The inaugural Café Scientifique Syracuse took place last night and, in my opinion, was a rip-roaring success. I’ve gone on at length before about what this event was all about, and so won’t repeat it here. All I want to do is give an update.
We had just over thirty people attend, a very nice talk from my biology colleague Scott Erdman on the Human Genome Project, and some wonderful sushi and egg roll appetizers provided by John Sansone and his great staff at Ambrosia. Beer, wine, coffee, soda, mojitos and margaritas flowed as liberally as people desired, and may have contributed to the long and lively discussion session that followed. It was great to have a diverse collection of people discussing science. There were plenty of “This is probably a stupid question, but …?” questions, and I learned most from the answers to them, which is the way it’s supposed to be.
The whole event lasted about two hours, after which the organizers and speakers stayed around for a light dinner. Now that the first event has gone so well, we can turn our attention to wider advertising and tweaking the format, and we started that process already over dinner last night.
I’ll report again after our second meeting, on Tuesday September 6th, same time, same place.
(Thanks to PZ Myers at Pharyngula for his supportive comments. We have at least one person attending because they saw his post mentioning our Café Scientifique.)
August 3rd, 2005 at 10:00 am
These things are always successful
It sounds like the Café Scientifique Syracuse was a great success—but then, from what I've seen of the Café Scientifique Twin Cities, that's no surprise. I think there is actually a hunger for real science information out …
August 3rd, 2005 at 11:34 am
Sounds great. As PZ says, “these things” (bringing exciting science to the public in accessible and fun ways) are always successful. The audience is there, we just have to provide the content. No matter how many mojitos we have to drink in the process.
So, any pictures?
August 3rd, 2005 at 11:56 am
Thanks guys. No pictures this time Sean, but we’ll have some from the next one for sure.
August 3rd, 2005 at 12:04 pm
I’ve always enjoyed popular lectures on science (and the humanities, as well). I used to get really excited about them waaay back when I was in H.School! (The prospect of seeing real, live scientists was part of the thrill.;)) The first time *I* was on the other side of the podium it felt surreal!
A little question about these events: how do you deal with the crackpots who try to monopolize your time?
August 9th, 2005 at 9:17 am
[...] I’d like to tell you about the “Categorically Not!” project that the excellent science writer KC Cole started in Los Angeles in January. Every month there’s a loose theme chosen (examples so far being “holes”, “strings”, “fluid dynamics”, “uncertainty”) and people present little talks or discussions on the theme. KC draws from scientists, artists, musicians, writers, actors, poets, dancers, playwrights, etc. The variety of people you can get in LA is of course huge, and so there’s plenty of local talent, but sometimes speakers from further afield too. (Note some of the resonance with Cafe Scientifique, mentioned by Mark in another post.) [...]
October 5th, 2005 at 6:22 pm
Cosmology at Café Scientifique
Last night saw the third installment of Café Scientifique Syracuse. I reported before on our successful inaugural event, at which my biology colleague Scott Erdman spoke about the Human Genome Project. Last month’s installment turned out equall…
October 5th, 2005 at 6:26 pm
[...] Last night saw the third installment of Café Scientifique Syracuse. I reported before on our successful inaugural event, at which my biology colleague, Scott Erdman, spoke about the Human Genome Project. Last month’s installment turned out equally well. Our speaker was James Spencer, from Syracuse’s chemistry department, speaking about From Sherlock Holmes to CSI: Chemistry as a Forensic Science, on which he teaches a very successful course. That time we moved into an even larger room (essentially a nightclub bar) in our host establishment – Ambrosia. [...]