Skeptics in the Pub / Drinking Skeptically in Portland, OR

Portland is a thriving mountain of woo woo. We're even well-known for having the polar opposite of a Skeptics in the Pub night, Ground Zero @ Dante's. This has pushed me out of my near perpetual state of laziness, and into a sluggish imitation of action.

I want to start a Skeptics in the Pub group here. The thing is, I don't really know how to go about it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've already talked to a couple well-known skeptical podcasters that expressed interest in going, and I know of some personal friends that want to go, and I have a couple places that I think might work, but after that, I'm sort of at a loss for what to do next.

Words and Stuff,
Big Frankie

It's easy.

Step 1: Find a venue. Find a pub or restaurant, ideally one that has a separate room you can use and which does not charge a fee. Particularly if you schedule on something other than a Friday or Saturday, most restaurants are happy to have some extra business.

Step 2: Set up a spot to notify people of it. Most seem to use Meetup.com or Facebook.com for this, whatever your personal preference is. The key is that once they find out about it, they can come back here to find out when the next one is. Also helps if there is a way to email out to people about this, both Meetup and Facebook have ways to do that.

Step 3: Figure out some speakers or something to do. This can be optional, there are some skeptic pub nights I've heard of that never do programming. But it doesn't have to be a 'big name' speaker. Recruit your own local skeptics. If the bar has a DVD player, get some of the JREF TAM DVDs and play one of the lectures and then just have a discussion after. We did a trivia night one time, where I concocted a skeptic trivia quiz and we gave out some prizes.

Step 4: Most important part. Promote, promote, promote. Give the details to your local paper or wherever local events get listed. Get on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and mention it. Get other area skeptics to do the same thing. Get skeptic bloggers and podcasters to mention it. Record a short (15 or 30 second) promo for your SITP and give it to podcasters to stick in their show.

That's it. It's actually pretty easy.

Portland needs a Skeptics in the Pub! I am very interested. Keep me updated.

Jcharge said:

Portland needs a Skeptics in the Pub! I am very interested. Keep me updated.

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Ditto! I know there's a few of us out here. What d'ya say Portland/Salem skeptics? We haven't been here long enough to be able to choose a proper venue or I'd get us going.

I'm in Tigard. Keep me posted!

Count me in! I go to Science in the Pub, which is great, but its lectures and not so much meeting other people. I also know a few CFI people here in town that would be interested in going...and I'd love to meet you guys so we should definitely do this!

Is there a twitter feed I can subscribe to in order to keep updated with this?

Any luck on this front? I work the nights Science in the Pub is on so am curious if there is another night for such an atmosphere.

Well, I started up Canberra Skeptics in the Pub with three emails - one to George Hrab, one to Richard Saunders, and one to Rebecca Watson.

Tonight is OMSI After Dark.

It is last minute but would anyone else be interested in going there tonight? Or perhaps setting up a monthly meet up for future events? It is done once a month on Wednesdays.

If anyone was interested in going tonight I thought it might be fun to see the Samson (T-Rex) and Einstein exhibits as well as an OMNIMAX show. Laser Floyd is not out of the question.

It looks like this thread has been dead for a while, but skeptics in Portland are not. We have a Skeptics in the Pub the last Sunday of every month at Roadside Attraction in SE Portland. Come join us. Search for PDX Skeptics in the Pub on Meetup.com for more information.

Any single skepchiks there?

Yes, and they've all been waiting for a real man to show up.