On Thursday, December 29, 2016, we squeezed in a special event right before the new year and featured some live music performances from Jack Graham, Kevin Greene, Aaron Randall, and Ricardo Williams.

Join us on Thursday, January 12th for a special space-themed evening of thinking and drinking at the Abbey!

RSVP here: http://www.ticketbase.com/events/nerd-nite-orlando-presents-space-nite

Nerd Nite, formed in 2003, is an evening of entertaining yet thought-provoking presentations– all while the audience drinks along in a casual atmosphere.

Speakers present for 15-20 minutes each on a fascinating subject, often in an uncanny and unconventional way. Following each presentation is a brief Q&A with the audience. Nerd Nite currently operates in over 106 cities around the world.

Live Nerd Nite presentations in Orlando are always the second Thursday of every month.

Come meet up, drink, and learn something new!

For questions, contact Ricardo at

“SPACE NITE”
presented by Nerd Nite Orlando
sponsored by the Emil Buehler Planetarium at Seminole State College

WHEN: January 12, 2017, Doors Open at 6:00pm, Show Starts at 7:00pm
WHERE: the Abbey, 100 S Eola Drive #100 Orlando, FL 32801
SUGGESTED DONATION: $10.00

PRESENTATION LIST:
1.) “Comets, and Alcohol, and Spaghettification! Oh, My!: A Hands-On Guide to the Oddities of the Universe” by Seth Mayo

Ever wonder how comets work, if alcohol occurs naturally in space, or what it may feel like to fall into a black hole? These questions and more will quickly be answered in a quirky hands-on way using common household items. Be prepared for some audience participation!

SPEAKER BIO: Seth Mayo is the Curator of Astronomy at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach. Mr. Mayo runs the museum’s planetarium, writes astronomy articles, and performs lectures and presentations around Florida.

2.) “Death by Snu Snu or: All The Ways That Space Will Kill You” by Michael McConville

Traveling to distant worlds has long been a dream of us earthbound humans, and incredible advances in technology mean humans will likely walk on Mars in the next few decades. SpaceX’s Elon Musk envisions one million Martian colonists in the next century. The only limit is our imagination.

But there’s one little problem…space is a really scary place.

Join Michael McConville of the Buehler Planetarium for a sobering look at all the ways that space can kill us — from the dramatic to the mundane — and how scientists are trying to ensure that humans truly become an interplanetary species.

In space, no one can hear you scream, but they might see you boil.

SPEAKER BIO: Michael McConville has always wanted to be an astronaut, and as coordinator of the Buehler Planetarium at Seminole State College, he gets to make others feel like astronauts every day. A four-time veteran of Nerd Nite Orlando, Michael is noted for his unique storytelling ability and a love of learning and exploration. This very particular set of skills is useful in his other day job, serving as a professor of history at the University of Central Florida.

3.) “The Top Ten Things about the Universe that will Blow Your Mind!” by Derek Demeter

The Universe is a pretty freaking crazy place! From planets the shape of footballs to celestial objects bigger than entire galaxies, Derek Demeter director of the Emil Buehler Planetarium will share the mind blowing facts we discovered about the wonders of our cosmos.

SPEAKER BIO: Derek is the director of the Emil Buehler Planetarium at Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida. Derek also enjoys promoting science beyond the planetarium with his work as an astrophotographer, which earned him pictures seen in NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website, Universe Today, Astronomy Magazine, and Sky and Telescope

Get excited for Nerd Nite Orlando XLV! Not only do we have a great lineup of presentations, but we’ll be joined by EA Playtesting** who will be on hand to raffle off some awesome video games. Join us at the Geek Easy for a great evening of thinking and drinking!

RSVP for the event here: https://www.ticketbase.com/events/nerd-nite-orlando-xlv

** EA Playtesting is a free program that gives gamers the opportunity to play EA developed games, sometimes before their release, and provide us with valuable feedback. Your feedback is used by the developers to improve our games, and as a token of our appreciation for your help, you may receive a gift card or video games. If you’d like to learn more, or are interested in joining this program, please visit our website at https://playtesting.ea.com/.

