I have a couple of speaking gigs coming up — one of them very soon! Very, very soon indeed. My apologies for not announcing the Las Vegas event sooner: I’ve been swamped with the “Coming Out Atheist” book, and just about everything else has been slipping through the cracks. Hope to see you there!

CITY: Las Vegas, NV
DATE: Tuesday, November 5
TIME: 7:30 pm
LOCATION: Barrick Museum Auditorium, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S Maryland Pkwy
HOSTS/SPONSORS: Secular Student Alliance at UNLV, co-sponsored by Spectrum
TOPIC: Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why
SUMMARY: Coming out is the most powerful political act atheists can take. But coming out can be difficult and risky. What are some specific, practical, nuts-and-bolts strategies we can use: to come out of the closet, to support each other in coming out, and to make the atheist community a safer place to come out into? What can atheists learn about coming out from the LGBT community and their decades of coming-out experience — and what can we learn from the important differences between coming out atheist and coming out queer?
COST: Free and open to the public

CITY: Springfield, MO (Skepticon)
DATES: November 15th-17th
LOCATION: Springfield Expo Center, Springfield, MO
EVENT: Skepticon!
TOPIC: Activism Burnout — Prevention and Treatment
SUMMARY: One of the most important keys to the success of the atheist movement is keeping activists engaged for the long haul. But the most inspired and motivated activists are often the ones most likely to eventually burn out. What are some practical strategies for preventing burnout — and for managing it when it happens? And how can activists support each other in not burning out?
EVENT SUMMARY: Skepticon is an annual skeptic/freethinker/atheist/awesome conference that is held annually in Springfield, MO. It is the mission of Skepticon to support, promote, and develop free-thought skeptic, and scientific communities through inclusive educational programming. Skepticon is also the largest free skeptic conference in the nation.
OTHER SPEAKERS: Seth Andrews, Richard Carrier, John Corvino, JT Eberhard, David Fitzgerald, Debbie Goddard, Rebecca Hensler, Keith Lowell Jensen, Amanda Knief, Amanda Marcotte, Hemant Mehta, Monica R. Miller, PZ Myers, Aron Ra, Shelley Segal, David Tamayo, and Rebecca Watson.
SPECIAL EVENT: At this year’s Skepticon, we’ll be hosting a Godless Perverts Story Hour! The Godless Perverts Story Hour is an evening about how to have good sex without having any gods, goddesses, spirits, or their earthly representatives hanging over your shoulder and telling you that you’re doing it wrong. The Skepticon event will feature readings and performances by Rebecca Watson, Keith Lowell Jensen, and Heina Heina Dadabhoy, as well as hosts David Fitzgerald and my own bad self.
COST: Free. This is a TOTALLY FREE conference. Discount hotel rates available. They do ask that you register for the conference, and they would love donations to help keep it going.
EVENT URL: http://skepticon.org/