There was no public skeptical presence at the BlogHer11 conference, a gathering of 3,600 women (and a few men) bloggers. This was a missed opportunity.
I missed the boat in several ways.
- I failed to ask women skeptical bloggers and writers if they were planning to come to BlogHer11 -- like the Skepchick crew, or Barbara A. Dresher, or the women from the Center for Inquiry Outreach staff, or Carol Tavris or Jennifer Michael Hecht or Jennifer Ouellette or Sara E. Mayhew or Harriet Hall or Karen Stollznow or Desiree Schell or Rachael Dunlop or Jennifer McCreight or Heidi Anderson or Ginger Campbell or Greta Christina or Sadie Crabtree or Julia Galef or Debbie Goddard or Jamila Bey or Dren Asselmeier or Angie McAllister McQuaig or Reba Boyd Wooden or Ophelia Benson or Barbara Forrest or, or, or, -- I am sure I have missed many. My apologies. But there are a lot!
- I read about Hug Me, I'm Vaccinated! at TAM9, and it didn't occur to me to try to set up something similar at Blogher 11
- I didn't advocate for a Birds of a Feather skeptical women meet-up on Saturday (I couldn't arrange one on Friday, as that was the timeslot for the Special Needs Mini Conference).
Skepticism belongs at BlogHer. The image below is from Tim Farley's My Skeptic Elevator Pitch:
In words:
“Skepticism is the intersection of science education and consumer protection. We help people learn from science to avoid spending their money on products and services that do not work.”
There's always next year. Could we have a (modest proposal) Room of Your Own (ROYO) for women in skepticism? Or could we have an (ambitious proposal) a whole track?
Here's the call for ideas from BlogHer 2011. Here's how to propose a Room of Your Own from the BlogHer 11.
From the recent press release:
BlogHer, Inc. (http://www.blogher.com), the premium cross-platform media network and publisher for women, today announced it will host its eighth annual conference August 2-4, 2012 at the Hilton Hotel in New York City.
BlogHer’s annual conference, described by Variety Magazine as “Comic-con for women bloggers,” is hosting more than 3,500 attendees this week in San Diego, CA, bringing 100 major brand name sponsors together with their intelligent and vocal community of women online.
What: BlogHer ’12, BlogHer’s 8th Annual Conference
Who: The BlogHer community, Fortune 500 brands and leading industry speakers
When: August 2-4, 2012
Where: The Hilton Hotel in New York City,1335 Avenue of the Americas
About BlogHer
Reaching more than 25 million women each month (Nielsen Site Census, January 2011), BlogHer is the leading cross-platform media network created by, for and with women social media leaders. BlogHer created and leads the marketplace with the most robust economic and networking opportunities for women in social media and brands seeking to engage in authentic and persuasive dialog with them. Founded in February 2005 by Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, BlogHer publishes and syndicates news, information, advice and recommendations to and from 2,500 premium blogs, delivers uniquely insightful research on women in social media across interest areas, hosts the world’s largest conferences for women in social media and curates a daily news service, BlogHer.com.
I was at BH11 and am a card-carrying skeptic. I definitely felt like a bit of an odd duck. I'm hoping to go to BH12 and would love to participate in some sort of rallying cry for the skeptic community - Birds of a Feather sessions or what have you...
Posted by: Fearless Formula Feeder | Tuesday, August 09, 2011 at 12:23 PM
Skeptics unite! A session would probably be a realistic goal for the first year, and then if it's really popular, it will make the case for a whole track.
Posted by: coffeewithjulie | Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 02:54 PM
There would have been a lot of folks that would have attended a ROYO or Birds of a Feather on skeptic issues.
I did a CE post on skeptic blogs a long time ago and it was well received. A critical thinking perspective is needed in these times.
Make sure you plant the seed for 2012 to make it happen.
Posted by: Gena | Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 09:21 AM