We’re currently putting together the schedule for 2017. If you’ve always wanted to speak at Nerd Nite, this could be your opportunity! Email your idea to Ricardo at

For over three years, Nerd Nite has held dozens of events in Orlando, showing that our city is full of brilliant and interesting people. In creating this monthly platform for many of our citizens to present their ideas, we’ve built a strong dense community of people who are eager to discuss and debate. We are the healthy reminder that learning is fun… and its even more fun when you’re drinking with your friends.

Nerd Nite Orlando is about all of you. Your talks, your discussions, and for that reason our monthly events have always been absolutely FREE to attend– but today we need your help.

For the third year Nerd Nite teams from around the country, will be assembling in San Diego this July for a special Comic Con edition of our monthly event and this year, for the first time ever, we will have one of our best Orlando speakers in the official lineup.

There’s nothing we want more than to give Orlando a huge presence in this massive event. Please consider making a contribution and help us send Nerd Nite Orlando to Comic Con 2016.

Click here to make a contribution: http://www.gofundme.com/2aptbpw

Join us on Thursday, June 9th as we bring Nerd Nite back to Stardust Video & Coffee for a nostalgic evening of thinking and drinking.

Nerd Nite is an evening of entertaining yet thought-provoking presentations– all while the audience drinks along in a casual atmosphere. Speakers present for 15-20 minutes each on a fascinating subject of their choice, often in an uncanny and unconventional way. Following each presentation is a brief Q&A with the audience.

Live Nerd Nite presentations in Orlando are always the second Thursday of every month. Come meet up, drink, and learn something new!

Speakers:
Omar Khateeb
Susanna Miller
Michael McConville

Hosted by Ricardo Williams

When: Thursday, June 9, 2016. 7pm
Where: Stardust Video & Coffee, 1842 Winter Park Rd, Orlando, FL 32803

RSVP is Required: http://www.ticketbase.com/events/nerd-nite-orlando-xxxx

Presentation List:
“Habits of the Mind: Waging War Against Yourself” by Omar Khateeb

Omar is an artistic scientist that is intellectually curious. The thing that drives Omar’s curiosity is connection. He likes to connect books, ideas, and people. The arc of his work isn’t about doing what’s easy or common. It’s about legacy and trust. His life experiences are a spectrum of curiously interesting things: Carnegie Hall soloist, former medical student, and marketer in surgical robotics. He has recently launched a fashion inventions company named p.s. mister. He also has an uncontrollable addiction to reading books and collecting knowledge. His road to recovery was stalled the moment Amazon Prime was invented. Connect with him on twitter (@okhateeeb) or Snap Chat (@okhateeb).

“Talking Tolkien: How Language Makes Culture, and How that Translates into Fictional Languages” by Susanna Miller

Susanna grew up moving between the US and Kenya, and found a home in books. She is the Orlando Campus Director for The Iron Yard, a coding bootcamp, and enjoying her newfound knowledge of the world of tech. In her free time, she reads a lot of books, tweets very occasionally, and cooks as much as she can.

“Talk, Dark, and Hairy: The Role of the Monster in American Culture” By Professor Michael McConville

For as long as humans have walked on Earth, we have feared that which we can’t see or what we don’t understand. The shadows of the forest, the depths of the seas – just beyond our control and comprehension exists a world of myth and monsters. While other regions of the world have stories of fanciful creatures and thousands of years of folklore, North America’s “monster culture” is much more grounded in the land and the people that inhabit it. It is even more starkly reflected in the popular culture of the United States, where monsters can be the stars of movies, television shows, and comics. Fear is replaced by familiarity, but the stories at the foundation of the American monster are largely forgotten. We’ll explore the roots of our monster mythos – and all become armchair cryptozoologists, as well!

Michael McConville has always been fascinated with the mysterious and the unknown, the stories and discoveries that raise more questions than they answer. This love of the unexplained – and the urge to learn and understand as much as possible about it – directly led Michael to teaching. Today, Michael serves as a professor of American History at the University of Central Florida, as well as the coordinator of the Buehler Planetarium at Seminole State College. In both pursuits, Michael is tasked to be a storyteller, to take what can be mysterious and interpret it in new and exciting ways. This is Michael’s third time as a Nerd Nite presenter, also taking part in Nerd Nite XXX and XXXV.

