ActivatEE

ActivatEE is sharing platform designed by the Association for Experiential Education for its members and conference attendees during the International Conference.  ActivatEE is a developmental process, both for the speaker and the audience, where we share ideas, test assumptions, and are asked to view a perspective through a different lens. ActivatEE is designed to facilitate the process of creating one’s story, inspiring the use of one’s voice, and launching an idea - all on stage during a conference keynote. ActivatEE has quickly become one of the most highly anticipated and attended traditions at AEE Conferences.

Terry Williams

Terry Williams, PhD is an adventure-based educator, leadership coach, and Founder of Children Are Our Future. For more than 40 years, she has inspired individuals, organizations, and communities to discover their strengths through nature, experiential learning, and meaningful connection. Her adventures include an 8,000-mile bicycle journey across the United States advocating for youth, wilderness expeditions, and decades of developing leadership and community programs. Terry's work is grounded in Transformational Leadership, Positive Youth Development, and a deep belief that love, belonging, and shared experiences have the power to heal, build resilience, and transform lives. Through Children Are Our Future, she works with educators, youth leaders, nonprofits, and communities to foster belonging, develop courageous leaders, and create opportunities for people of all ages to connect and thrive. Terry believes every person's story has the power to change lives, and the adventures begin when we choose love and kindness over fear.

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Karen Wong

Karen Wong is the Director of Career Development at St. Catherine University, a historically women's institution in Saint Paul, MN. Karen's professional passion lies in supporting students in their discovery of the next steps in their career journeys. They earned a MS in Experiential Education from Minnesota State University, Mankato and a BS in Biology from University of Wisconsin-Madison. At UW-Madison, Karen got their start in experiential education with Adventure Learning Programs, and has since been involved in the field and with AEE for over 10 years. They have previously served on the Heartland Regional Council, volunteered at conferences and as a workshop proposal reviewer, and presented at regional and international conferences. Karen currently serves on the Board of Directors of IMPACT National Conference and Co-Chairs the Minnesota Private Colleges Career Consortium. Outside of work, they love taking their pup, Kirby, on adventures in nature!

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Glenn Rose

Glenn Rose lives amongst the pines in his home state of Maine. Currently, Glenn spends his time as a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire in the dual master’s degree program of Social Work and Recreation Management (graduating in December!). Although his path towards Adventure Therapy has been anything but linear. An avid thru hiker and nature lover, his walks have taken him all around the US from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail, Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, and many other smaller adventures. It’s exactly in this winding path that Glenn finds the story he wishes to tell, of uncertainty, serendipity, and of course fun.

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Laura Baird

Laura Baird has the privilege of teaching science to the 4th and 5th grade students at Lake Lure Classical Academy in Western North Carolina. Her educational background is in Marine Science, Environmental Science, and Park/Recreation Management. She has over 20 years of experience in aquarium, state park, and county recreation programming. She understands how powerful hands-on learning can be to children and adults alike, and strives to provide those opportunities for her students and the community at large.

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Dimitry Terpylo

Dimitry Terpylo is the Director of Hero’s Compass at DTCare and a lieutenant in the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. He develops recovery and reintegration programs for Ukrainian veterans, service members, and their families. His experience includes frontline support, facilitation, team development, and program leadership. Today, he focuses on building strong systems and leading through his team. Dimitry also leads Heroes Glory, a Ukrainian nonprofit that supports veterans in partnership with public institutions and civil society organizations.

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Drafting your ActivatEE Talk:

• This platform invites you, the speaker, to share a story or idea through the use of voice, during a 7-9 minute mini-keynote to the global audience of the International Conference. Listen to dozens of stories told in the past on our AEE YouTube Channel!
• Think of an instance in time where you had an experience that became a profound teaching moment for you, which truly influenced or altered your way of thinking or being. Are you able and willing to share that message with others?
• Now visualize how you would want to share that story in terms of keynote address. What did you hear, see, notice, and experience at that moment that had an immediate impact or had influence years down the road? Is there a method in your delivery that helps convey your message?

Answer these three questions:

• What? what is your story? what happened?
• So what? Why is it important or developmental to you? What meaning did you take from it?
• Now what? How have you moved forward or how do you plan to use this going forward? What is the transformation? How are you changed?

Considerations: 

Your initial submission will likely not be your exact final presentation. This is just the first step in a number of iterations that you and your presentation will go through before delivering the final presentation. 

Please note that these stories are to be an experience relevant to your perspective. You can certainly use bits of research to support your message, but this is not to be a research paper or a business promotion. We will really push all presenters to constantly evaluate their message, knowing we want to channel a lesson learned to activate the minds of those in the audience.   

The Process:

• The process of developing your story is facilitated by a coach who will walk your journey with you, enabling you to craft your story, and help you prepare to share at the Conference. Each story is typically 7-9 minutes (don’t worry-we’ll help you get there!).
  • Coaching Team: Deidra Goodwin, Kathy Chau Rohn, JennieV. Sorrells, JessAnn Smith, Margaret Kelso, Rachel Hunsell, Renee Roark, Steve Smith, Steve Sassaman, Taylor Edington, and Will Marble. 
    Logistics Team: Brian Croft, Chris Ortiz, Kaileigh Hennard
  • Questions? Contact Deidra at deidra@dgoodwinexperiential.com 
• The application creates space for you to share your experience and story, as well as submit additional documents like presentation drafts, story maps, and more.
• A team will review the submissions and send out acceptance notices by June 28.
• If accepted, you will be paired with a coach/coaches. This process asks that you meet on a regular basis with your coaches to support the development of your story and presentation.  These sessions are designed to provide an environment to explore your story, hone in on your answers to What? So what? and Now What?, and give and receive feedback and suggestions regarding the delivery of the presentations.
• A virtual dress rehearsal will take place leading up to the Conference and in-person dress rehearsal will also take place the night before the ActivatEE presentation. As an ActivatEE speaker, we want you to feel supported and connected to the other  ActivatEE speakers and coaches. For this reason, you will be asked to attend an initial welcome session on Zoom for all ActivatEE speakers and coaches, followed by at least 2-3 coaching sessions with your assigned coach(es) on Zoom in September and October to refine and prepare your ActivatEE talk. The purpose of these coaching sessions is to provide feedback and suggestions regarding the content and delivery of your talk. 
  

Please note: ActivatEE speakers will need to register for the conference as attendees. Financial Support and Scholarships for the conference Registration are available. We do not want the cost of the conference to prevent anyone from being part of ActivatEE. 

Resources for Speakers

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