GAC 2014

[Voltairine]

You could play a DVD of the 2012 GAC and I'll come.


First day back in the office today... email from boss thanking 'god' for the good weather for an event, and a note from a colleague on psalm notepaper.

[Praxis]

How very depressing for you Volts

Do your work colleagues know where you went?

Also, there's a nice pic of you and crocoduck in my pictorial thread (the flash caught you so you look perhaps a little paler than you actually are)


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[Voltairine]

Nah, just that I went to Melbourne to visit friends (whom I've never actually met before ). But work is one reason I wanted to be somewhat incognito, just in case.

Re the photo, no I'm probably that pale. My arms are constantly grabbed here by women, from various Asian countries, who want to know what whitening cream I use.

[Lord Blackadder]

Originally Posted by Voltairine

Re the photo, no I'm probably that pale. My arms are constantly grabbed here by women, from various Asian countries, who want to know what whitening cream I use.

My sister had the same experience when she went to Japan. She is as white as the driven snow and was a red-head at the time. She was touched by women and girls in awe of her paleness. She didn't have the heart to tell them that being that pale means 'orrible sunburns, staying covered up all the time and constant mole patrol...

[Voltairine]

LBA, when all ID cards in Hong Kong were changed, we were told that the cameras were calibrated so make up wasn't necessary. However, they were calibrated to Asian skintones so I decided it was best to plaster my face, which still looked like two pissholes in the snow.


But back to GAC 2014... I've completed the GAC 2012 survey, figuring the ONLY POSSIBLE reason to have such a survey was to assist with organising the next one.

BTW, I had a dream about attending GAC 2014. If only dreams were prophetic... then in two years time I'd be at GAC 2014 sitting next to and getting chatted up by George Clooney (gotta stop walking past the Nespresso shop).

[Praxis]

Survey? Have I missed something? Where is it?


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[Voltairine]

Survey link sent to me via email. It was sent (or at least received on Sunday) with the subject "We want to hear from you".

[Worldslaziestbusker]

I loved the GAC. I loved the previous GAC. While I would love a 2014 GAC, I wonder if it is necessary and whether it would be the best investment of time and energy the AFA could make in the intervening period.

The AFA committee has impressed me with how much has been done in the few short years since I joined and I don't doubt that the volunteers who have done such sterling work in bringing together speakers and audiences in the professional manner we have enjoyed could do so again, and they would have my support if they chose to do so, but I have been thinking about end points again.

If the goal of the GAC was to show the nation that atheists come from every demographic and are no longer willing to be ignored, I think that goal has been achieved. I would love to enjoy a future gathering at that scale, but does that enjoyment justify the amount of work that would have to go on to bring that enjoyment about. Could that energy be better used in more campaigns such as that which the AFA ran to encourage people to take the census seriously?

There is no reason (other than the AFA being the best, na na na na na na) why other organisations couldn't organise similar events, and smaller events in more cities could be a method by which the atheist/skeptical community could capitalise on the inroads on the popular conscience the GACs have already made. The lack of coordination in such circles doesn't phase me in the way it seems to rile those who complain that the various atheist/secular/skeptical groups keep reinventing the wheel. The problem with everyone reinventing the wheel is that effort is wasted covering the same ground again and again. The great thing about everyone reinventing the wheel is that you end up with at least one wheel. Ten years ago we didn't have a wheel. Not one.

As I am fond of stating, if everyone did a little, no-one would have to do a lot. If we all carry forward the inspiration we garnered from the GAC and take every opportunity to promote the ideas that were shared, future GACs would become redundant. That would be awesome, because it would mean that the theists had finally gotten the message that they cannot foist their beliefs and practices on people who don't share them.

I don't want to go down in history as the guy who killed the GAC, but I also don't want to see the leadership of the AFA work as hard as they do on the event simply because I enjoy it, or miss opportunities to put the resources into avenues that might be more productive than further conventions.

[OzAtheist]

Originally Posted by Worldslaziestbusker

I loved the GAC. I loved the previous GAC. While I would love a 2014 GAC, I wonder if it is necessary and whether it would be the best investment of time and energy the AFA could make in the intervening period.

Personally I would love to see a GAC every two years. I think it still is necessary, we don't have to bring out the likes of Dawkins every time, I'm sure there are new and interesting atheists who could be invited instead.

The skeptics have been running TAM for many years and don't look at stopping, and there are many other 'cons' (like sci fi and comic) that have been going for years and probably will do. Why not our 'con', just because we can.

I think the atheist con is a great idea and until there's no longer a need for an atheist con because there's no more theists on the planet, then I think they are still necessary.

I imagine they are an enormous amount of work to organise and perhaps this may be taking energies away from other things the AFA could be doing, but perhaps it's more a point of finding more volunteers and staff to do both that's really the issue?

Which leads to an almost different thread, how can the AFA raise more funds to pay for more (any ) full time staff who could organise things like the GAC, Bus adverts or census campaign?

Which leads to another question - how many of the atheists who attended the GAC are paid up members of the AFA? I'd love to think that many who weren't members signed up during the event.

[Praxis]

That's a lot of questions! But I like your thinking


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