The 3rd Annual Orlando Tech Week Returns April 18-24!
Presented by: UCF CODING BOOT CAMP http://bit.ly/ucfbootcamp

Startups, Technology, & Innovation

Join a week-long showcase of the technology, creativity, and entrepreneurial hustle powering the future of Orlando.

Orlando Tech Week is an action-packed series of speakers, workshops, meetups, parties and more connecting Orlando’s business, creative, and technology community.

View the full schedule of events and register today at http://orlandotechweek.com/

#orlandotech #OTW16

Click the link to watch full interview: http://www.wesh.com/orlandomyway/on-the-town-orlando/nerd-nite-orlando-think-and-drink-thursday-at-fergs-depot/38988852

Nerd Nite is an evening of entertaining yet thought-provoking presentations– all while the audience drinks along in a casual atmosphere. Speakers present for 15-20 minutes each on a fascinating subject of their choice, often in an uncanny and unconventional way. Following each presentation is a brief Q&A with the audience.

Join us on Thursday, April 14th at Ferg’s Depot for our 38th consecutive monthly Nerd Nite in Orlando.

RSVP here: http://www.ticketbase.com/events/nerd-nite-orlando-xxxviii
Cost: Nerd Nite is still FREE (but there is a suggested donation of $5)

When: Thursday, April 14, 2016
Where: Ferg’s Depot, 78 W Church St, Orlando, FL 32801

Speakers:
Brittany Walsh Lyne
James Jeffrey Paul
Emily Dovydaitis

Hosted by Ricardo Williams

Presentation List:
“Sorry Not Sorry—Why Apologizing is Ruining Your Life” by Brittany Lyne

Brittany Lyne is the Co-Founder of Farm-Haus, an innovative Orlando company that uses Uber-like technology to deliver delicious, chef-created dishes using quality and local ingredients. She is a passionate entrepreneur with a love for good food, business and connecting with others. Her presentation will explore the deeper meaning behind why women apologize significantly more than men, and how it’s preventing them from achieving their fullest potential and living their best life in both business and personal.

“What A Shark and A Porpoise Taught Me About Jack The Ripper And His Last Victim” by James Jeffrey Paul

James Jeffrey Paul is a native of Orlando and a graduate of Duke University. His true crime book Nothing is Strange With You (XLibris) is still selling well 8 years after publication. His play about Jack the Ripper and his last victim, Miller’s Court, is available as an audio download and has been performed in North Carolina and London. Grinning Man Press of Canada will soon publish the first short novels in his series about a black female private detective, Miss Clytie James–The Mulatto Ripper, The Inquisition for Blood, Arranging a Lynching, and Buffet Flat Blues.

“Coffee Mugs, Menstrual Cups, and Panamanian Bologna: Internal Dilemmas of a Practical Treehugger” by Emily Dovydaitis

Emily Dovydaitis is the Health and Sustainability Coordinator for student government at the University of Central Florida. She’s currently pursuing an anthropology-biology double major. Her research on rural Nepal explores the implications of water sanitation on medicinal plant usage and environmental degradation. She plans to earn her M.D./Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, emphasizing the importance of preserving the environment as the foundation for healthy communities. You might recognize her as a veteran of Nerd Nite or as the woman who decided to raise awareness about waste by placing 250,000 plastic water bottles in the UCF Reflecting Pond.

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If you have any questions, please email Ricardo at

Info from their Kickstarter page:
When Shadows Fall is an exciting new form of entertainment that puts you in control as a player of a thrilling first-person story filled with high-tech interactions, immersive environments, and live performances to create an experience like no other.

We are asking for you to help us complete a ground-breaking concept that is years in the making. Funds raised here will allow us to build When Shadows Fall exactly as we have dreamed it up, executing our elaborate creative visions to excite all your senses.

Click here to make a contribution to their kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pseudonymproductions/when-shadows-fall-a-ground-breaking-gaming-experie