How Speakers, Audience Members, & Mods Can Improve Q&As

A Gawker writer recently pointed this out and proposed banning the type of person who is generally responsible for the awful; The Toast has a hilariously astute post listing out the most awful (sometimes in a banal way) questions that are commonly asked at Q&As.

Now, I’ve done a lot of talks and panels. Personally, I enjoy leaving a decent chunk of free time at the end of question-and-answer sessions. This is especially true when I’m talking about Islam. One my talks from a few years back was half an hour of me talking followed by an hour and a half of Q&A. It was fun. It was awesome.

Still, all it takes is one jerkwad to ruin the awesome and the fun that interaction and discussion is supposed to be for all attending. As I run primarily on rage as a fuel source, I can’t get behind the Gawker writer’s suggestion, but I do have some tips for ensuring that the That Guy that invariably shows up to the Q&A provides a few lulz but isn’t enabled to totally hijack the event. Continue reading “How Speakers, Audience Members, & Mods Can Improve Q&As”

How Speakers, Audience Members, & Mods Can Improve Q&As
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Encouraging Women to Own It: 2015’s Atheist of the Year & a Grief Expert

Heina looking excited about the Memphis airport welcome sign
The Memphis airport had a greeting sign for us!

Earlier this month, I attended my first-ever American Atheists Convention in Memphis, TN. It was quite a fruitful weekend through and through. I got to meet, get to know, and/or reconnect with dozens of people. Of the latter group, I had two interactions that reminded me of just how important it is to boost confidence in women,

I hardly mean this in some cliche, simplistic, capitalist-feminist ladder-kicking lean-in sort of way. It’s a lot more meta and much more data-based than that. My strategy was to remind women that men in similar or even lesser-accomplished positions than theirs are, on average, much more assured about it than they are.

Continue reading “Encouraging Women to Own It: 2015’s Atheist of the Year & a Grief Expert”

Encouraging Women to Own It: 2015’s Atheist of the Year & a Grief Expert