worn clothing and shoes, jewelry, and unused makeup. We need all sizes, all levels of dress (casual to formal), all genders, all ages! But we will not have time to wash everything at the con, so please make sure it’s all clean when you bring it to us! (Oh, and no used underwear or socks, please. New with tags or in the package only. No one wants that dreck.)

Any items left over will be donated to a local charity that follows Skepticon’s support of minority groups (so, NOT Salvation Army…) or held over for Skepticon 12.

Any questions about Skepticon’s Clothes Closet? Email [email protected] for the answers!

Skepticon loves all our attendees, and we want to help you out in all the ways we can! Whether that means a new outfit or a cleaner closet, we hope you get something out of our Clothes Closet!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Donate more than clothes, if you can! https://skepticon.org/donate/
And register if you’re planning on attending SK11! https://skepticon.org/register/
You can still get a discount on your room! https://skepticon.org/where/
Let us know if you need childcare! https://skepticon.org/childcare-will-be-available-at-sk11/

By Bluebecca, ago

SkeptiProm!

Hi there, SkeptiProm fans!

Yeah, I know I promised a blog post a day, and I’ve been lacking. But really, do you need to know about anything else other than SkeptiProm?!

Um, yes, you do. There is much to know about Skepticon 11. But for today, the news is Prom!

SkeptiProm is happening! Saturday night! Right after the last talk (about 9pm)!

It will be on the first floor in the Sports Bar, where we can be loud and obnoxious and it’s nowhere near any of the rooms!

There will be a quiet room available on the first floor, so you don’t need to schlep all the way upstairs to take a break! There will also be ear plugs at the door!

Childcare will be available on the 13th floor until midnight! Suggested donation of $5 per child per hour!

There will be alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase! Be sure to bring your picture ID if you plan on purchasing the beverages of alcohol!

There is no dress code, except what is required by law! Cover your bits with tshirt and shorts, fancy dress, costume, whatever is most comfortable to you! Don’t have something you consider comfortable? Visit our Clothes Closet in the Community Room! (And read about both of those things in upcoming blog posts!)

I don’t think I can handle any more exclamation points! But I’ll use one more to say can’t wait to see you all at SkeptiProm!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Donations help SkeptiProm happen! https://skepticon.org/donate/
And register if you’re planning on attending SK11! https://skepticon.org/register/
You can still get a discount on a room! https://skepticon.org/where/
Let us know if you will be using childcare! https://skepticon.org/childcare-will-be-available-at-sk11/

By Bluebecca, ago

Introducing SkeptiShop!

Howdy again, Skepticonites!

Earlier today, we introduced our new vendor room, where there will be loads of lovely vendors to sell you all those things you didn’t know you needed. Well, Skepticon will have it’s own vendor spot, known as SkeptiShop!

As you may know, Skepticon and our fearless leader, Lauren, were defendants in a lawsuit filed in Ohio that started 2 years ago. That suit was dismissed, but we still owed about $19,000 on our legal bills. Recently, the same plaintiff sued Skepticon and Lauren again, but in our home state of Missouri. We have high hopes for a good result from this suit, but the legal bills are adding up again.

SkeptiShop will have a whole bunch of handmade artsy craftsy stuff that has been donated to us by friends, family, and sometimes virtual strangers who took pity on our plight. 100% of the proceeds from SkeptiShop will go to pay down our legal bills.

Do you make artsy craftsy type things, and do you also take pity on our plight? Feel free to donate items to SkeptiShop for us to sell! We’ll give you a fancy letter you can use as a charitable tax deduction, if you’re able to use such a thing, plus lots of high fives, and your name on the sign at our shop. If you have a donation to give, please email [email protected] to discuss arrangements!

Thank you in advance for supporting Lauren, Skepticon, and our legal woes!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Our wonderful co-defendants are also still working on paying off their previous legal bills, and some of them are also getting re-sued in their home states. Help them out, if you can, at https://www.gofundme.com/defense-vs-carrier-slapp

By Bluebecca, ago

At last! More vendors at Skepticon!

Hey there, Skepticoners!

For years, we’ve gotten requests to have more vendors available at Skepticon. We tried, but it was difficult because everyone was cramped in those little hallways. But at our new venue, we have vast amounts of space, and we’re putting it to good use!

So far, we have about 15 vendors scheduled to be in the vendor room. If you’ve got spending cash, this will be the place to go! (Well, and the Skepticon merchandise booth…)

We still have a few tables available for vendors. If you or someone you know would like to sell in the vendor room, fill out the form at this link https://skepticon.org/vendors/. The vendor doesn’t need to be skeptic-related — as long as you think attendees would be interested in what’s being sold, then we’re interested in hearing from you!

We’re looking forward to seeing what fantastic wares our vendors bring, and we hope you are, too!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Donations are also a good way to spend you cash! https://skepticon.org/donate/
And register if you’re planning on attending SK11! https://skepticon.org/register/
You can still get a discount on a room! https://skepticon.org/where/

By Bluebecca, ago