Tuesday, April 19, 2011

OMFSM!!! I'm speeching at SkeptiCamp?!?!?

The Sydney SkeptiCamp is only a week and a half away (30th April, 2011).
For those who don’t know, SkeptiCamp is an ”unconference” where  “unorganisers” arrange a meeting area where people of skeptical thought can come together to give quick speeches about any topic vaguely related to scepticism. The idea is for most, if not all, attendees to give a speech of some sort in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. There are no ‘booked’ speakers as such and the entire enterprise is run as a not-for-profit event. The concept grew out of BarCamp, a similar style conference based around technology and government policy.
A Sydney based skeptic, Jason, decided to organise the first Sydney SkeptiCamp. I volunteered to assist in any organisational capacity whether it be helping out with putting up flyers, promoting online or general dogsbody duties. Turns out, all that and more.
I recently blogged about occurrences of woo belief at my workplace. While writing the blog I briefly toyed with the idea of giving it as a speech at the Sydney Skepticamp. But after publishing the post, I discovered a lot of issues I had with it, a lot of things I just didn’t like. After receiving word of a similar talk being prepared by someone else, I decided to abandon the idea entirely.
But now I have received many requests to give the talk from people that I would like to think as actual interested readers, but are more likely those who would like to see me go bright red, stutter and be generally embarrassed and uncomfortable in front of a large crowd (I suck at public speaking). So, despite my reservations about it, I have decided to give a slightly modified version of the blog, now entitled “Observations of Nursing & Woo”. This speech will not attempt to ask questions nor answer any, just make a general statement about what I have observed in the workplace.
How the speeching will go is anyones guess. When it comes time for my talk, they might find me sitting in a puddle of my something, rocking back and forth with scared look in my eyes...
Despite all that, it should be a fun day with lots of interesting talks. And a cupcake competition!

More information about SkeptiCamp here, and the Sydney SkeptiCamp 2011 here.
Don’t forget to follow SkeptiCamp Australia on twitter @skepticampau for upcoming unconferences on scepticism.
The Reverend Doktor Bob

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