Secular Solstice & Rationalist Megameetup 2023

On December 9th, New York City will have a Secular Solstice. Solstice is a holiday designed by and for rationalists. Secular Solstices take place in many cities, but the tradition started in New York and for me there's no better place for it. Now a tradition spanning over a decade, rationalists from across North America- and sometimes from further afield- will come together to sing about the distant past and the hoped for future. Solstice will be at Ida K. Lang Theatre at Hunter College, 695 Park Ave RM 424N, New York, at 7:15pm Saturday.

From the evening of December 8th to the morning of December 11th, NYC will also be the home of the NYC Rationalist Megameetup. We will have sleeping space (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) for those from out of town as well as meeting spaces to congregate in. This year the Rationalist Megameetup will take place in the Brooklyn Downtown Holiday Inn at 300 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn. Historically the Megameetup has had estimation games, impromptu sing-alongs, and the highlighted lightning talks. That said, the Megameetup that can be named is not the true Megameetup. In previous years it felt like every corner I turned had people talking excitedly about topics I couldn't find anywhere outside of a rationalist meetup.

Six years ago, the first megameetup was an experiment. It wasn't clear at the time that this was something people wanted, and it was a smaller event. The result of that experiment was positive, and every year the venue filled to capacity. Now we're trying another experiment; since the most common piece of feedback is that the venue was too small we've scaled up from a large apartment to a small hotel. This means it's more expensive, but also means we have a lot more space.

Another change: This year, Solstice and Megameetup registrations are combined, though you can of course register for just solstice if you like. Use the registration form and payment page to pick which combination of Solstice, Megameetup events, and overnight sleeping arrangements you prefer. (If you want all three, pick one of each kind!) We have arranged a hotel block of rooms at a discount, but if we've run out of rooms in the block you might try booking with the hotel directly- ideally if you do so, let them know you're with the New York City Rationalist Megameetup!

I hope to see you there!

-Skyler Crossman