Sydney SkeptiCamp will be held on 30 April 2011.

What is a SkeptiCamp, I hear you ask?

Here’s what it says on the official site:

SkeptiCamps represent a new way of thinking about conferencing within the growing skeptical community. Diverging from the traditional lecture events which have dominated skepticism for decades, these ‘open events’ tear down the barriers to organizing substantive (and fun) events by building on the wildly-successful Barcamp conference model from the tech community.

In short, it’s is an opportunity for skeptics to get together and have a chat. But unlike the traditional skeptical conference, there are no official speakers. The participants do the speaking.

Instead of listening to lectures, the focus is on interaction and discussion.

The concept has enjoyed increasing popularity over the last few years, particularly in the US. And now it’s coming to Australia.

Sydney SkeptiCamp is being spearheaded by Jason Brown. (Jason will be well-known to listeners of the Skeptic Zone podcast, and will be speaking to the Vic Skeptics on June 20.)

The adventure began during a panel at last year’s TAM Australia, when Jason was asked what he’d do if he was able to get some funding.

He said … he’d run a SkeptiCamp in Sydney.

Barely had he finished that sentence before the cash started flowing in. Literally. People in the crowd started throwing notes at him.

Good as his word, Jason has delivered. Sydney SkeptiCamp will be held at the University of Technology, Sydney, on 30 April 2011.

It’s shaping up to be a great time.

Interested? All the details can be found on the official Sydney SkeptiCamp website.

Matt