Central Florida nerds, celebrate! Nerd Nite Orlando is marking a decade of nerdy knowledge and fellowship, with one more gathering before its official 10-year anniversary on “Pi Day,” March 14th. Nerd Nite founder Ricardo Williams tells us how a night for sharing intellectual interests became a beloved nerdy institution.
Ricardo Williams:
I am the host and organizer of Nerd Nite Orlando. But Nerd Nite Orlando is not the only Nerd Nite. We have a great network of Nerd Nites all around the globe, close to 100 actually, that are operating that have regular Nerd Nite events throughout the year. And I'm happy to say that Orlando is certainly the one of the liveliest ones. And we've been going strong for - it'll be 10 years, this March 14th, that'll be 10 years since our very first Nerd Nite Orlando event. So I'm super excited for that as we get closer and closer to that date. And it's just been a real treat to do this program for so long. And to have it be received so positively from our community. It's just a real treat.
Nicole Darden Creston:
Ten years - congratulations. So for the uninitiated, explain what Nerd Nite is like now. I know that it's been through some evolution over the years.
Ricardo Williams:
Yeah, yeah. So basically, what Nerd Nite is, it's recurring events, where we bring together guest speaker, and they essentially nerd out about what they're passionate about. I, as an organizer, as the host, I basically find speakers and you know, curate a list of folks for each event. And what they do is they make a presentation, usually about 15 to 20 minutes long, essentially a PowerPoint. And they talk about, you know, something that's meaningful to them, and they break down the science of something or they just kind of dig into a very esoteric topic. I've had folks who I've said that to them before in the past, and they think that the audience has to do something. So like, “Oh, man, I'm really nervous about coming to Nerd Nite. I don't know what I'm gonna do.” I'm like, no, no, you come and have a good time and learn something and meet interesting people and, and just connect and fellowship and all that good stuff. So there's no pressure on the audience. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's, I can honestly say it's one of the few events that I've met people that say they're comfortable coming to alone. And you know, that's a big deal for people. Most people don't want to go anywhere by themselves, you know, let alone a big raucous event or something like that, you know? So it's something that I'm very proud of that makes people feel comfortable and safe and at home.
Nicole Darden Creston:
Can you tell me a little bit about the topics that are on the slate for the next Nerd Nite?
Ricardo Williams:
Sometimes we delay announcing just because, you know, we already have the speaker, or they haven't quite ironed out specifically what the topic is - they'll have like a general idea. I hate to announce something too early, you know, because it could change or something like that. And I've gotten to the point where I'm so trusting and confident with the speaker, that even if they're not ready quite yet to announce it, I know they're going to be great. So our talks for this upcoming event on February 9, we our first speaker is going to be Ian Cole. He's spoken of course before, and he's gonna be talking about how nerdy people make friends. Ian is a hero of mine. Actually, I don't think I have ever told him that. But he has organized one of the most popular recurring events in town, which is called Maker Faire Orlando. And if you haven't been to Maker Faire, get your tickets now for the fall, it's going to be awesome. It's always a huge treat, you meet the most interesting people, as an organizer myself, anybody that organizes something over time, and comes out of it alive, I have the utmost respect. And he's done an amazing job with that. So he's gonna be our first talk. And then a second talk is going to be my dear friend, Eliza Giuliano. She's spoken quite a few times before, she's an urban planner. And her talks are normally about transportation and cities. And she even did a talk on rank choice voting in the past. So I'm excited to see what she does. And our last speaker, this is a tricky one, because we haven't quite released this info yet. But I can tell you this gentleman, his name is Shawn Marshall. And he gave a talk a couple years back, where it was almost kind of like performance art. And believe me when I tell you it brought the house down. He gave his speech like a preacher, but he wasn't preaching about a particular religion. He was preaching about science. It's one of those things that my former co-bosses and I would always talk about how, like, “how do we get that magic again,” after we've had some incredible speakers. But there's a certain magic that Shawn brought at that event. And I always kick myself for not recording it, because it's one of those things where I would love to just see it again, but now it only exists in our memories, you know, and in our hearts and but yeah, he's coming back. So we're excited to have him. February 9 is our last event before our 10-year anniversary on March 14th, which is Pi Day, of course, but it's also holiday here in the city of Orlando. It's Nerd Nite Day, thanks to our Mayor [Buddy Dyer] and our city for giving us that proclamation. We're getting closer and closer to a huge, momentous occasion.
Nicole Darden Creston:
If you could make your own proclamation about Nerd Nite over its 10 years, what would you want people to know about it?
Ricardo Williams:
Nicole, I have so many answers to that question. This is what I do. I live, breathe and drink-alcohol Nerd Nite. (laughter) One of the main places that we have events at is Stardust. We are going to be at Stardust Video and Coffee on February 9th. And that's where we had our very first event on March 14th 2013. And, you know, I think about that place a lot because it's one of those kind of like, community mainstays. Everybody knows about Stardust, everybody has some story or some kind of event in their life that happened there. You know, they've been home to so many great artists, bands have played there. It's almost kind of like our CBGBs, if you will. I had this dream in my head of like, not even a proclamation but like a plaque that said, “Stardust Video and Coffee, birthplace of Nerd Nite, Orlando.” As if that requires any type of plaque or anything, maybe just like somebody writing on the bathroom wall or something. (laughter) But I just imagined that phrase, and I just think it would just be so cool to kind of celebrate that. So if anybody from the city is listening, you'll be getting an email from me within the week about this now that it's not that it's out of my head and out there and on the airwaves. (laughter) But yeah, I think about that and I also think about, you know, the people. For me, when I first started doing Nerd Nite, it was always kind of like, “Oh, this is cool. I could find a real use for this, a real function in the community. I know exactly what kind of role it can play and how we could just do cool things and have a good time!” And I didn't really expect for it to be so meaningful to some people. When we stopped because of the pandemic, you know, people were reaching out constantly, like, “Hey, are we ready to come back?” And I'm like, “Oh, no, I gotta get my shots, man, I gotta get the vaccines, you know, we're not ready yet!” You know, this is like five months into the pandemic. And I didn't realize how special that place of community is for people. And I knew that it would be cool or awesome, but I didn't really think that it would be something really touching even for me, I kind of really underestimated that. And I've had friends who have met their girlfriends, their spouses at Nerd Nite, and some of them have gone on to have children! It's almost kind of like, wow, you know, we're playing a really important role in some people's lives. So the other proclamation would be “Nerd Nite, birthplace of (so many) newborns.” (laughter) That's kind of a long answer. But yeah, I'm really interested in how much it means to people. And I'm so grateful that we're back and we're doing events and it's just good to be around people and we have the warmest audience. There are some people who come to almost every single event. People have followed us and they've just showed so much love and I just it's such a beautiful thing.
