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/

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

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/

Hey Skepticon friends!

Today, July 18, is the last day of our reserved block of rooms at the hotel! After this, the block will be released. You can still get the discounted rate after today, but there’s no guarantee that a room will be available. So make sure you book your room today! You can find out more here https://skepticon.org/where/

Can’t wait to see all your lovely faces!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Donate if you can! https://skepticon.org/donate/
And register if you’re planning on attending SK11! https://skepticon.org/register/
Here’s a different link for hotel info! https://skepticon.org/dont-wait-hotel-deadline-for-sk11-is-coming/

Hey Parental and Guardian Skepticonites!

After long last, childcare will be returning to Skepticon! And not just any childcare, but PROFESSIONAL childcare!

If you are interested in using the childcare services, please make sure send the email as requested below!! And share this post, so everyone gets the news!

Skepticon has teamed up with TLC Family Care, a St Louis company, to care for the littlest of Skepticon’s attendees. TLC caregivers are screened, have background checks, and have CPR and first aid training. You can read more about TLC on their website at https://tlcforkids.com/

We strive to keep Skepticon free for all to attend, and childcare is no different. We want to make sure that everyone who needs childcare can get it. We will be requesting a donation of $5 per hour per child, but no one will be turned away for inability to pay. We’re still ironing out details with TLC, but we anticipate this costing Skepticon several thousand dollars, so any donation will be very much appreciated, even if it’s not the full requested donation!

TLC will take newborn on up, so feel free to pop out that baby Friday morning and then show up for workshops! Well, maybe not… please take care of yourself! But also don’t hesitate to drop off your littles, no matter how little. TLC also welcomes all ages with special needs, but please let us know ahead of time that you’re coming, if you can.

Childcare will be available Friday 11:30am to midnight; Saturday 8:30am to midnight; and Sunday 9:30am to 4pm. That’s right! You’ll be able to catch all your favorite talks and workshops, the comedy show or game night on Friday, SkeptiProm or SkeptiLounge on Saturday, maybe even a quiet meal with your special someone or a new friend! However, no food will be allowed in the childcare room, so you’ll probably need to retrieve your ward at some point…

The childcare room will be on the same floor as the conference rooms, making it easy to drop kidlings off, check on them during the day, pick them up whenever you want, etc. They’ll be in one of the City View rooms, which have large windows to let in natural light, so they’re not stuck in fluorescent rooms all day (unlike the rest of us.) Skepticon will be working with TLC to provide fun, sometimes educational, entertainment for the kids — they won’t just be stuck in front of a TV all day!

In order to do the best planning we can and provide childcare for all those who are interested, please send an email to [email protected] with the answers to the following questions (copy and paste the questions, please!):

• Your full name
• A number you can be reached at during Skepticon
• Children’s full names and ages (ex: Carl Skeptic (7), Marie Skeptic (10))
• Any allergies? (Please also list food allergies, even though food will not be in the room)
• Are there any special needs or medical conditions?
• What day(s) do you plan on being at Skepticon?
• Do you anticipate using the childcare during the meal breaks?
• Do you anticipate using the childcare on Friday 9pm-midnight?
• Do you anticipate using the childcare on Saturday 9pm-midnight?

All responses will be kept confidential, and shared only with TLC staff and those in decision-making positions of Skepticon. More details will be sent in future emails to those who notify us of your interest in childcare. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Rebecca at [email protected]!

If you would prefer to coordinate your own childcare, TLC is available to help! They can provide a caregiver in your hotel room or home — check out their website for options. Skepticon will not provide payment for individual care, nor is Skeption responsible for TLC’s caregivers or their actions outside of our own childcare room.

If you’re a StL local, they’re available for temporary care, permanent care, tutoring, newborn care, senior care — give them a call for just about any help you need for your family!

Skepticon is so happy to bring back childcare for our littlest attendees!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Donate if you can! https://skepticon.org/donate/
And register if you’re planning on attending SK11! https://skepticon.org/register/
And get your hotel room before our block closes on July 18! https://skepticon.org/dont-wait-hotel-deadline-for-sk11-is-coming/

Weekend Rewinds will be reposts of old blog posts that are still relevant, updated for the current conference. This post was originally posted 10/11/2016 in anticipation of SK9. Enjoy!

Hi Skeptonites!

We know that sometimes people ask, “Why should I register for a free conference? Can’t I just do it when I get there?” And the answer is yes, at-con check in is available, and we welcome anyone who chooses to do that!

But there are benefits for attendees who pre-register:

• Dedicated, easy to find check-in line at registration!
• Faster check-in at registration!
• Be entered into a raffle for a special prize! (this will be separate from the general raffle that will be announced soon)

There are also benefits to Skepticon for you pre-registering. Planning for a conference involves a lot of ordering of stuff. It’s hard to know how much to order if we don’t know how many people are coming. If we have a better idea of how many attendees we’ll have, we can save a lot of money. We always over-order on stuff, because we want to make sure everyone gets stuff, but there’s over-ordering and then there’s OMG we totally over-ordered 0.0

So, if you’re going to come to Skepticon, or even if you think you might, do us a favor and register!

Click here to register!

Bunches of thanks!
Team Skepticon

PS – As always, donate if you can!

Hey there, Skepticon fans!

Volunteers are the life blood of Skepticon. Like, Skepticon would literally not happen if it weren’t for volunteers. All of us that do the year-round planning are all volunteers, we have volunteers helping out all over the place during the con, our workshoppers are all volunteers, even our main stage speakers are technically volunteers, in that they don’t get an honorarium for their talk (we do pay for their travel and hotel.)

Volunteers are pretty much the most important things for Skepticon to have.

So please sign up to volunteer with us! Here’s the link https://skepticon.org/volunteer/, there’s a short form for you to complete, and you’ll get contacted by Lois, our magnificent volunteer coordinator. We can accommodate variable schedules, different abilities, likes, dislikes, pretty much anything you need us to accommodate. Volunteers are eligible for perks like a special tag to wear with their badge, snacks and/or meals during their shift, and extra high fives all weekend long!

You can use that same link to sign up to volunteer with us as a year-round volunteer, too. Just make a note of that in the “Anything else we need to know” section. You don’t need to be in St Louis, or even Missouri, to be a year-round volunteer. Our current year-round volunteers come from Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, and California. You don’t need to attend Skepticon, either. Nor do you need to spend a lot of time. We have lots of tasks that need to be done, and some of them may take as little as 20-30 minutes. If we can delegate these little tasks out to lots of people, it makes things soooo much easier. Many hands make light work, and all that!

So please help Skepticon if you can, and volunteer today!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Please volunteer to donate if you can! https://skepticon.org/donate/
And register if you’re planning on attending SK11! https://skepticon.org/register/
And get your hotel room before our block closes on July 18! https://skepticon.org/dont-wait-hotel-deadline-for-sk11-is-coming/

Greetings, Skepticondlers!

Every year, we choose a theme for Skepticon. You didn’t know that? Yeah, a lot of people don’t. But we do! And the theme for Skepticon 11 is….

MAGIC

Yes, magic! We know that seems like a weird theme for a bunch of supposedly skeptical people, but magic is also just really cool and fun and all around awesome. But why magic, you ask? Well, there aren’t many things that are associated with the number 11 (except for one tragic thing, but we didn’t want to go there…) Lauren, Bluebecca, and James were sitting around, eating ice cream, trying to come up with an idea, when Lauren said, “Well, you get your Hogwarts letter when you turn 11…” And bam! That was it! We’ve integrated all types of magic into SK11, from Hogwarts to unicorns to good old fashioned rabbit from a hat. You’ll see the theme on the programs, on the special raffle item signed by the speakers and others, and definitely at SkeptiProm!

In case you’re wondering what the past themes were:
SK7 = Space
SK8 = 80s
SK9 = Dogs and cats and dinos (because K-9, and 9 lives, and dinos)
SK10 = Robots & Computers (because 0s and 1s are the binary language)

We already know the themes for SK12 and SK13, but we’re not gonna tell you yet because we’re like that *blows raspberry* But we promise they’re awesome!

We hope that attending Skepticon is in the cards for you!

Love,
Team Skepticon

PS — Since we haven’t found the leprechaun’s pot of gold yet, please donate if you can! https://skepticon.org/donate/
And register if you’re planning on attending SK11! https://skepticon.org/register/
And get your hotel room before our block closes on July 18! https://skepticon.org/dont-wait-hotel-deadline-for-sk11-is-coming/

Hey Skepticoners!

We are officially less than a month from Skepticon 11! Do you know what this means?

. . .

It means we’re going to be posting all the blog posts! Starting today, there will be at least one new post every day with exciting news and announcements about SK11. We’ve added a ton of stuff to Skepticon, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Of course, we’ve already been blogging a bit, so just to remind you of those past posts…

Registration! https://skepticon.org/registration-for-skepticon-11-is-now-open/
Hotel reservations! https://skepticon.org/dont-wait-hotel-deadline-for-sk11-is-coming/
The schedule! https://skepticon.org/sk11-the-schedule/
Friday night comedy fundraiser! https://skepticon.org/introducing-allegedly-a-night-of-comedy/
Our not-at-all-secret $100 donor gift! https://skepticon.org/will-you-be-our-bff/

There are more posts, and you can read them all at https://skepticon.org/blog/

Of course, this wouldn’t be a standard Skepticon blog post without a plug for donations, so go to https://skepticon.org/donate/ to give what you can! From that link, you can do a one-time donation to the conference, sign up for a monthly donation and become a member of our Dino Club (and get a special prize at SK11!), and/or donate to our legal fund (because legal bills are ‘spensive, y’all)

We love our Skepticon supporters!

Love,
Team Skepticon

Hey Skeptifriends!

The deadline for getting the discounted rate at the Skepticon Hotel is July 18th! Book your stay today to ensure you get that sweet, sweet discount.

See you soon!

Love,

Skepticon