It’s 6:45 p.m. on the first Saturday of October at Grand Prize, a beloved two-story bar in Montrose. The sounds of alt-rock music, conversations among the hiply dressed clientele, and ice cubes being scooped into cocktail glasses fill the space. The dimly lit downstairs area is illuminated by wall-mounted televisions, chandeliers, and multicolored Christmas strobe lights—a year-round fixture—that twinkle around the front windows and above the bar. The first floor of the haunt welcomes guests in, while the sounds of someone doing a mic check beckon curious bar goers up to the second floor.

Heather Ringman, wearing a black dress and black ankle boots, shuffles about in the upstairs area in front of the tiki-themed bar with “GRAND PRIZE” spelled out with red light bulbs above. She holds a wired microphone in one hand while setting up the space, hanging a white sheet on the wall and powering on a projector connected to her laptop: “Nerd Nite Houston: October 2023” reads a slide, above an illustration of a pair of black thick-rimmed glasses.

Held in over 100 cities, Nerd Nite is a free monthly event that invites people to give brief, fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines while the audience drinks along. Topics range from Texas tort reform to the history of dog fashion.

Ringman, the host and organizer of the evening, along with her two friends and Nerd Nite loyalists, sip on cocktails and nibble on the food they ordered from Trophy Case, the bar’s snack counter downstairs. It’s still relatively early, but Ringman has the evening’s speakers’ slideshows loaded and ready to go.

One of the early birds is Jessica Schulz, a 35-year-old who lives in Sugar Land and found out about Nerd Nite through word of mouth. “I feel like Nerd Nite is like going down a YouTube rabbit hole—you learn something new every time,” she says. “It’s like a fun high school for adults. It’s people coming together about things that they have shared or different interests in.”

As 7 p.m. approaches, the “nerds” begin to assemble and take their seats in the freshly arranged furniture or perch on the pool table behind the chairs. The space quickly becomes a packed house with standing room only as stragglers make their way in. Ringman greets the guests before offering the etymology of the word nerd, which has its first documentation in the Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo, signaling the festivities have begun.

Hosting Nerd Nite isn’t a gig Ringman, who works full-time as a manufacturing engineer, necessarily sought out. “I saw a Facebook event for Nerd Nite and thought it sounded interesting since I’m a super nerd,” says the 39-year-old former Jeopardy contestant. “After I had gone a few times, one of the bosses of Nerd Nite asked if I’d like to be in charge.”

It’s the community aspect that keeps Ringman coming back each month, A/V equipment in tow. “Nerd Nite is a chance to hear about a variety of topics from people who are excited to share their passion about their subject. Sometimes it’s someone talking about a subject they are an expert in, and sometimes it’s someone who loves a subject and wants to tell more people about it,” she explains. “I’m a nerd who wants to learn about everything and I love getting people to nerd out about things too.”

Each speaker presents their topic for roughly 15 minutes, which includes a slideshow akin to ones in a college course, except the majority of class is drinking cocktails instead of studiously taking notes. The crowd is lively, laughing along, whispering among themselves about the information presented, and engaging in a lighthearted question and answer portion following each presentation.

On October 7, topics range from local politics to Britpop. Thomas Espinosa kicks off the night with “What’s the Deal with Roguelikes?,” an explanation of the nuances of this subgenre of role-playing video games. Next up is Emily Hynds, who runs a website and hosts a podcast titled Emily Takes Notes, in which she recaps Houston City Council meetings. Fittingly, the title of her talk is “Houston City Council.” She begins by asking audience members to call out the neighborhood they live in, and she replies with the name of their city council member, complete with her overall impressions of them. The call and response technique draws the crowd in as the politico discusses the “strong mayor system” and how Proposition A would impact city hall, ending in a rousing call to action to vote in the upcoming election.

As the third speaker’s time approaches, the crowd hasn’t dwindled—it’s even summoned more intrigued bar goers. Devin Will comes to the mic and explains she will be playing some accompanying music at low volume to go along with her presentation, “A Brief Overview of Britpop.” Guiding the audience through an extensive yet engaging timeline, Will shares how the music impacted her own journey. An anecdote about the 1996 Britpop derby that pitted the bands Blur and Oasis against each other, all in the name of charity, garnered the hardiest laughs of the evening.

Ringman is now gearing up for the November 4 event, which will feature three presentations: “Mexican Lucha Libre in H-Town,” “A People’s History of Rock ‘N’ Roll,” and “Proposition A: Why Democracy Is Important.”

“There have been talks about so many different topics, including those I wouldn’t even think that I would be interested in,” Schulz admits. “There was one about the history of grills. I had no idea that there was such a rich, vast history to that. When there’s something that someone is passionate about, it becomes interesting to learn about.”

The mini-lectures range in seriousness, but Ringman argues that there’s always a nugget of wisdom that guests can walk away with. “I particularly love all the talks about animals,” she says. “There was one about cat behavior and how they express emotion. I think about it every time I see a cat and want to pet it.”

Throughout the evening, unsuspecting Montrose dwellers who find themselves upstairs at Grand Prize either stick around to see what’s going on, or retreat downstairs or to the patio. One thing is certain, however. Nerd Nite is open for all to come, enjoy presentations on various topics, face their public speaking fears, make new friends, and learn a fun fact or two to take back to the watercooler (or, err, Zoom meeting) on Monday.

Ringman has high hopes for a bright future for Nerd Nite, explaining that despite what others may think, everyone has an inner nerd worth embracing and sharing with others. “I want Nerd Nite to keep growing,” she says. “There are so many people in Houston who work in such cool fields, or know so many different cool things, and I want to meet and learn from them.”