CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS 2026

Share your skills, strategies, and techniques and help us to grow stronger together at the statewide conference for environmental and outdoor education!

Conference Theme: Stronger Together

Conference Strands: Workshops should align with one of the strands below. However, if you have a workshop that isn't a good fit but you think it would bring strong value to our community, we encourage you to submit an application and select the strand that it's most closely aligned to.

Strand: Outdoor & Environmental Education 101 - Foundational Skills 

This could include workshops addressing the following topics:

• Group management and student engagement outdoors
• Integrating social and emotional learning
• Scientific exploration

Strand: Traditional Ecological Knowledge & Sense of Place

This could include workshops addressing the following topics:

Strand: Accessibility & Inclusion*
This could include workshops addressing the following topics:

• Outreach to new/expanded audiences
• Supporting neurodivergent students and staff
• Centering cultural relevancy
• Designing physically inclusive spaces 

Strand: Leadership

This could include workshops addressing the following topics:

• Community & individual wellness 
• Organizational capacity-building
• Technical skills for program leaders
• Hiring, onboarding, and training staff

* Note that equity and inclusion are expected to be incorporated into every workshop

Workshop slots are 60 minutes and the majority take place outside (on a trail, at picnic tables, or in an outdoor amphitheater). Workshops are intended to increase the knowledge and skills of our conference participants. Please don't use this as an opportunity to market your program or promote your materials. If you are interested in the latter, please consider sponsoring the event or registering to table at the resource fair on Saturday afternoon. 

If you would like to see the workshop proposal questions ahead of time, or are planning to collaborate with someone else, you can access the questions here. Feel free to download or make a copy to prepare your responses ahead of time. 

Want help crafting your workshop description or coming up with a catchy title? Join our workshop on workshops! January 13 from 4:30-5:30 PM over Zoom – click here to register. 

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A WORKSHOP PRESENTER APPLICATION (deadline: February 1, 2026)

Acceptance and notification: Workshops will be reviewed after the deadline and you will be notified by mid-February. If your workshop is accepted, you must register by the early-bird deadline of March 1, 2026 to secure a spot in the program. Workshop presenters receive a discounted registration rate, which can be accessed using the code emailed to you upon your acceptance notification. Please check your spam folder if you don't hear from us by mid-February. 

Call for affinity group leaders

Affinity spaces provide opportunities for folks with shared identities to connect across shared lived experiences in intimate ways which can be really joyful, healing, affirming, and supportive. In addition to celebration and healing, affinity spaces can support mitigating power dynamics, by minimizing the “teaching” that we often have to do when we have to explain how our identity specific experiences are different from those who do not walk through the world with our identities. We are looking for individuals interested in leading affinity spaces at different points throughout the conference. Affinity group leaders will receive the discounted presenter registration rate. 

At the 2026 conference we will offer the following opportunities for those shared connections:

• Job-alike affinity spaces: Participants can choose to connect with others in similar roles or educational settings (early childhood educators, K-12 classroom teachers, novice outdoor educators, experienced outdoor educators, program leaders, higher education instructors, something else?) to network and get to know one another. This is approximately a 30-45 minute session that could involve introductions, name games, ice-breakers, and/or short discussions. These sessions will be held concurrently after the conference opening on Saturday, before the first workshop slot. 
• Identity-based affinity spaces: Participants can choose to connect with others with a shared identity (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color [BIPOC], LGBTQIA+, something else?). This will be up to 45 minutes to meet one another, network, and discuss identity-related experiences and may be a place for connection, healing, and reflection. In recognition of the intersectional nature of human identities, these sessions will be scheduled at separate times on Friday and Saturday evening, after dinner. 

AFFINITY GROUP LEADER APPLICATIONS CAN BE SUBMITTED HERE (deadline: February 1, 2026)