Conference Clarity

Mark Honeychurch - 18 August 2025

In lieu of my usual blathering, this week we have an update from our chair, Bronwyn, about our plans for our conferences this year and next:

A quick conference update. A huge thanks to the 64 people who answered our conference survey. 2026 will be the 40th anniversary of the NZ Skeptics, making it a milestone year for our organisation, so the committee feels that it is important that our 2026 conference celebrates skepticism in New Zealand, is fun for attendees, and is financially accessible.

We’ve decided, based on your feedback, that it’s prudent to halt our plans to run a 2025 conference, and redirect our energy and finances to the anniversary conference in 2026. Whether our guests will be the Skeptics Guide to the Universe or other well-known international skeptics, and exactly when in 2026 the conference will be held, are still a work in progress. We are waiting for August 2026 flights from the US to go on sale before we are able to make an informed decision.

The committee hopes to have an update for you all soon!

_Bronwyn Rideout

Chair, NZ Skeptics_

In this week’s newsletter, Katrina has written about the kinds of gadgets that MSN thinks she should be buying - and, having cast her skeptical eye over them, none of them appear to be the bargain they’re made out to be. Bronwyn and I have each written another article about The Telepathy Tapes (and tune in to our next podcast episode to hear us talking with a guest who has intimate knowledge of the podcast, as well as Facilitated Communication). And finally, we have the third of four chapters of John Maindonald’s excellent online resource about how to make sense of data without going awry.