Monsterfest 2013:
Inverness Science & Technology Festival

Friday 14 to Sunday 23 June
The Monster is back - with a new look and a brand new exciting programme of science & technology themed events!

This year's Monsterfest brings you a fabulous range of speakers, topics, hands-on activities and even a pre-release viewing of a movie that we predict is going to prove a huge hit when it reaches a wider audience in the near future.

If you take a look at the Programme page, we think you'll see why it is difficult to pick out highlights, but we know from your feedback and requests in previous years that you're going to be especially delighted to see these two speakers on the programme!

Iain Stewart, Professor for the Public Understanding of Geology at the University of Plymouth, is of course best known for his BBC TV series, including the wonderful Earth: The Power of the Planet. Follow the link to watch a clip from that. 

And Richard Wiseman, Professor for the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, is back by popular request, this time talking about paranormal experiences, and what the study of psychology can tell us about them – and ourselves. Richard's events are always highly entertaining and very informative, so we're sure this one is going to prove as popular as the last one he did for us, in 2011. 

So what else is new?

This year for the first time we are introducing lunchtime events as well: 50-minute Complete Beginners' Guides to a range of science subjects and issues, giving us all the chance to fill in any gaps or anything that has been forgotten since school days!

And this year our Monster Family Day has a completely NEW programme of fun activities and demonstrations for all the family, none of which have been seen at Monsterfest before. It's going to be at a new location too: at Inverness College's Longman Road campus, and not at Midmills, as in previous years. Bigger, better and more exciting than ever before, the Family Day will be on the first Saturday (15 June) of the festival this year - why not put the date in your diary now?

Of course, all our other events are on themes we haven't covered at previous Monsterfests too: please take a look at this year's Programme page for full details. We think you'll like what you see!

One thing that has stayed the same is that there is no charge for attending the majority of this year's events; for the small number where there is a charge, we have kept it as low as possible, and we've also made it easier for you to book and pay online this year, using Paypal or a credit card.

Can you help us make this year's Monsterfest another great success?

As always, we are very grateful to the Scottish Government for its funding for Monsterfest, and to the other organisations that help us by covering some or all of the costs of their involvement (please see logos at the foot of the screen). 

However, the budget for Monsterfest is still very tight and cannot run to a major advertising campaign, so we really need your help to spread the word about it!

There are lots of ways you can do this:

• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and share information about this year's Monsterfest with your own friends and followers. 
   
• Tell your friends, family and neighbours about events that you think might interest them
   
• Drop us an email at info@monsterfest.co.uk if you would be able to distribute Monsterfest fliers to your child's school, or to your neighbours, or in your workplace or golf club ... or anywhere else! This proved to be a particularly effective way of getting the word out last year, so it would be great if lots more of you could help us with this again this year. Fliers won't be available until the second half of May, but you don't need to wait until then before getting in touch. Please let us know where you live, how many fliers you'd like, and where you'd propose to distribute them (so we can avoid annoying people with too much duplication).
   
• If you have other ideas - for instance, if you'd like to raise some funds (sponsored activities, bring and buy sales, coffee mornings) - we'd obviously be delighted to hear from you, and we'd be happy to spread the word about them!

Finally, while you're here, why not use the box on the right to sign up for the Monsterfest e-newsletter? Don't worry: we won't bombard you with emails and it's easy to unsubscribe at any time. It's the best way of making sure you are always kept up to date with news about the festival.

Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to seeing you at this year's Monsterfest.

Paula Kirby
for the Monsterfest team at Inverness College