The lineup for SkeptiCon 3 just keeps getting better and better — James Randi and Sam Singleton are going to be there now, too. One other important feature of this meeting: every time I mention one of these posh meetings with the fancy-pants speakers, someone looks at the registration fees and swoons theatrically at the cost. That won't happen here.
It's free.
You'll have to get there somehow, but that shouldn't be a problem. There are lots of flights into Springfield, Missouri because it's the gateway to Branson, the old-timey c'ntry western entertainment capitol. Just think, you'll get to rub shoulders with happy families on their way to watch wholesome entertainment like Debby Boone and the Gatlin Brothers and Michael Bolton, and when they chirpily ask watchoo doin' this weekend, you can glower under your sinister cloud of doom and intone, "I'm going to curse God and Jesus in the heart of the Assemblies of God church, while destroying the blithe delusions of quacks and frauds." Fun!
You'll also have to pay for a room, and here's the deal: if you book your room at the University Plaza Hotel, not only will you get a good room rate, but every 50 rooms booked means they'll comp a room for a speaker, which is one of the tricksy things they're doing to get the costs down. Do it now. You'll want to stay there. One of the features of this con is the all-night conversation and partying with the speakers. You are expected to keep DJ Grothe and Richard Carrier and Dan Barker and Rebecca Watson and Debbie Goddard and Amanda Marcotte up all night. James Randi might vanish in a puff of smoke whenever he feels like it, but the rest of us…fair game.
So no excuses. Mark 19-21 November on your calendars now. Make plans.