Now accepting proposals for workshops for the MEEA 2025 Annual Conference!
Are you passionate about environmental education, climate change, Wabanaki studies, or community organizing?
SUBMIT YOUR WORKSHOP PROPOSAL BY MARCH 15
We’re excited to create a space for you to share your skills and experience with your community about outdoor learning, climate justice, Wabanaki studies, and community organizing. Your workshop ideas are what make the MEEA Annual Conference a fulfilling and meaningful day of learning. Thank you for considering to submit a workshop proposal!
Workshops are one hour long and can take place outdoors or indoors. We highly encourage outdoor workshops! This year’s conference theme is Connecting for Inspiration. This two-day event is intended to restore a sense of connection and encourage new people to see themselves in the environmental education community in Wabanaki homelands now called Maine. We hope the conference can hold space for dialogue about both the challenges we face and the successes we have. Plus, fun and interactive activities that attendees can take home to their schools and communities!
HOW TO SUBMIT
Anyone is welcome to submit a workshop proposal, including youth, students and early career professionals. Submit your proposal by March 15 at this form. The MEEA conference planning team will review and decide on workshops based on alignment with the four workshops strands, overall conference goals and the criteria listed below on this webpage. Everyone who submitted a workshop proposal will be notified by the end of March.
WORKSHOP AUDIENCE
We encourage you to submit workshop proposals that are relevant and accessible for many interest and skill levels. Please include information about what the audience will experience during your workshop in your proposal, as we are aiming to go beyond providing lecture-style presentations about past projects. Your audience could include classroom educators, community educators, students, early career professionals, school administrators, nonprofit professionals, and community organizers. Some participants have been in this field for years, while others are newly interested. Please be mindful of your use of industry jargon and acronyms in your workshop, as we want this conference to be a learning opportunity for individuals new to the environmental education community.
CONFERENCE ACCESSIBILITY
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. Our staff will be doing a further accessibility audit of the indoor and outdoor locations this spring. Please let us know in the next question what your accessibility needs are to be able to participate in the conference and present your workshop by checking an option or writing in your specific needs.
PARTICIPATION STIPEND
Presenters from underrepresented communities in the environmental sector are encouraged to submit a workshop proposal and are eligible to receive a $250 stipend. Please contact conference@meeassociation.org to learn more.
PRESENTER COSTS
Conference registration fees are on a sliding scale for all participants including presenters. You can select No Cost and Pay What You Can if paying for this conference is a barrier to attendance. Please see here to learn more about how to determine your payment.
All workshops will be one hour long and will be selected based on the following criteria:
ACTION-ORIENTED
Action-oriented with solutions attendees can take away from the workshop and bring back to their communities and schools to implement.
BEYOND THE LECTURE
Includes interactive activities to engage attendees beyond lecture-style workshops
IN-DEPTH CONVERSATIONS
Builds connection and in-depth conversation amongst attendees
CONNECT AND INSPIRE
Relates to the conference’s theme of Connecting for Inspiration
ACCESSIBLE
MEEA staff will support attendees in creating an accessible workshop experience for all attendees. We encourage you to think through accessibility needs for your audience, please reach out to conference@meeassociation.org if you have specific questions about incorporating accessibility into your workshop proposal.
NEW AND CREATIVE
Provides examples and/or case studies that are creative, relevant to your audience, and align with MEEA’s mission.
OUTDOORS & INDOORS
We encourage outdoor workshops that engage attendees with the outdoors (with backup indoor options for weather needs). We will also accept indoor workshops and hope to have a good mix of indoor and outdoor workshops for the event.
Workshop Strands
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Outdoor Learning
Workshops that can take place outdoors (with an indoor weather option) that share lessons or examples of specific outdoor learning methods and skills.
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Climate Education
Workshops on teaching and learning about climate change. The workshop can be focused on best practices around the overall approach or specific activities and curricula to engage with climate change. You do not need to be a working educator to enter your proposal in this strand.
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Wabanaki Studies (Invite Only)
Workshops that engage the audience with Wabanaki studies lessons and activities that attendees can bring back to their schools and communities | This year, we are building a Wabanaki studies strand through invitation-only and are not accepting workshop proposals. However, please email us at conference@meeassociation.org if you have a Wabanaki studies workshop idea and would like to be considered for this strand.
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Skills for Action
Workshops that share skills for community organizing, relationship building, policy and advocacy, organizational structure, and beyond.
2024 Conference Workshops
Curious what types of workshops were at last year’s conference?
Want some inspiration for your workshop proposal? Check out last year’s workshops below!
