Activism
Bio
Lauren Lane is the Founder and Executive Director of Skepticon, a national conference located annually in St. Louis, MO that promotes skepticism, science education and community building. During her tenure as an undergraduate, Lauren held various leadership positions in the Missouri State University Chapter of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a secular student group that revolutionized student activism. She has been a contributor to The Friendly Atheist, MadArtLabs, and has previously spoken at conventions such as Secular Women Work, Secular Student Alliance Convention, FTBCon, Logicon, and Reason in the Rock.
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Extended Bio
Lauren Lane attended Missouri State University in the fall of 2005 where she joined the newly formed Missouri State University Chapter of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. During her time with this group, Lauren first began to dip her toes into activism and held various leadership roles. The MSU Chapter of the FSM hosted free speech rallies, concerts, bake sales, and even planned a festival around notorious college campus evangelist Brother Jed to raise money for Heifer International. Her student activism culminated in what would be retroactively dubbed Skepticon, a convention that first began when speakers were invited to Missouri State to expound upon atheism and science.
As Skepticon grew exponentially over the next few years, Lauren stayed on as a key organizer on the executive level. Since it’s first year in 2007, Skepticon has grown from 100 attendees to over 1500. Lauren and the Skepticon team volunteer their time year-round and manage to fundraise over $40,000 annually in order to keep their event free and open to the public.
Lauren currently resides in her home town, St. Louis, Missouri, where she works as both an artist and helping people grow their businesses.
Topics:
Community organizing
Event planning and coordination
Fundraising, Group dynamics
Recruiting and keeping volunteers
Social media and marketing
Creating and maintaining a brand
Nonprofit organizing
How to plan an effective meeting
Social activism
Being Awesome
Feminism
How to pitch
Free tools to keep your organization organized
…and so much more!
Speaking Engagements:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016
Logicon, 2016
Secular Women Work, 2015
FtBConscience 3, 2015
FtBConscience 2, 2014
Secular Student Alliance Convention – East, 2013
FtBConscience, 2013
Reason in the Rock, 2012
Secular Student Alliance Conference, 2011
Blogs:
Education:
Masters of Fine Art, Interdisciplinary, Memphis College of Art
Bachelors of Fine Art, Drawing, Missouri State University