The 2022 ACT State Self-Advocacy Conference is an action packed 2 day affiar that will follow best practices for virtual learning –  we need your help to make it great! We’ve found that engaged distance learning requires small groups where everyone participants. This means lots of volunteers!

Please Sign Up for Multiple Roles if You’re Able – Connect with ACT to Sign Up a Group 

We are looking for three roles, people to help facilitate conversation and ice breaker games during social hours, people to call Self-Advocacy Bingo and people to co-facilitate breakout sessions. Volunteers can sign up for one role, an hour time commitment, or spend the whole day having fun with us! We don’t expect any of our volunteers to be technical experts but they should have some entry level experience with Zoom or video chat. We will be giving instructions, offering a tutorial and will have multiple people on hand to step in to trouble shoot if need be. We invite and encourage volunteers to sign up for multiple roles and attend other aspects of the conference.

Social Hour Breakout Host – Facilitate socializing games like adapted versions of 2 Truths and a Lie, Never Have I Ever, Collaborative Story Telling and more. Each game will be explained to the large group before splitting up into smaller breakout to play (you will also get a copy of all game instructions ahead of time). Your role will be to remind the group about the rules to the game and help them get started or stay on track as needed. Mostly, you will help people open up and have fun!

Co-Lead a Session – Help us stay true to our small breakout size model and Co-Lead a breakout session. Each breakout session will be carefully crafted, designed with this exact model in mind and will be easy to lead with step by step instructions (sent out at least a week in advance). Our methods are not a top down model – you will not be lectering or talking about self-advocacy as an expert. Rather you will be guiding the group as they connect a topic to their personal experience and will highlight some of the collective knowlege shared and lasting insights. We will introduce you to your Co-Lead in advance at the Volunteer orientation session the day before the conference, Thursday April 21st at 10am and support you in planning out facilitating the session at the conference.

BINGO Caller – One of the most popular sessions at every conference is BINGO. This year it will feature cards highlighting Leadership and Disability Rights History. BINGO Cards will be sent out to you ahead of time along with instructions for calling the game. Shuffle the cards and read the letter/number and bit of history with it until you have 3-4 BINGOs then clear shuffle and start a new game. You will quickly notice that this is many people’s favorite!

Like the in-person conferences from previous years and last years virtual conference, this will be a self-advocate driven event featuring interactive and engaging sessions. Workshops will follow best practices with small breakout sizes, group discussion and fun activities. Come ready to participate, this is not a by-stander event! Attendees will be sent a packet in the mail ahead of time, stuffed full of goodies, a program book, snacks, a blanket with the conference logo on it, a lucky BINGO card, and other handouts to enhance the experience.

This two-day event will blend the energy of a large crowd in general sessions with the ideal smaller sized breakouts for meaningful engagements. Attendees will get to experience new groups at each session and will enjoy a carefully crafted workshop being led across all breakout that session. Each of these sessions will be led by a skilled and experienced facilitator and will have a self-advocate co-lead when possible. In-between will be fun filled activities including BINGO, a socially dis-dance party, door prizes and the presentation of the 2022 Irving Martin Award for excellence in self-advocacy.

The 2021 ACT State Self-Advocacy Conference is very ambitious and unique, we need your help to make it great. We’ve found that engaging distance learning requires small groups where everyone participants. This means lots of volunteers!

We are looking for three roles, people to help facilitate conversation and ice breaker games during social hours, people to call Self-Advocacy Bingo and people to provide technical supports during the breakout sessions. Volunteers can sign up for one role, an hour time commitment, or spend the whole day having fun with us! We don’t expect any of our volunteers to be technical experts but they should have some entry level experience with Zoom. We will be giving instructions, offering a tutorial and will have multiple people on hand to step in to trouble shoot if need be.

We invite and encourage volunteers to sign up for multiple roles and attend other aspects of the conference. You will be sent a conference packet like everyone else with everything you need from snacks, to a conference water bottle to your lucky BINGO card to take full part in the event!

Like the in-person conferences from previous years, this will be a self-advocate driven event featuring interactive and engaging sessions. Workshops will follow best practices with small breakout sizes, group discussion and fun activities. Come ready to participate, this is not a by-stander event! Attendees will be sent a packet in the mail ahead of time, stuffed full of goodies, a program book, a lucky BINGO card, and other handouts to enhance the experience.

This two-day event will blend the energy of a large crowd in general sessions with the ideal smaller sized breakouts for meaningful engagements. Attendees will get to select two breakouts and will be assigned to two breakouts under core self-advocacy themes of building personal power and connecting to ones community. In-between will be fun filled activities including BINGO, a socially dis-dance party, door prizes and the presentation of the 2021 Irving Martin Award for excellence in self-advocacy.

Volunteering is a great way to contribute to the success of the conference. Volunteering ensures that attendees have a great experience at the conference and is a way to network with others in the disability rights field. If you’re interested in volunteering, review the different roles available and make sure you can do it independently, for the entire shift. We invite volunteers to enjoy a few workshops before or after their shift.

Volunteers will not be allowed to enjoy the catered meals in the dining room (this is the largest cost of the conference) and the dance on Friday night. There will be light food and snacks available in the volunteer break room, but this is no replacement for a meal. Mystic Lake’s policy is that you cannot have outside food or beverage in any event space, unfortunately this means you cannot bring a lunch either.

Here are the volunteer shifts during the conference: Friday morning (7:30am-11:30am), Friday Afternoon (1pm-5pm) and Saturday (8am-12pm), one for setup on Thursday night (7pm-9pm) and one for cleanup Saturday afternoon (11am-3pm).