Tag Archives: Workshop

Activism for Newbies

Conference,

with Lauren Lane
Workshop Set 2
Track 2

“But what can a nobody like me do?” This is one of the heartbreaking questions we hear in activism, especially since the answer is “Nobody is a nobody” and “So very, very much”. Come to this workshop and come away with ideas on how you–yes, you–can make a difference.

Lauren_Lane_smLauren Lane is the Founder and Executive Director of Skepticon, a national conference located annually in Springfield, MO that promotes skepticism, science education and community building. During her tenure as an undergraduate, Lauren held various leadership positions in the Missouri State University Chapter of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a secular student group that revolutionized student activism. She has been a contributor to The Friendly Atheist, MadArtLabs, and has previously spoken at conventions such as the Secular Student Alliance Convention, FTBCon, and Reason in the Rock.

Avoiding Burnout

Conference,

with Hiba Krisht
Sunday – 11:15 AM
Workshop Set 4
Track 1

We all know self-care is necessary for activists by now, right? Good. That still leaves us figuring out the how and when. Come learn how to recognize when you need to put yourself first and develop strategies for coping with the everyday stresses and the big events.

Hiba_KrishtHiba Krisht is a writer, lecturer, and professional translator from Beirut. Her stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Blackbird, and Mizna, among others. She is a recipient of the 2012 Jane Foulkes Malone Fellowship from Indiana University and the 2013 JoAnn Athanas Memorial Award in literature from the National Society of Arts and Letters. An apostate from Islam, she grew up between an international expatriate community in Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah guerrilla warfare culture in Lebanon. She has been interviewed about her life and work by VICE News, BBC Radio, and Grazia Daily, among others. She is working on a memoir expansion of her retired blog, Between A Veil and a Dark Place.

Assertiveness Training

Conference,

with Heather Rosa
Saturday – 11:00 AM
Workshop Set 2
Track 1

One of the hardest parts of movement activism is navigating competing needs. Assertive communication is a tool to help us stay both focused and respectful while dealing with those needs. Come find out what assertive communication is and practice being assertive in some common activist situations.

 

Heather RosaHeather was a trained support group facilitator for the non-profit Fellowship for Renewed Living, an organization that served people dealing with divorce or other broken relationships. She served on the FRL board for many years, including three as the organization’s President. She has a long history in small-town politics, serving on her city council and as mayor for eight years. As her city’s representative on the library joint powers task force, she managed to expand her local library system in a time when many systems were shrinking.

Handling Public Criticism

Conference, ,

with Stephanie Zvan

Saturday – 9:45 AM
Workshop Set 1
Track 1

It’s hard to hear that you’ve screwed up, particularly when you’re pouring time, energy, and heart into making things better. Defensiveness is a natural reaction, but it’s usually not a helpful one. Come discuss strategies to cope with criticism without the world exploding around you.

Stephanie Zvan is the former associate president of Minnesota Atheists, and has been part of the committee running their conferences for the past two years. While blogging at Almost Diamonds, she has put together panels for all three FtBCons, the online conference of Freethought Blogs. She has also run well-received workshops at both Minnesota Atheists conferences and for the past three years at Skepticon.