Rationalist Week
From SecularPortal
Rationalist Week is the yearly flagship event of the Leeds Atheist Society. It is typically held on the first week back of the third term of the University of Leeds calendar. The event is designed to promote awareness of rational and free thinking.
Concept
The idea of Rationalist Week is to promote awareness of science, critical thinking and the activities (and existence!) of the society running it. It is designed to be a high profile event which generates a large amount of exposure and reaches as much of the student body as possible.
As a result location is extremely important as most of the exposure will come from people passing the event and wandering in. For this reason, erecting a tent on campus somewhere where most students will pass such as outside the student union is the best option for location.
History
The first Rationalist Week was run in 2007, shortly after LAS has been founded. With only around six weeks planning time the event was put together running a total of 15 events, talks at 12 noon and 2pm and an evening event at 7pm. Despite the event being put together in a short space of time it was a huge success with hundreds of people being reached throughout the week, especially on Friday night's "all night debate."
Many of the key events that have become a staple diet of the event were first run at Rationalist Week 2007 including all night debate and Ask an Atheist.
Rationalist Week returned in April 2008 at which the greater planning time and resources allowed the event to be scaled up somewhat, running a total of 21 events, following last year's format but also including an event on the first Sunday and a "fun" activity at 4pm to liven the mood.
