TAM Scholarships; are they worth it?

zooterkin

Nitpicking dilettante, Administrator
Staff member
zooterkin
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
63,840
Location
Berkshire, mostly
Sorry for the slightly provocative title. This is prompted in part by this blog post which includes this:

3. Sending women to large conferences isn’t that great of a cause. This is something that I’ve debated mentioning here, because I know Skepchick has continued to support scholarship funds like the very successful one Surly Amy has run, but one of the things that annoyed me about the Skepchick Calendars was handing over thousands and thousands of dollars every year to the JREF for tickets for women to go to The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas, and not really seeing much benefit in return. Yes, I got to meet some great women. Yes, we increased the total percentage of women in the audience at that one conference. Yes, the women I sent had a wonderful vacation in Vegas. But did they really learn anything? Did it help them feel more connected to the skeptical community? Did they go home and get involved in their local skeptical group? I have no idea. I asked many of them to write me an essay on how they benefited from the scholarship they got, and I don’t recall ever actually getting one. There were so many better ways to spend that much money and benefit women, but I didn’t have the time to run a large nonprofit scholarship program that actually had solid goals, accountability, and reports on how the money was actually helping anything.
Click to expand...

Now, I know the Skepchick sponsorship sent about 22 women to TAM 2012, and there was some publicity about it. I also know that forum members were equally generous, and sent about the same number, though that was a lot more low-key and while it was mentioned from the stage, I don't think it got the same recognition in the auditorium.

Is sending people to TAM (and similar conferences) a useful thing to do? Personally, I certainly can see how it might be, giving someone a reassurance that there really are more people out there like them, and giving them a lot of useful contacts. But does this happen in practice? Is there any follow-up? Any beneficiaries want to share their experiences?

I think it could be a useful discussion, and at a time between TAMs so it doesn't interfere with fund raising for the next one is probably best.
 
Last edited:
The real questions to answer are these ones: "Did it help them feel more connected to the skeptical community? Did they go home and get involved in their local skeptical group?"

I know for myself, my first trip to TAM got me connected to several of my local skeptics, and so actually did make a difference, so it's not impossible, but without data, it's hard to say how many others had the same experiences, or different ones.

If I had access to their data on who have received scholarships in the past, and who is still attending TAM (or other conferences), I'd try to cross-reference the two to see how many are still involved.
 
I received a forum scholarship to attend TAM this year. It was my first TAM, and I was able to appear on a panel. Had I not received the scholarship, I would not have been able to attend and participate. I was already involved with a local skeptics group (went to Skeptics in the Pub, gave a couple of talks at same, participated in a couple of SkeptiCamps, appeared on skeptrack panels at Dragon*Con, served as an officer with IIG-Atlanta).

Shortly after TAM, I moved from Atlanta to Eau Claire, WI (not even Eau Claire--it's Chippewa Falls). There is a thriving skeptics group in Minneapolis, but they often meet on Thursday afternoons/evenings, and I can't get to those meetings. Consequently, much of my current connection to the skeptical community is virtual. Fortunately, at TAM, a few of us got together (including idoubtit and krelnik from this forum) and decided to do a weekly webcast called "Virtual Skeptics." I don't know if this would have come about without TAM.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am ENORMOUSLY grateful to everyone who contributed to the Forum Scholarship Fund, and I feel I benefited significantly from the experience.
 
Lucian said:
I received a forum scholarship to attend TAM this year. It was my first TAM, and I was able to appear on a panel. Had I not received the scholarship, I would not have been able to attend and participate. I was already involved with a local skeptics group (went to Skeptics in the Pub, gave a couple of talks at same, participated in a couple of SkeptiCamps, appeared on skeptrack panels at Dragon*Con, served as an officer with IIG-Atlanta).

Shortly after TAM, I moved from Atlanta to Eau Claire, WI (not even Eau Claire--it's Chippewa Falls). There is a thriving skeptics group in Minneapolis, but they often meet on Thursday afternoons/evenings, and I can't get to those meetings. Consequently, much of my current connection to the skeptical community is virtual. Fortunately, at TAM, a few of us got together (including idoubtit and krelnik from this forum) and decided to do a weekly webcast called "Virtual Skeptics." I don't know if this would have come about without TAM.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am ENORMOUSLY grateful to everyone who contributed to the Forum Scholarship Fund, and I feel I benefited significantly from the experience.
Click to expand...

