Your Chance to Put Words in My Mouth

First of all, I’m speaking at River City Reason Fest in September. Never heard of it? That’s because it’s a new conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It’s the weekend of September 19 and 20, and the lineup is worth traveling to see. The speakers I do know, I enjoy. Those I don’t sound intriguing.

It’s also the weekend before my birthday, so I’ll be taking the opportunity to celebrate with people I don’t get to see often enough, like Greta and PZ.

One thing I don’t know yet about the weekend is what I’ll be speaking about. I pointed organizers to my current list of talks I’ve done before or have developed in outline stage* because I want to give them in the future. I’m still waiting for an answer. Yes, I know it’s four months out. Just call me the anti-PZ.

You’ll notice the list isn’t full of feminist talks. That’s not because I never want to do feminist talks. I talked about progress in women’s representation over the last few years when I spoke in Los Angeles last October, and I enjoyed giving the talk. Still, feminism is one of the first things people associate with me without any prompting, so I stick to listing other topics. (Expect, though, that if you want me to talk about feminism, I’m going to make it a positive talk. We don’t spend enough time celebrating successes or charting our own path forward.)

As I look at that list, I’m curious what else people would be interested in hearing me talk about. It’s been a while since I’ve added topics, and I’m always interested in giving more talks. I also have a tough time judging which of the topics I write on people find particularly interesting, which ones they’d like to hear more about.

So here’s your chance to tell me. If I were speaking somewhere you could attend*, what would you want to hear me speak on? If I were running a workshop you were in, what topic would you want us to cover?

I can’t make any guarantees, of course, either that I’ll speak near you or that I’ll have my choice of topic if I do. I try to get my talks online, however, wherever I give them, so people can watch them without having to attend. So tell me what you’d be interested in hearing me talk on.

*This is something you can help make happen, by the way. You can suggest speakers to your local group leaders and conference organizers. You can suggest topics too. For example, I’m particularly sad that no one has asked for my fandom talk yet. I have so many great pictures to choose from for that one.

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Your Chance to Put Words in My Mouth
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One thought on “Your Chance to Put Words in My Mouth

  1. 1

    Hi Stephanie!
    I am thinking about heading to Winnipeg this September, that conference sounds awesome, what a great lineup. Will Richard Carrier be attending as well? I was unable to make it to his May 14th event in Los Angeles and I would really like to meet him (and maybe share a bottle of Scotch).

    I have a couple of suggestions for your talk. Your post.about being a successful woman in so called “male’ spaces was inspirational to me. I have always wanted to be a programmer, but my college professors (almost always male) have tried their hardest to discourage women like me. Perhaps you could speak about how you so successfully taught yourself programming in multiple programming labguages, despite the efforts of misogynist internet trolls and college professors to discourage you?

    I also know that you are very active with the group Secular Woman. It is so satisfying to see an atheist group that is not run by Dawkins or the other dudebros of atheism. It would be very inspirational to see a talk on how you have helped build Secular Woman into such a successful organization that has accomplished so much.

    On another note, as the Secular Women Work conference still going to happen? I noticed the website hasn’t been updated in a while. I would like too go butt I need to know who all the speakers after before I can commi to making travel plans.

    Keep up the good work. I’ll see you in September(and hopefully August too)!

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