edit What

SkeptiCamp Winnipeg is a conference for the sharing of ideas. It is free and open to the public: anyone can attend and participate!

A SkeptiCamp is an open conference based on the highly successful BarCamp model. The basic idea is that attendees are participants; everyone attending SkeptiCamp should help out in some way (this usually takes the form of a short presentation on a topic related to science and skepticism, but can also involve coordinating presenters, organising food, etc.).

edit Media

Videos of the 2010 presentations can be found here:

* Part 1
* Part 2
* Part 3
* Part 4

edit When

Saturday, 23 October 2010

12:30–6:00 pm

edit Where

Aqua Books (map)

274 Garry Street, Winnipeg, MB

edit Who

If you plan on attending/participating in the Winnipeg SkeptiCamp, please register here!

edit Registration Instructions

We strongly encourage you to offer a short talk, but you are not required to do so to participate.
Edit the list below to add your name. You're welcome to include your Twitter or Facebook account, blog, podcast, etc. alongside your name. If you're not comfortable editing a wiki, that's okay. Feel free to send your registration details to WinnipegSkeptiCamp@gmail.com and someone will make sure that you're added to the list.
Once you've added your name, please promote your participation in this event (in your blog, Twitter feed, Facebook page, by word-of-mouth, etc.), directing people to this page.
Please don't choose a topic that's too similar to a topic already chosen.
You talk should optimally be 15 minutes, no more than 30. Be prepared to answer questions.
A projector, speakers, and a computer with PowerPoint will be provided. Bring your presentation on a USB stick.

edit Organisers

Name	Affiliation	Contact	Role
Paul Nordin	Winnipeg Skeptics		Master of Ceremonies
Gem Newman	Winnipeg Skeptics (Organiser)	http://www.startleddisbelief.com/	Lead Organiser
Donna Harris	Humanist Association of Manitoba		Communication Organiser
Jeffrey Olsson	Humanist Association of Manitoba (President)	http://jeffolsson.blogspot.com/	Venue Organiser

edit Presentations

Time	Name	Affiliation	Contact	Talk Description	Length
12:30	Paul Nordin	Winnipeg Skeptics		Introduction, Announcements, etc.	5 minutes
12:45	Gem Newman	Winnipeg Skeptics (Organiser)	Blog	"The Pleasure of Figuring Things Out"	15 minutes
1:00	Professor Arthur Schafer	Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, University of Manitoba (Director)	Faculty Page	"The Ethics of Belief"	30 minutes
1:30	Jeffrey Olsson	Humanist Association of Manitoba (President)	Blog HAM Website	"How Do We Know Anything?"	20–30 minutes
2:00	Scott Carnegie	Winnipeg Skeptics, Humanist Association of Manitoba	Facebook Blog	"Kitchen Nightmares: Dissecting Reality Television"	30 minutes
2:30	Laura Creek Newman	Dietitians of Canada (Graduated Dietitian)		"Nutritional Facts and Fallacies"	15 minutes
2:45	Break	Break	Break	Break	45 minutes
3:30	Ashlyn Noble	Winnipeg Skeptics, Humanist Association of Manitoba	HAM Website	"Five Crazy Pseudosciences You've Never Heard Of!"	15 minutes
3:45	Donna Harris	Winnipeg Skeptics, Humanist Association of Manitoba	HAM Website	"Why Vaccinations are So Important"	15 minutes
4:00	Dr. Chris Tillman	Department of Philosophy, University of Manitoba (Assistant Proffessor)	Faculty Page	"We Are All Skeptics Now"	30 minutes
4:30	Leslie Saunders	Winnipeg Skeptics	Facebook	"How to Fake a UFO Picture"	30 minutes
5:00	Gem Newman	Winnipeg Skeptics (Organiser)	Blog	"The History of Homeopathy"	15 minutes
5:15	Donna Harris	Winnipeg Skeptics, Humanist Association of Manitoba	HAM Website	"The Skeptical Matrix: Where Should We Focus Our Energy?"	15 minutes
5:30	Scott Carnegie	Winnipeg Skeptics, Humanist Association of Manitoba	Facebook Blog	"Mormons and Homosexuality"	30 minutes

edit Participants

RSVP here!

Although you are encouraged to offer a short talk, you are not required to do so to participate.

Paul Nordin
Gem Newman
Jeffrey Olsson
Professor Arthur Schafer
Scott Carnegie
Laura Creek Newman
Grant Rogerson
Ashlyn Noble
Donna Harris
Javier Hernandez-Melgar
Dr. Chris Tillman
Leslie Saunders
Em Tefera
Dustin Hildebrandt
Gary Barbon
Heather Harland
Robert S
Katerina Tefft
Tonia Bates
Robert McGregor
Doug Clemens
Marie-Lynn Hamilton
Brendan Curran-Johnson
Matthew Hudson
Pat
Iian Smythe
Anlina Sheng

edit Contact

Email: WinnipegSkeptiCamp@gmail.com

Event Organiser: Gem Newman

edit Website

Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/WinnipegSkeptics/

Blog: http://winnipegskeptics.wordpress.com/

edit What Went Right

The team of organisers and presenters were exceptionally helpful in ensuring that everything was set up.
Scott Carnegie turned in some excellent presentations and did a lot of work on our promotional video and on getting the talks posted online.
There were no serious technical hiccups.
We had overwhelmingly positive feedback.
We were able to get two professors from the University of Manitoba to speak at the event (and several other professors expressed interest, but were unavailable on that date).
Sold shirts on Zazzle. If you wanted one, you had to order it online; but there were no extras!

edit What Went Wrong

Four presenters dropped out 48 hours before the event. (Luckily we had some additional presentations in our proverbial back pockets.)
We could have used more time for breaks between speakers. Several speakers went over-time, and there was no five-minute buffer between talks.
For many topics it felt like there was insufficient time for discussion.
The venue was a little tight on space. It worked well for the 25+ people who were in the room at any given time, but for more than that would have definitely been too small.
More advertising in the community would have been helpful.

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