Nerd Nite was first launched in Orlando at Stardust Video & Coffee on March 14, 2013. Nerd Nite Orlando is a monthly event featuring entertaining and educational presentations, hosted by Ricardo Williams. Speakers present for 15–20 minutes followed by a brief Q&A with the audience.
Join us on Friday, October 23rd at 7pm for a SPECIAL VIRTUAL EVENT and check in with former Nerd Nite speakers: Eliza Harris Juliano, Thienthanh Trinh, and Representative Anna V. Eskamani.
PRESENTATION #1: “Math for a Better City” by Eliza Harris Juliano
Learn how math and science can help make decisions that are better for cities; and better understand how good (or bad) city planning affects your everyday life in sometimes counter-intuitive ways.
Eliza is the Director of Urbanism at Canin Associates, where she helps communities and developers build and rebuild neighborhoods where walking or biking to run an errand or go to school is a safe and pleasant experience.
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PRESENTATION #2: “Wild Love: Strange Mating Strategies in the Animal Kingdom” by Thienthanh Trinh
Attracting mates can be incredibly difficult! Learn how animals across the animal kingdom lock it down. Sometimes it’s romantic. Sometimes it’s complicated. Sometimes it’s weird.
Thienthanh Trinh recently graduated from the University of Central Florida with her Masters in Biology. Her research was on the “zombie-ant fungus”, Ophiocordyceps, a fungal parasite that manipulates the behavior of its ant host. Lover of fun facts. Nature inspires both her science and her art. She hopes to use her creativity, love for science, and humor to communicate ideas in a fun, more engaging, and accessible way.
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For the final presentation, Rep. Anna V. Eskamani will demystify the legislative process in Tallahassee and answer pressing questions about the upcoming election.
Representative Anna V. Eskamani is a UCF graduate, Anna worked at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida for 7 years, and is now pursuing her PhD in Public Affairs. On November 6, 2018 Anna was elected to serve the great people of House District 47 in Orlando with a vote margin of 57% to 43%, flipping a legislative seat, and becoming the first Iranian-American elected to any public office in Florida.
You can still support Nerd Nite by making a purchase at the NERD NITE store!
BUY NOW @ bit.ly/nerdnitestore
Join us on Thursday, July 11th as we return to Stardust Video & Coffee in Audubon Park for an evening of thinking and drinking.
Nerd Nite is an evening of entertaining and educational presentations. Speakers present for 15 minutes, followed by a brief Q&A with the audience. Nerd Nite operates in over a hundred cities around the world and launched in Orlando on Thursday, March 14, 2013.
Click here to sign up for Nerd Nite.
PRESENTATION #1: “Space Trivia” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
PRESENTATION #2: “Historiography: Down the Rabbit Hole (of diverse and contentious perspectives, methods, and emphases by which humans have studied history…” by Benjamin Forbes Griffith
This presentation will take you “Down the Rabbit Hole” of historiography to explore diverse and contentious perspectives, methods, and emphases by which humans have studied history, why more people should know and care to think critically about them, and why more students should learn about them in school. Get ready for an entertaining history of some of the most intriguing as well as controversial schools of historiography from ancient until modern times — many of which few people have ever even heard of or thought about as “lenses” through which to think about and interpret history.
A lifelong intellectually curious bibliophile and lover of learning and philosophy, Ben Griffith was a high-school social-studies teacher for a decade before transitioning to a very different career as a web-developer. He has always enjoyed studying life’s deepest questions, including inspiring people to delve into some of the more nefarious, uglier, and lesser-known aspects of history — and was always eager to do his utmost to make history come alive for his students, critically engaging them in consuming, designing, and participating in multimedia technology, symposium debates, dramatic roleplaying exercises, primary source analyses, and other creative projects.
PRESENTATION #3: “How to Enjoy Medieval Fighting with out Problematic Loss of Limb” by LANCE Orlando
LANCE Orlando is a nonprofit organization which exists to provide the highest quality live action experiences and stage combat performances to educate and entertain while striving to promote an active, creative community in the Southeastern United States.
A long time comin’
We’ve been wanting to have Diana Griffith speak at Nerd Nite for a few years now and what better time for her to finally take the stage and give a talk called “The Political and Cultural Power of Women’s Anger”
Click here to sign up.
WHERE:
Stardust Video & Coffee
1842 Winter Park Rd
Orlando, FL 32803
WHEN:
Thursday June 13th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
6-7p: Pre-show videos
7-9p: Presentations
Diana Griffith is a business writer, artist, and host of the local podcast Orlando Lady Boss. On the show, she interviews women who impact, inspire, and grow the Orlando community. Diana wants to help more women find their voice in order add to our collective stories because she believe change can happen when we have the courage to share our stories with each other.
