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!

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

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/

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/

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!