How come you don't use a Billiken for your avatar? ;)
 
I went to my first TAM (5) on scholarship. I had just started my own group that investigated the claims of ghost hunters. Going to TAM forged connections with new people that led to me speaking at various conferences, getting articles published in lots of different places, becoming an intern at the JREF, and later becoming the Challenge Coordinator.
 
I'm glad to see, though not terribly surprised, that the responses so far are positive towards the scholarships, and especially glad that previous recipients did feel that they benefitted from them. I've seen how much it has meant to some people (not necessarily scholarship recipients) to find at TAM a whole host of people who share a rational world view, and how the contacts they make can help them afterwards when they return to, for example, a small town in the Bible belt, and extending that to those who could not get there under their own steam seems a worthwhile aim.

Does the forum need to make more noise about the scholarships they give? As I said, they were mentioned at TAM, but I got the impression most people in the audience didn't notice, and the Skepchick group was much more visible (I saw them doing things as a group around the venue, including photographs together). A lot (most, quite probably) of people at TAM seem unaware of the forum, and even some of the JREF staff don't know much about it.

If, as seems likely, Skepchick will not be sponsoring people to go to TAM next year, does the forum need to take up the slack? Or are the people sent by Skepchick unlikely to find the forum in the first place?
 
zooterkin said:
If, as seems likely, Skepchick will not be sponsoring people to go to TAM next year, does the forum need to take up the slack? Or are the people sent by Skepchick unlikely to find the forum in the first place?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure why Skepchick wouldn't sponsor TAM grants next year, although possibly they will take the events of the past few months more seriously than I expect. There is certainly room for the forum to take up some of the slack, since very few people donate to the forum grant fund. In fact, 40% of the donated funds come from one person.

~~ Paul
 
Paul C. Anagnostopoulos said:
In fact, 40% of the donated funds come from one person.
Click to expand...

Wow--really? I wasn't aware of that. I assume that doesn't include the funds from the auctions, right? Still, it's a lot of money for one individual to cover--I agree more in the forum need to help take up the slack!

ETA: And yes, I think we need to make more noise about the forum-sponsored grants at TAM itself.
 
Last edited:
On the question of "is this a good cause", I have to ask myself if the money I spent this year for myself and my son to attend TAM was well spent. For me I think it was - it recharged my batteries, gave me a chance to learn a lot and to meet some great folks.

I got much more involved in our local groups after my first TAM and I think that is a noble goal of the scholarship fund.

Paul, do you have contact info from our recent scholarship recipients so we can conduct an anonymous survey of their opinion on this?
 
AdMan said:
Wow--really? I wasn't aware of that. I assume that doesn't include the funds from the auctions, right? Still, it's a lot of money for one individual to cover--I agree more in the forum need to help take up the slack!
Click to expand...
That does include the funds from the auction. Of all the funds I awarded, 40% was donated by one person.

~~ Paul
 
Allecher said:
Paul, do you have contact info from our recent scholarship recipients so we can conduct an anonymous survey of their opinion on this?
Click to expand...
If someone prepares a survey, I can send it to the forum grant recipients.

~~ Paul
 
Lucian said:
I received a forum scholarship to attend TAM this year. It was my first TAM, and I was able to appear on a panel. Had I not received the scholarship, I would not have been able to attend and participate. I was already involved with a local skeptics group (went to Skeptics in the Pub, gave a couple of talks at same, participated in a couple of SkeptiCamps, appeared on skeptrack panels at Dragon*Con, served as an officer with IIG-Atlanta).

Shortly after TAM, I moved from Atlanta to Eau Claire, WI (not even Eau Claire--it's Chippewa Falls). There is a thriving skeptics group in Minneapolis, but they often meet on Thursday afternoons/evenings, and I can't get to those meetings. Consequently, much of my current connection to the skeptical community is virtual. Fortunately, at TAM, a few of us got together (including idoubtit and krelnik from this forum) and decided to do a weekly webcast called "Virtual Skeptics." I don't know if this would have come about without TAM.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am ENORMOUSLY grateful to everyone who contributed to the Forum Scholarship Fund, and I feel I benefited significantly from the experience.
Click to expand...
Anecdote IS evidence!:D
 
A bump in case anybody missed this!!!. Remember, if you find a thread useful to you, comment in it so it moves up front for others to see. No comments, after a not too long time, no readers.............
 
501 have looked at it now - let's see about a few more - useful/valuable project!! Help if you can!!!
 
OK, I have a basic survey ready. Does anyone want to read over it before I ask Paul to send it to the scholarship recipients?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom