Comments on: Report from NECSS 2012

By: Trog

Trog — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:30:51 +0000

It was great to meet you all at the conference. This was my first venture in “active” skepticism – going to a con, SITP, etc. I’ve been just a listener to SGU before this. It was a good environment in which to dip my toe. Turns out the water’s fine.

By: SkeptiGal4

SkeptiGal4 — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:20:20 +0000

Great conference! Thanks for a job well done! Re: the gender issue- My friend and I (as well as several of the distaff members at the conference) were laughing that the lines were longer for the men’s room than the ladies’ room during each break!

By: BillyJoe7

BillyJoe7 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:52:14 +0000

SARA,

“And since I’m not a good group person, I don’t have any desire to go to these events”

Hello, fellow traveller

By: jwray

jwray — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:11:13 +0000

http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/table-age-by-tradition.pdf

According to the Pew RLS, 36% of atheists surveyed were age 18-29, 37% were 30-49, 16% were 50-64, and 12% were 65+. This is probably because of the explosive growth of atheism and most apostasy occurring in the relatively young. I’m not sure if NECSS is even more skewed than that.

By: Jared Olsen

Jared Olsen — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:50:40 +0000

O man, I wish we had something like this in Oz…

By: ccbowers

ccbowers — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:35:39 +0000

Also, I think the speakers (and/or whoever chose them) did a good job with the content and topics: making it accessible to a general audience while making it still interesting for those who are not new to skepticism.

I say this because I ran into a few people who were really new to skepticism (perhaps didn’t even quite identify as such) who really enjoyed the conference but occasionally felt some of the content was a bit too technical for them. I was surprised at that, because my impression was that the content was mostly geared to a general audience. This contrast tells me that a good balance was acheived in this regard, because everyone I spoke to really enjoyed the conference overall regardless of their familiarity with skepticism.

By: ccbowers

ccbowers — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:08:22 +0000

“I even met a frequent commenter on this blog (CCbowers) but they had to tell me their commenter nym in order for me to recognize them.”

Oh, English. Why did people long ago do away with your gender neutral pronouns?

Actually, this was my first ‘large’ skeptical conference, and I enjoyed it very much- making the 1 hour plane trip and travel well worth the effort and money. Getting the chance to speak to Steve and some other speakers/VIPs improved the overall experience of the conference for me, but at the same time I imagine that the ultimate goal is to grow the conference. This is a dilemma however, because a larger conference would make interacting with the speakers more difficult, and could result in a less enjoyable experience for the attendees (and perhaps the speakers as well by getting mobbed by too many excited attendees).

Anyone have any insight on comparisons to larger conferences like TAM? My impression is that TAM would be ‘too large’ for my liking, and (all else being equal) I am far more likely to go to NECSS again than to try TAM given this impression alone.

By: SARA

SARA — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:29:38 +0000

I think the long term strength of the movement will be in these sorts of events and also more regular local get togethers. One of the biggest attraction of religions for the deeply religious is the social aspect. It provides a positive support, a reassurance that a belief is shared and as Steven said – it recharges the batteries.

If skeptics want to grow, they should take a good look at the method that has been working for thousands of years. It’s not a pleasant compare for a lot of skeptics, but it is, IMO, quite relevant.

On the other hand, I found you all through the Internet. And since I’m not a good group person, I don’t have any desire to go to these events. So, having said that, maybe its not very true for everyone.

By: locutusbrg

locutusbrg — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:25:53 +0000

Again life has prevented me from going. I need a like minded boost.

By: eean

eean — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:00:57 +0000

I’m an open source developer so I’ve had the experience of meeting people I’ve known for months and sometimes years for the ‘first time’ IRL. I was initially surprised by how unsurprised I was – at least in the non-anonymous world of open source, people have the same persona online as they do in real life.

And yea, any sub-culture conference is nicely affirming.