On the weekend of this July 19-21 Freethought Blogs is running an online conference with a rather impressive lineup. Not only is it free, but it will be all by video streaming on Google+ so you don’t have to travel or pay for a hotel or anything like that. So it’s really about as free as any such thing can get. If you can get online, from anywhere in the world, you can attend! Even from the comfort of your own home.

To learn more, check out PZ Myers’ post Announcing…FtBConscience. Speaker slots are still open, too, so as PZ says, “If you’re part of a group that you’d like to see represented, if you have something valuable to say that fits into our overall theme, contact me soon and we’ll see if we can fit you into our programming grid.” Details there.

As participants are literally all over the planet, this conference could run as much as all 24 hours of all three days. There will be talks and panels. A schedule will be posted before the event, but a list of confirmed speakers so far is available here. There will be a moderated chat room and opportunities for Q&A.

I’ve decided to speak about something deeply personal this time: What the Military Taught Me about Feminism. I’ll be telling some embarrassing and personal stories about my time in the service twenty years ago as a young naive man, and reflecting on how they changed me and contributed to what I know and how I think today. And I want to make Q&A a big part of that. I might make other appearances at the conference (on a panel perhaps). But that will be my main contribution.

I’m looking forward to seeing how well this goes. It’s a great idea and could benefit people all over the world who can’t normally travel or attend conferences in atheism and humanism. So mark your calendars and keep your eye on the developing conference schedule as it appears.

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