One of the final panels of the conference (all photos by author)
My first hint of this comes when I’m getting my media accreditation with a man named Corey who has ridden his motorcycle from Victoria, British Columbia, to this conference. We’re waiting in line together, and once he gets a ticket he becomes visibly giddy.“I’m a little starstruck,” he says. “I’ve seen a lot of people I know from YouTube here.”“I’ve seen a lot of people I know from YouTube here.”
A flat earth conference attendee takes in the talks.
Robbie Davidson speaks to the crowd.
The mingling slowly dies as people take their seats. The screens in front of the building have a timer that is counting down the minutes until the conference officially opens. It gives the whole scene a bit of an ominous undertone, but it works to build up the crowd into a buzz. For the last ten seconds, you can hear some counting down under their breath. When the counter hits zero, the room goes dark, and a flashy video begins playing."It kinda feels like a really happy AA meeting."
A man sells his flat Earth board game to an attendee.

Speaker Rob Skiba sits in front of the crowd as they watch one of his YouTube videos.
The Devil!!
Now, this isn’t par for the course of the conference by any means, but it would be a lie to say things like this don’t come up every few hours. Whether it be someone talking about angels, another person saying if you understand the truth you might be murdered and so on. At one point in my conversation with Mark Sargent, where he is discussing the scientific accuracy of flat Earth theorists, I ask him about this."This is straight up Luciferian, guys."
The crew behind Globebusters tears down their equipment after one of their talks.
“As I’m seeing all the media coverage coming out from yesterday, I’m absolutely appalled,” Davidson says at the start of the second days opening speech. For the next 20 minutes, Davidson and other speakers rail against the media and, at one point, during a break in the rants, a lone call rings out.“Fake Neeeewwwssss.”
A woman asks a question during the Q & A segment of the second day.
A young attendee in a tin-foil hat.
In the final panel of the conference, the speakers attempt to provide a how-to for their faithful to broach the subject with their families—and the possible fallout that may occur. They speak about it jocularly, but their dark anecdotes indicate they’ve paid for their beliefs in one way or another.“If you want to see someone get in touch with their inner-psycho, just mention that you’re looking into it and you will see sweet old ladies go bat-crap crazy right in front of you,” said speaker Rob Skiba. “Your grandmother who was like the sweetest woman ever will go insane. People that I never imagined in a million years losing it, going crazy in front of me.”"If you want to see someone get in touch with their inner-psycho, just mention that you’re looking into it…"
The speakers take a photo together at the end of the conference.