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TAM 9 Wishlist

  • More time for lunch. We were all pretty pressed for time.

No. I thought there was plenty of time, and if you give more time for lunch, you get fewer speakers.

  • A keynote that's actually a speech. I mean, Dawkins was awesome, but quizzing him on science fiction for an hour rather than having him address the horde was a little disappointing.

The Q&A was at Dawkins request.
 
No. I thought there was plenty of time, and if you give more time for lunch, you get fewer speakers.

Friday and Saturday were fine; I should have clarified. Thursday's workshops were really pressed.

The Q&A was at Dawkins request.

Either way, this was just about the only thing at TAM which I walked away from disappointed. As it stood, it was merely an interview, not a keynote. Everything else was fantastic.
 
OH! Also John Lee and Vernon Chatman from Wondershowzen.

I boffed on the survey, never saw it unfortunately.

And yes the expensive wifi was lame city.
 
Richard Wiseman
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Bill Nye
Derren Brown
Bob Friedhoffer
The ghost of Jerry Andrus
 
Brendan Nyhan
Dana Milbank
Alicia Shepard

All three were on NPR Talk of the Nation this afternoon talking about why facts don't matter in politics.

Also:
Brian Wansink
Steve Kuno
Perhaps the guys from Freakonomics

Fewer panels.

No interviews on stage. None of this "so and so interviews someone else" crap. None. Dislike. Boring.

Do not make the reception suck nearly as bad as it did.

Don't let DJ talk so much, and don't interrupt lunch for anything but more food.
 
Well, I should be there.

Besides that, I would really like to see James Burke speak. He doesn't do much anymore, and he's not exactly a skeptic speaker, but he's awesome.
 
The Q&A was at Dawkins request.

Yep. But next time, the correct answer to that request is "no, thanks anyway" and move to the next person on the list. I don't object to trying new things as long as we don't do the ones that don't work again.

Also -- and this is important -- more white chocolate macadamia cookies, fewer oatmeal raisin.
 
Bart Ehrman.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (lots of people told me he has spoken there in the past and was even more fun to hear than read).

More skep-doc type material.

Ian Rowland or someone equally knowledgeable about cold-reading and what makes psychics and mediums successful.
 
More Q&A time with speakers, and more importantly panels. I thought the whole point of panels was for Q&A.
 
I second calls for Randall Munroe and Bill Nye. I regret not being there the year Neil DeGrasse Tyson did the keynote, so having him again would be awesome. My personal dream would be that Henry Rollins were invited to be there. However, I don't know if he's into the whole skeptic thing.
 
Also -- and this is important -- more white chocolate macadamia cookies, fewer oatmeal raisin.

Actually, I'd like to request fewer sugary snacks and more healthy ones during the break. Would a vegetable platter or two been too much to ask? Or cold cuts and cheese?

You know, actual food?

A
 
Actually, I'd like to request fewer sugary snacks and more healthy ones during the break. Would a vegetable platter or two been too much to ask? Or cold cuts and cheese?

You know, actual food?

A

I'm fine with that. Cut out ALL the oatmeal raisin cookies and bring a few extra WCMs and some rabbit food.
 
Actually, I'd like to request fewer sugary snacks and more healthy ones during the break. Would a vegetable platter or two been too much to ask? Or cold cuts and cheese?

You know, actual food?

A

"Actual food" is what lunch is for. Breaks are for cookies and chips.

My only complaint (minor), for about the 5th TAM in a row, is that not everyone drinks coffee in the morning.
 

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