Tamazon
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2006
- Messages
- 480
It was part of my kitty cat Halloween costume.
It was part of my kitty cat Halloween costume.
Baloney
Muse
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2010
- Messages
- 698
I was thinking the same: has a keynote speaker been announced?
Andriiya
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2009
- Messages
- 313
I'm thinking one of these options:
a) This TAM is going to lack a huge amount of star-power.
b) They're waiting until a little bit after the registration prices go up to announce the big names.
c) They're in the middle of a long negotiation process with Senator buzz0 to be the keynote speaker.
Wowbagger
The Infinitely Prolonged
The keynote speaker will be Deepak Chopra. He's also going to be the moderator on a Health and Well Being panel, with Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, and Dr. Nick.
In an alternate Universe, anyway.
In an alternate Universe, anyway.
rustypouch
Philosopher
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2003
- Messages
- 6,745
I hope it's option c.
Baloney
Muse
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2010
- Messages
- 698
This would suck for me, being my first TAM, as I couldn't go last year due to schedule conflicts.
Wowbagger
The Infinitely Prolonged
There are a few stars on there: Perhaps not "Dawkins big". But, still formidable:
Eugenie Scott
Lawrence Krauss
Paul Provenza
Pamela Gay
Penn Jillette (during his party, at least)
etc.
The other speakers might not be as famous, but most of them are good, reputable folks. And, most of them are good conference speakers. TAM doesn't necessarily need so much "Star Power": It has Community Power!!
Eugenie Scott
Lawrence Krauss
Paul Provenza
Pamela Gay
Penn Jillette (during his party, at least)
etc.
The other speakers might not be as famous, but most of them are good, reputable folks. And, most of them are good conference speakers. TAM doesn't necessarily need so much "Star Power": It has Community Power!!
Andriiya
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2009
- Messages
- 313
Not to devalue anyone listed, but it's still a sharp drop-off from last year. Everyone you mentioned was there last year, plus Dawkins, Tyson, Nye, Plait, Wiseman, etc.
I'm not really worried about the speakers being famous or not, but there just seems to be a lot less of them so far.
Wowbagger
The Infinitely Prolonged
Think of it as regression to the mean.
Paul C. Anagnostopoulos
Nap, interrupted.
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2001
- Messages
- 19,141
The number of forum grant requests is down, too. Significantly.
Is the economy just beating people down? Is the speaker list not exciting enough?
~~ Paul
Is the economy just beating people down? Is the speaker list not exciting enough?
~~ Paul
Andriiya
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2009
- Messages
- 313
Perhaps a little of both. A lot of people probably can't justify spending that amount of money two years in a row when it looks like they'll be getting less bang for their buck this time around.
I'm happy that there's names on the list that I've not heard speak before, so I'm guaranteed to see something new. I'm coming from the UK, so a lot of the people that are big names in the US were completely new to me (Bill Nye and Neil Degrasse Tyson for just two examples from last year) and they were clearly not a factor in my deciding to come; I had no preconceptions about what they'd be like, and was perhaps even more impressed as a result. I'm also, personally, of course, not too bothered about seeing UK speakers at TAM since they are likely to be using material I've already heard (yes, Richard Wiseman, I am looking at you 
).
).saganite
Black-and-white Cat-foot
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2005
- Messages
- 2,299
I can't speak to the forum grant donations; I try to make one every year and this year isn't an exception. But I haven't been making my typical grassroots efforts to rally borderliners or first-timers to attend this year (the way I did last year, for instance), and that's because of the admittedly lackluster speaker list.
dasmiller
Just the right amount of cowbell
Frankly, the thinner speaker list is holding me back, too. There are certainly speakers on the list that I would be delighted to see (again), but before I plunk down my money, I'd like to see a few more speakers that I'd be delighted to see.
In concentrating on the speakers, I think you are missing the important news.
Paul C. Anagnostopoulos
Nap, interrupted.
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2001
- Messages
- 19,141
Indeed.zooterkin said:
~~ Paul
PlasticJesus
New Blood
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2011
- Messages
- 2
I've been waiting to register until we at least get a keynote speaker.
This would be my third TAM, but now I'm seriously reconsidering whether to go this year for a number of reasons:
This is not meant to be overly critical, and I know my group of four is probably insignifcant overall; But if I were the organizer, I would certainly think there is cause for concern.
This would be my third TAM, but now I'm seriously reconsidering whether to go this year for a number of reasons:
1. I've got myself, my brother, and two of my kids, so waiting to see who the keynote speaker will be has already cost us $200 because we haven't registered in time to get the earlybird pricing.
2. Two of the people going with me are first timers, and don't know anyone on the current speaker list (besides Lawrence Krauss). I think it's very important that newcomers first TAM experience lives up to expectations.
3. The whole thing seems to have an air of disorganization about it; from setting the event date to coincide with Comicon - to not having a keynote speaker nailed down 8 weeks before the conference date.
4. Not being able to book some "big names" indicates that either my attendance is being taken for granted by the organizers, or that the speakers are not taking this conference seriously this year.
This is not meant to be overly critical, and I know my group of four is probably insignifcant overall; But if I were the organizer, I would certainly think there is cause for concern.