skepticamp talking points

[Reed Esau]

In enlisting Joe to assist in some of the anticipated podcast
interviews, both for Denver's event in April and also for promoting
the skepticamp idea itself, he thought some basic 'talking points'
would be in order. I agree.

How about these?

- Social technologies open new doors. New methods of outreach a source
of enthusiastic 'long-tail' skeptics.

- Need to radically expand the number of available opportunities to
harness this enthusiasm.

- Opportunities must match the constraints of one's life, one's
capabilities and one's aspirations.

- 400+ barcamps - user-driven events where attendees provide the
content.

- Focus on distributing knowledge within a diverse community of
skeptics.

- Focus on lowering barriers to having events and participating in
them.

- Focus on interactive rather than lecture-style talks.

- No agenda. All topics self-selected by speakers.

- Success isn't measured in headcount, but rather in the level of
participation.

- Challenges of fit, of quality and of buy-in. Are we skeptics up to
it?

- Many reasons to participate. Encourage first-time speakers and
having fun.

- Benefits the individual, the local group and skepticism at large as
we become more articulate and informed.

Anything important I missed?

[Crystal Yates-White]

This is a great idea. I have a few suggestions. See below:

On Nov 21, 7:53 pm, Reed Esau <smoket...@gmail.com> wrote:
> - Social technologies open new doors. New methods of outreach a source
> of enthusiastic 'long-tail' skeptics.

For those who don't recognize the term, the "Long Tail" is a concept
popularized by writer Chris Anderson in 2004. Used here, it describes
the many of us who contribute a small amount to a cause. See more at
http://skeptic.com/downloads/raising-our-game-oct-2008.pdf

> - Need to radically expand the number of available opportunities to
> harness this enthusiasm.
>
> - Opportunities must match the constraints of one's life, one's
> capabilities and one's aspirations.
>
> - 400+ barcamps - user-driven events where attendees provide the
> content.
>
> - Focus on distributing knowledge within a diverse community of
> skeptics.

I think this is key to describing WHY the content is attendee-driven.
To vary the conversation within the Skeptical community and bring up
new topics of interest to contributors.

> - Focus on lowering barriers to having events and participating in
> them.
>
> - Focus on interactive rather than lecture-style talks.
>
> - No agenda. All topics self-selected by speakers.

I would modify this to say no PRESET agenda. THere is eventually an
agenda. Don't want people to think this is totally chaotic on the day
of...