Why Skepticon?: Skepticon is FREE!

Skepticon is committed to being free to attend, and to providing whatever support we can so that anyone can participate.

To keep Skepticon free for our attendees, we have to work hard keeping costs low. Skepticon is run entirely by volunteers. No one in the organization is paid a penny for the all the work that they do at the event itself, or throughout the year.

Our awesome speakers waive their speaking fees, and fly the cheap flights we find for them online. In return, we do our best to treat them like the rock stars they are while they are at Skepticon, with a complimentary hotel shuttle ride, a comfortable room, a few meals, and high-fives until their hands hurt and they ask us to please stop. (We love our speakers, can you tell?)

Everything else is done on a tight budget, too. Our organizers have dino-years of experience in making events happen on a shoestring. If you want to know where your support $$ are going, check out our Financials page.

We know that even with a free event, some of our attendees struggle to afford being at Skepticon. We have heard stories of Skepticonneers going without adequate food to be able to attend, and that breaks our hearts. Last year we started our very own food pantry, welcoming donations from those who have, to provide for those who need. The food pantry will be back again this year! No one should go hungry to be at Skepticon.

But what if you can’t join us in lovely Springfield, MO? Then we’ll be sad not to have you within high-fiving range, but we’d love for you to watch us do our thing on our free livestream. And if you can’t catch our talks live, we’ll have them on our YouTube channel as soon as we can after the event. 

This message has been brought to you by the Skepticon Team–if you like what you see, please consider donating!