Respect and Tolerance
We aim to promote an environment where everyone is able to put their views across and enjoy our events; and as such we will not tolerate harassment* or abuse of either speakers or attendees, nor willful disruption of events
If at any stage you feel you need to report such incidents you can approach a member of the Birmingham Skeptics organiser team who will be wearing name badges. We endeavour to make sure there is always at least one male and one female member of the team at each event. You can find some pictures and information below to help you recognise them.
The organisers will do their utmost to deal with all concerns and complaints swiftly and sensitively and support attendees if they feel further action or support is necessary. You can use our contact form if you would prefer to raise the issue online.
We would like to stress that this policy is pre-emptive and no reported incidents of harassment have come to light at previous Birmingham Skeptics events.
* Harassment refers to actions or words that are, or could be seen as discriminatory or inappropriate toward people based on gender, race, sexual orientation, gender-identification, age or disability
- Thanks to our friends at Edinburgh Skeptics from whom we borrowed heavily in the wording of the above
The Organiser Team
All members of the team contribute to the organisation, promotion and general running of the group. We haven’t gone as far as issuing out titles and any of us can, and do, input into the many different areas involved in this enterprise. There are lots of discussions and ideas that fly between the organisers but there are some areas that have settled more to specific people.To help you identify the individuals involved and to get some idea of what they do here they are:
Patrick Redmond is mainly responsible for arranging speakers and overseeing the general running of the group.
Neil Gorst arranges hotels, train tickets and expenses payment for the speakers. He keeps an eye on the finances for the group making sure that the money is accounted for and finds the best deals to keep costs down ensuring that we can continue putting on our events.
Paul Bryant has a talent for design and puts together wonderful DVD covers, posters and all kinds of publicity material at the drop of a hat. Amongst other things he keeps an eye on the Facebook page responding to queries and updating information.
Laura Creaven ensures that the venue is sorted so that the speakers can turn up and do their thing. She arranges promotion of the events through the venue and along with Jade organises Birmingham Skeptics Book Group.
Simon Brettell takes, selects and processes the fantastic pictures that you can see on our Facebook site and that so many of our attendees and past speakers now have as their profile pics across Facebook and Twitter.