CSICon or CSIConference is an annual skeptical conference typically held in the United States. CSICon is hosted by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), which is a program of the Center for Inquiry (CFI). CSI publishes the magazine Skeptical Inquirer.
History
1983–2005: CSICOP conferences
CSICon's current format stems from 2011, but similar conferences by CSI (until 2006 known as CSICOP, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) go back as far as 1983, when the first was held at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY). The second international CSICOP conference, themed "Paranormal Beliefs: Scientific Facts and Fictions", was held at Stanford University in 1984. The third, the first European CSICOP conference, was held at University College London in Britain, themed "Investigation and Belief".
Throughout the 1980s, the European readership of the Skeptical Inquirer was increasing, while CSICOP members James Randi and Paul Kurtz were visiting several European countries to help found national skeptical organizations with their own magazines. In 1989, the second European CSICOP conference occurred in Bad Tölz, Germany, co-organized by the GWUP and also known as the 1st European Skeptics Congress. It was followed by the formation of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations in 1994, that would henceforth host international skeptical conferences in Europe.
Subsequent CSICOP conferences were always held inside the United States. These included the First World Skeptics Congress at SUNY Buffalo (1996), "That’s Entertainment! Hollywood, the Media, and the Supernatural" with the Council for Media Integrity in Los Angeles (1998), "Science Meets 'Alternative Medicine'" in Philadelphia (1999) and others.
2005–2011: hiatus
Around 2005, the CSICOP conferences that were on average held every year and a half, usually at a major American university in conjunction with the relevant faculties such as physics, psychology and philosophy, went into a seven-year hiatus. According to Kendrick Frazier, the organization struggled with its leadership, focus and future perspective, prompting amongst other things the 2006 renaming from CSICOP to CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. In the meantime, the annual skeptical conference in Las Vegas, The Amaz!ng Meeting run by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), started to fill the gap and grew larger every year.
2011–present: CSICon
2011
When CSI stabilized in 2011, it held its first newly styled CSICon in New Orleans, Louisiana. At this first CSICon, Planetary Society president Bill Nye was presented with the "In Praise of Reason" Award for his efforts in science communication with shows such as "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and later series and lectures. Bill Nye is a frequent speaker at the conference, with speaking slots in 2011 and 2013. He also attended the conference in a non speaker role in 2018.
2012
CSICon 2 took place in Nashville, Tennessee, in October 2012.
2013
In October 2013, CSICon 3 was held as part of a larger CFI conference, including the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH), called the CFI Summit in Tacoma, Washington. This combined congress was an experiment, as some people like Ray Hyman and Daniel Loxton feared or argued the goals and focus of skepticism and humanism differed too much from each other to be discussed at a single conference.
On the other hand, Ronald A. Lindsay and Eddie Tabash defended the decision of a joint conference, and Susan Gerbic wrote afterwards she was "completely impressed" by how well the two camps overlapped (citing the creation–evolution controversy as the most important common ground), and "have to work together". In June 2015, again a joint CFI conference was organized under the banner "Reason for Change", with almost 500 people attending. Frazier opined that "[s]cientific skepticism and secularism/humanism blended fairly seamlessly" in Amherst, New York, the headquarters of CFI.
2016
After the last installment of The Amaz!ng Meeting in 2015, Las Vegas was chosen as the location for CSICon 2016 to fill the void.
There are active efforts to bring more students to CSICon, such as by Oregonians for Science and Reason (O4SR) which in 2016 and 2017 gave three scholarships that included conference fees, travel, hotel and food costs.