Category: Speaker

BW Ellis

11 a.m., March 3, 2019

Ever hit an emotional wall when you are trying to present logical and reasoned arguments about religion?

It’s all part of being human, so use the human quality of emotional appeal combined with professional marketing tactics and the language of diplomacy to reach others when discussing atheism, humanism, and a secular worldview. Change minds using the same methods employed by some of the most convincing and influential people in western history.

For over two decades BW Ellis has worked in the communications industry. From operating his own business’s marketing endeavors to running his own graphic design firm, to designing and building large scale communications packages for the medical services, corporate, educational, and public sector industries, his expertise has reached millions.

Now, BW Ellis is producing a radio show (and podcast coming soon) called Talk Like An Atheist. This effort is an attempt to teach the tools used to convince people in commercial marketing for use toward making the case for non-belief.

After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

Using Emotional Tools to Leverage Logic & Reason When Discussing Religion – BW Ellis from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

Oswald Campesato

11 a.m., February 3, 2019

This fast-paced session provides a brief history of Artificial Intelligence (AI), followed by AI-related topics, such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning, and the most popular frameworks for Machine Learning. You will learn about some of the successes of AI, and also some of the significant challenges in AI. No specialized knowledge is required, but an avid interest is recommended to derive the maximum benefit from this session.

Oswald Campesato is a former PhD Candidate (ABD) in Mathematics, an education fanatic with multiple graduate degrees, and an author of 20 technical books. He has worked for Oracle, AAA, and Just Systems of Japan, along with various startups. He has lived/worked in 5 countries on three continents, and in a previous career he worked in South America, Italy, and the French Riviera, and has traveled to 70 countries on six continents. He has worked from C/C++/Java developer to CTO, comfortable in 4 languages, and wants to become fluent in Japanese. He has presented Deep Learning sessions at conferences, such as the Mensa Conference in SF (11/2018), Google LaunchPad, and Bay Area meetups to more than 1,200 people, and he is currently is an instructor for Deep Learning and TensorFlow as well as Machine Learning at UCSC, and a consultant who provides training primarily in Deep Learning, TensorFlow, and Android.

Slides from his talk can be found here.

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Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

Sena Havasy

11 a.m., January 27, 2019

Longtime Humanist Community member Sena Havasy will give a brief history of the Industrial Workers of the World, and introduce some of the dedicated activists of the movement, some of the major strikes, and gains won and horrific reactions. She will finish with the decline in its numbers, and its later history, up until the present day.

After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.