SkeptiCamps are not your typical skeptic conference. They thrive on the active participation of people like yourself. Whether you are a newbie skeptic or one with long experience, there are various ways for you to get involved.

Contents

edit What to expect?

To get a taste of what attending an event is like, listen to Episode #97 of the Skepticality Podcast which recaps Atlanta Skeptic's first event in February 2009.

edit Sized to fit your life

SkeptiCamps are community-organized events that are designed to be within reach of even informal groups of skeptics.

Where a formal conference requires much time and skill to organize, SkeptiCamps are designed to distribute the burden of across many people. This allows everyone to participate in ways that are compatible with the other demands of one's life, such as family and career.

Whether you're helping with the organization effort or preparing a talk to share with your fellow skeptics, these events are designed to fit within the constraints of our busy lives. No long-term commitments. No significant travel, at least for most of us. They usually happen weekday evenings or Saturdays, avoiding the holidays.

edit The Rules of SkeptiCamp

edit Contributing to the event

edit In the organization effort

As can be seen in the Kickoff Meeting Agenda the organization effort is spread amongst many people, each with a small role to fill.

edit Giving a talk

If you're a skeptic, chances are you have some topic that drives your passion for skepticism. For example, you may be an audio enthusiast disgusted at the snake oil in the electronics industry.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of topics that are suitable for a SkeptiCamp presentation (browse Session Ideas for examples.) Each can be approached from at least one angle. It might be a straightforward summary of a topic and the evidence behind it. Or it may be a book review. It may be a biography of someone involved in the field. It may be a story from your experience.

edit Before the event

Because SkeptiCamp is interactive where questions are encouraged during talks, you are encouraged to move all your key points to the start of your talk. This will avoid the awkward problem of running out of time without having made your key point.

Lots of great resources exist describing how to put together a talk. Books, websites and videos exist to help guide your way.

edit The day of the event

If the Schedule Czar is requiring that you register to talk the morning of the event, be sure to arrive on time.

You may have to select both a room and a time slot.

edit After the event

Once you give your talk at your local SkeptiCamp event, it's not necessarily the end of it.

Some options:

  • Feeling generous? License the original content of your slides using a Creative Commons license and post to Slideshare or similar service. This will allow others to build upon your talk.
  • Traveling? See if there's a skeptics group at your destination that might be interested in hearing your talk
  • Give the talk at a local school, church, nursing home, fraternal or community organization
  • Write an article for a skeptic publication - newsletter or magazine - print edition or online - For example, make a proposal to be published in JREF's SWIFT.
  • Contact podcasters to see if they might be interested in interviewing you on the topic
  • Record your own podcast segment and submit to the Skeptographers

edit Volunteering on the day of the event

edit Crap to migrate from old wiki 

   * Talk about it! The first rule of SkeptiCamp is to talk about SkeptiCamp.
   * Promote and attend your local SkeptiCamp. Lead a session on a topic related to skepticism or science that's important to you.
   *  NEW  - Get a taste of what attending an event is like. Listen to Episode #97 of the Skepticality Podcast which recaps Atlanta's first Skepticamp event in February 2009.
   *  NEW  - Follow the Twitter-based skepticamp backchannel. To interact, get a Twitter account and post your tweets using a #skepticamp hashtag.
   * Understand the rationale behind the user-driven conference and what it offers to skeptics: see Raising Our Game (requires a PDF reader)
   * Keep in touch on the SkeptiCamp FaceBook Group and the (as yet quiet) SkeptiCamp Google Group
   * Organize a SkeptiCamp in your community. There is no need to ask permission to do so. See Nine Steps to Organizing.
   * Learn the Rules of SkeptiCamp
   *
         o they are identical to the Rules of BarCamp with one addition that is essential to the theme of skepticism...
         o be prepared to cite your sources on any claim that is likely to be challenged -- the intent of this rule is simply to allow others to evaluate the substance of your talk for themselves.
   * Contribute your experience and expertise. Ask questions. Interact with the speakers.
   * Help document SkeptiCamp by writing, taking photos, blogging and just generally spreading the word. Upload photos to Flickr, presentations to SlideShare and videos to YouTube.
   *
         o Use the tag SkeptiCamp and those specific to your event.
         o Consider placing your work under a Creative Commons License so that others may build upon it.
   * Help improve this site. It's a wiki that you can update yourself.

edit External links

Retrieved from "http://www.skepticamp.com/wiki/Participating_in_a_SkeptiCamp_Event"
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