This issue we have a Guest Editorial piece by Lisa Taylor. Lisa is a proofreader and writer for NZ Skeptic, and is an active member of Wellington's Science-Based Healthcare Activism and the NZ Skeptics Committee.
In November 2015, the annual New Zealand Skeptics Conference was held in sunshine-filled Christchurch. The weekend was enjoyable, meeting up with skeptics from all over New Zealand, and indeed all over the world. I think the puzzled look on my face when Associate Professor Colin Gavaghan started speaking must have showed how little I think about accents in written text. We had ‘spoken' online for a long while before the conference, but I had little to go off accents-wise. It made for an amusing few moments of confusion. In my own defence written text does not have its own accent. Accents are generally spoken about in a linguistic sense; unless someone has written something in the IPA system it would not be clear that an accent other than your own is necessarily involved – (International Phonetic Alphabet, not the beer, sorry!)
Although there was plenty of beer on the Friday night - we had the Nerd Degree podcast as our entertainment. We podcasters noted that they were exceptionally better organised and prepared than our own podcasts Skepticism Today and the CUSP.
Saturday and Sunday were both filled with a number of interesting speakers who simultaneously wowed and horrified us with new diseases we hadn't ever seen before. Saturday evening had the added excitement of having the Society for Science Based Healthcare's first meeting and they are currently in the process of becoming an incorporated society. I was elected on their committee to be the Secretary. Its purpose is working on ASA complaints and other complaints about various healthcare-based issues in New Zealand – the vast majority of this is battling pseudoscience. SBH also placed a submission into the Pharmacy Council which said in part that “we only support changes that maintain the consumer's right to be properly informed about the evidence for alternative health products.”
On Sunday evening we held the AGM for the NZ Skeptics. New members of the committee were voted in and I extend another warm welcome to Clive Hackett, Nichola Williams and Sheree McNatty. It is always good to have fresh blood to keep us vibrant.
When not listening to talks we were given plenty of time for mingling. I was glad for the mingling as I could then put faces to the names I regularly see on the NZ Skeptics Facebook groups. It also meant we could talk to the speakers more about their area of expertise.
A huge thank you must go to the Conference organisers who were absolute stars in their own right. I hope to see you all at the next New Zealand Skeptics Conference which will be hosted by the Southland skeptics who will host us in Queenstown / Invercargill. It will be held in November 2016. Exact dates and times to be confirmed.