The month of June was chosen for LGBT Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. As a result, many pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact LGBT people have had in the world. We’re excited to have Scottie Campbell return to Nerd Nite on June 13th and give a talk called “An Incomplete History of the Stonewall Uprising”
Click here to sign up.
WHERE:
Stardust Video & Coffee
1842 Winter Park Rd
Orlando, FL 32803
WHEN:
Thursday June 13th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
6-7p: Pre-show videos
7-9p: Presentations
Scottie Campbell is an aspiring kind person and a multipotentialite. He is a founding partner of the production company Thomas M. Bunting Projects, LLC. He has actively supported Central Florida’s queer community for more than 20 years through charity work, activism, and freelance writing for Watermark. Other writing efforts include his micro-lit series Storied Orlando seen regularly in Bungalower’s zine. In July, he will celebrate one year as the Marketing Specialist for Orange County Library System, a gig he is thankful for daily. He holds a BA in theatre from Rollins College. Scottie makes his home in in downtown Orlando with his partner, Brendan O’Connor, and their rescue dog, Bernie Taupin.
Until May 28th, we’re having a Memorial Day sale at the NERD NITE STORE!
Use the promo code: MEMORIAL and get 10% off all items.
Click here to purchase a Nerd Nite shirt and other apparel. Select items are available in red, white, blue, navy blue, and black; sizes range from small, medium, large, x-large, xxl, and more.
Be the first to see a screening of JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM
Click here for FREE advanced passes:
http://www.lionsgatescreenings.com/JW3NerdNite
Location:
Regal Waterford Lakes Stadium 20 & IMAX
541 N. Alafaya Trail
Orlando, FL 32828
407-207-9110
Date & Time:
5/14/2019
07:30 PM (Be sure to arrive early)
Synopsis:
In this third installment of the adrenaline-fueled action franchise, super-assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin’s guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world’s most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn.
The latest video on the NERD NITE CHANNEL is from our 6th anniversary event where Brendan Byrne discusses the “History of the Space Toilet.”
Click here to watch.
Human spaceflight has been plagued by waste. From urine-soaked spacesuits to floating turds, the history of human spaceflight is flush with dirty (and hilarious) anecdotes of dealing with waste in space. Engineers seem to have a handle on #1 & #2 as we explore low Earth orbit, but the future of deep space exploration hinges on our ability to overcome a heaping pile of physiological, biological and engineering problems. So how will we do it? WMFE’s space reporter Brendan Byrne has been exploring the history of the space toilet for a new book and presents a brief history of the galactic commode – and ideas for new hardware that will boldly take our poop to places like the moon and Mars.
The wait is over. In partnership with teespring, the NERD NITE STORE is officially open!
Click here to purchase a Nerd Nite shirt and other apparel. Select items are available in red, white, blue, navy blue, and black; sizes range from small, medium, large, x-large, xxl, and more.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE: shirts, v-necks, tanks, and hoodies
Join us on Thursday, May 9th as we return to Stardust Video & Coffee in Audubon Park for an evening of thinking and drinking.
Guest speakers include:
Jaylen Christie
Sharon Hammond
We’ll also be giving away some promotional swag from the upcoming movie John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and some advanced screening passes!
PRESENTATION #1:
“Effective Crisis Communication Strategies…as related to Power Rangers!” by Jaylen Christie
As the Director of Public Relations at Moxe, a local marketing agency, Jaylen helps manage ongoing media relations while creating and distributing content, leading strategic communications planning, and overseeing the day-to-day execution of PR plans for clients and ongoing publicity initiatives that generate media coverage. Jaylen is a recipient of a William Randolph Hearst award for outstanding editorial writing and is a member of the Orlando chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, serving on its Board of Directors as Vice President of Communication, Orange County Library system and is a proud member of Alpha Phi Fraternity, Inc. Jaylen earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Florida A&M University and a graduate certificate in corporate communication from the University of Central Florida. He’s also a HUGE Power Rangers fan!
PRESENTATION #2:
“Do U Even Meme, Tho?” by Sharon Hammond
Memes…bite-sized bits of entertainment, shared peer to peer and defined in part by their viral nature. As a medium of communication, we mostly dismiss them as funny, silly and relatively innocuous…BUT could they serve a more serious and nefarious purpose? We’ll see how the format has been successfully hijacked and weaponized by bad actors after our attention, wallets and votes.
Sharon is an information enthusiast, community organizer, occasional public speaker, food-system nut and all around lover of humanity. She is currently working with the non-profit The Society Library, on a mission to transform the way that we access, evaluate and utilize information for decision-making as a society.
Orlando Public Library
Saturday, May 18, 2019
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Orlando Book Festival is a day-long celebration of books at the Orlando Public Library. Join us for panels, writing workshops, book signings, and more from bestselling authors from all over the country. Enjoy opening and closing keynotes from New York Times bestselling authors Daniel José Older and Delilah S. Dawson.
This event is free and open to the public. Click here for more info