Events

SkepchickCon Recap-o-rama

As Bug Girl reported, SkepchickCon was this past weekend, and it was wonderful. I’m not going to do a full recap, but just some highlights and some thoughts I had.

First of all, my pics are here and the video, which I posted earlier and is maybe NSFW, is here.

Second of all, I did pretty much nothing to prepare for this. Carrie, aka Carr2d2, came up with the idea of adding a Skepchick track to CONvergence, and then she did the bulk of the organizing, promoting, guest-wrangling, and party planning. She was amazing. AMAZING. Maria, Elyse, and Bug Girl did a fabulous job decorating the party room and mixing/distributing Buzzed Aldrin shots. We also got tons of help from some husbands and friends, like Tim, Christian, and Kammy. They all helped to make the parties ridiculously popular with the CONvergence crowd.

I went into this expecting us (as Skepchicks) to be a very small part of a very large sci-fi/fantasy conference, hosting panel talks in front of a handful of people and generally spending the weekend drinking amongst ourselves. Wrong. Sooo wrong. The panels were well-attended, with a few filling up the room even though we were up against other events like the MST3K Q&A. Sitting on the panels was tons of fun, interacting with people who were already fans as well as people who had never heard of us but were totally digging the topics. Our guests were whip-smart: Pamela Gay, Greg Laden, Melissa Kaercher, Stephanie Zvan, Karl Wolf, Charlotte Nickerson, and Matthew Bannerman were fab, tackling topics like Bigfoot, science online, and evolution with intelligence and wit. I learned a great deal from all of them in just a few days, from their panels as well as from hanging out with them outside the main events.

I spent the most time getting better acquainted with Pamela and Greg, two people I’ve admired for a long time. I met Pamela once before when a mutual friend introduced us, but had never met Greg. Pamela’s intelligence shines through in just about every word she says, with a knowledge base that extends far past the astronomical. Greg is not only also incredibly smart, but he has apparently lived six lives in a row and has amassed an impressive collection of stories from all around the globe. I absolutely cannot wait to hang out with both of them again, and I hope when we do it is once again in the company of the Skepchicks, unending Buzzed Aldrins, and 5,000 Klingons and Faeries.

Usually after these sorts of events, I’m completely wiped out and want to curl into a ball for a week. But, in a few hours I’ll be leaving for Vegas to attend The Amaz!ng Meeting. The Skepchicks have been once again hard at work setting this up to be the Greatest. Event. Ever. Seriously. I can’t wait to get there and once again hang out with the ultra-smart cuties I love. If you’re coming, I hope you RSVPed for the Skepchick party Saturday night! If you’re in, visit the Skepchick or Skeptics’ Guide table to get info on how to get there.

Once again, I’ll be Tweeting about TAM, as will the rest of the Skepchicks, I suspect. Follow along if you’re not going to be there, and stay tuned for possible updates and live feeds here on the blog!

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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15 Comments

  1. @bug_girl:
    yes, yes it does. Thank you again for being able to make it here and help with as much as you did.

    All in all, it ended up being one quite successful, and fun, first skepchickcon. :)

  2. I’m going to P&T Saturday night…but I assume the Skepchick party will still be going on afterwards? Is it too late to RSVP?

  3. I woke up this morning to this little voice trembling, “No. Please don’t go. Please! Please? Don’t go.”

    It was my liver.

    I told it to shut the fuck up.

  4. Every time I read the name SkepchickCon, in my head it becomes Skep-Chicken (with a slightly Caribbean accent, of course). And then a picture of a skeptical chicken inevitably follows.

    I just thought I’d share that.

  5. @autobahn:

    Not only will there be Buzzed Aldrins, but we will be judging the contest to see if anyone can top the Buzzed Aldrin with their own Tang creation!

  6. Unfortunately, it is too late to RSVP…we filled our quota ages ago. There will be lots of other fun things going on this weekend, though!

  7. Best partay ever! I haven’t quite got my voice back yet, though. I’m treating it with vodka. And my liver can fuck right off along with Elyse’s, too. :)

  8. Thank you Skepchicks (and Skep-husbands, etc) for throwing your awesome con-within-the-con. You were the reason I went, and had an absolute blast. There is a reference to the Buzzed Aldrin in our local free paper, CityPages. “Plastic test tubes of syrupy orange liqueur were doled out by the dozen.” I remember the guy who said he worked for the ‘pages come in and talk to Elyse. Unfortunately I don’t know how to make anything linky in a comment here. :\

  9. “I’d like an order of Skepchickon with a glass of phalloblaster, and a Buzzed Aldrin chaser, please.”

    … realing from the possibilities.

    Thanks for the kind words, Rebecca. It was a high point in my six lives to meet you in person!

  10. It was cool having you guys here! Glad you had a good time. The panels were a lot of fun and informative.

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