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About this application

We are excited to learn about your ideas for presenting a workshop at MBLGTACC 2024! We welcome proposals covering any topic relevant to Midwest queer and trans college students and young adults. You don’t need to have every minute of your session planned out to submit your proposal. In this application, we’re looking for information about your general idea and what kind of session you’d like to present. If accepted, we’ll collaborate with you leading up to the conference to make sure you feel comfortable and prepared to present your workshop at MBLGTACC.

Application timeline

• May 28 - proposals due
• July 12 - presenters notified of acceptance
• July 29 - deadline for accepted presenters to confirm attendance
• Aug. 12 - final titles and descriptions due
• Sept. 3 - presenters notified of workshop schedule
• Sept. 25 - deadline to submit copies of presenter materials (slideshows, etc.) to conference staff

About workshops at MBLGTACC 2024

At MBLGTACC 2024, each workshop session will be 60 minutes long and take place on Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27. 

If you are applying to present, please do not register to attend MBLGTACC yet. If your session is accepted, you and your co-presenters will receive a free ticket to attend MBLGTACC.

Please note, in order to give an opportunity to present to as many people as possible, we will accept a maximum of two (2) sessions per presenter.

We hope to feature sessions in a variety of formats. In the program booklet, each workshop will be tagged with one of the following categories:

• Knowledge Builder: Workshop presenters (individuals or panels) will share specific content, research, knowledge, and/or history with the audience. Sessions may include Q&A from the audience, but this isn’t required.
• Application & Decompression: These sessions provide the “what’s next” implicitly or explicitly and help attendees break down the information they’ve learned and prepare to apply it after leaving MBLGTACC. Audience participation and experiences are encouraged in these sessions.
• Facilitated Conversation: Workshop presenters will engage the audience in a discussion about a topic or shared experience. Audience participation and experiences are centered in these sessions.
• Skill Lab: These sessions feature hands-on demonstrations that provide a tangible outcome or product.

Additionally, we are interested in content that aligns with certain tracks. You are not required to align your proposal with one of these tracks, but sessions that do will be tagged with the track name in the program booklet.

• Art, Media & Design: Queer and trans folks know a thing or two about entertainment, content creation, media, and design! Whether the goal is advocacy for a cause, mobilizing people around an injustice, strengthening a community through art and music, or bringing laughter and joy to your followers, media and content creation is a strong tool for gender justice and sexual liberation.
• Change on College Campuses: College campuses are key areas of influence for our conference attendees. The history of higher education is rife with instances in which queer and trans people are underrepresented in programming, initiatives, and opportunities. College students, educators, and practitioners play an integral role in expanding possibilities for our communities on campuses and improving campus climate for marginalized people. 
• Justice, Activism, & Protest: Justice and rights will never be handed over by oppressive systems. They must be demanded. College campuses, urban centers, and rural communities have all been sites for direct action, protests, and other forms of activism in recent years specifically around issues of racial justice, police brutality, student loan debt, and climate catastrophes. Queer and trans folks are highly represented among those on the front lines, in medic tents, and leading mutual aid projects
• Self & Community Care: Experiences of burnout, disruptions to existing organization and education efforts, and constantly reacting to waves of injustice have weighed heavily on queer and trans communities. It is essential we dedicate time and attention to pleasure, joy, wellness, and healing in order to sustain ourselves, our communities and our movement.
• Small-Town Queerness: Communities outside of urban spaces are often disregarded by political campaigning and resource allocation, leaving marginalized communities to manifest their own models of advocacy, organizing, and activism. By focusing on the work being done in rural communities to bridge resource gaps, build extensive communities, and combat small town conservative ideologies, we expand our toolkit of possible tactics and strategies for social change.

Proposal Details

In this section, please provide some information about your proposed workshop including the name of your workshop, a brief description, who is presenting, and what times you are available to present.

Detailed Description

In this section, please provide more information about your workshop idea and highlight your experience(s) relating to this workshop. This is your opportunity to explain how you will use your workshop time and your approach to teaching on this topic.

Please answer at least 3 of the following 5 questions. Alternatively, you can skip these questions and provide a link to a video or audio recording of you providing this information. We offer these options for those who may feel more confident providing an outline in either a written format or a verbalized/oral format.

Additional Information

Presenter guidelines

If you are accepted to present at MBLGTACC 2024, you will be expected to abide by certain guidelines. Please be sure to review these and let us know if you have any questions by emailing hello@sgdinstitute.org.

Communication
We will provide updates and important information via the email you provided in your workshop submission. Please be attentive to your email and be mindful of any communicated due dates.

Accessibility
We trust presenters to aid us in curating an accessible environment for all attendees. We will provide as much guidance and support as possible to equip presenters with accessibility tools for their workshops. This is not an exhaustive list, but we would like to emphasize these simple ways to enhance the accessibility of your workshop: 

• Use Google Slides to build your presentation and check for color contrast and readability. Check out IT Accessibility: Google Slides for more info on accessible slides.
• Always use a microphone while presenting. Each workshop room is equipped with a microphone. Also, repeat any attendee questions into the microphone for those who may have missed it.
• If you’re using Google Slides, enable the captions function 
• If you’re using slides or images, describe the content while presenting. For example, “This photo shows five people laughing” or “This is the Midwest Institute logo” 
• If there is text on the screen, read it out loud. And be mindful of the font size for all text in your presentation materials. Fancy fonts or text that is too small can be difficult to process. 
• We welcome additional recommendations you have discovered that we could share out to all presenters.

Preparedness
MBLGTACC is a stepping stone for queer and trans presenters who use their experience of presenting to launch into careers in education, public speaking, entertainment, community organizing, and more! We want to support you in feeling confident, comfortable and prepared to present your exciting workshop idea.

In mid-September, we’ll provide more details about a Presenter Orientation hosted via Zoom. This will be an opportunity for you to ask questions as you put the finishing touches on your workshop materials. 

We will be requesting digital copies of presentation materials (ex: presentation slides, handouts, worksheets, video clips, etc.) by September 25. Presentation content collected will only be used for internal purposes such as reviewing content for compliance with the Code for Inclusion. More details about this process will be provided closer to the submission deadline.