True Colors Workshop Guidelines

Thank you for your decision to propose a workshop for True Colors XVI.  True Colors hosts the largest and most comprehensive gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender questioning, intersex, and ally youth issues conference in the country!  True Colors XVI will be held on Thursday, March 12 through Saturday, March 14 at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.  We look forward to receiving your proposal and to another successful conference! 

Listed below are the guidelines for the True Colors workshops.  Please read through them as they contain important information and may answer some of your questions, then submit your proposal through the online form.   

Proposal Deadline: 
Professional Workshops: Friday, September 26th, 2008
General, College, and Youth Only:  December 5, 2008

Workshop Guidelines

• Workshop Topics may encompass any aspect of lesbian, gay, bisexual, same gender loving, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, or ally issues specifically, or within a broader social justice context (i.e. multi-issue organizing, anti-racism, anti-discrimination, etc.)

• All workshops may be proposed as a single (75 or 90 minute) or double (2.5 or 3 hour) session(s)

• True Colors reserves the right to change session length and target audience based on the needs of the overall program

• Need an idea for a workshop?  Check our Workshop Wishlist

Workshop Audiences Overview

Workshops are organized around various target audiences:

Youth Only:   Target either middle school students or high school students and are generally interactive, facilitated discussions around topics of interest such as body image; coming out, starting and maintaining a GSA, healthy relationships, theater games, dance, art expression, etc.. We have created a middle school track because youth are coming out earlier and earlier. The issues and needs of a 13 year old are going to be significantly different that those of older adolescents.

College Only:  Focus on the needs, issues and interests of LGBTQI and ally college-age students.

Professional:  Targets an advanced professional audience such as child welfare professionals, educators, clinicians, substance abuse treatment teams and health care professionals and assume that participants have some level of expertise regarding sexual and gender minority youth issues.

General:  Will attract both youth and adults and are most are appropriate for an audience that is new to sexual and gender minority youth issues, or topics. General workshops should be as interactive as possible and can focus on a wide range of topics.

Activist Institute:  Will attract youth and adults who wish to learn or strengthen various activist skills. These workshops have included such topics as – working with your local, state or federal legislators to create change, grassroots organizing skills, creating a successful direct action, blogging for change, etc.

Workshop Proposal Tracks
Want to present a workshop but need an idea?  Check out our wishlist!

Youth Only (Middle School) (submit)
Audience:  Youth, approximately 12-14 years old
Workshop Examples:  Body image; Healthy relationships (how do you know when you have one and when you don’t); Basic Q+A – what does it mean to be ‘questioning’?; How to be an ally; Telling your friends or parents that you might be LGBT, etc.  Activity based workshops such as dance, drumming, art, theater games, performance art are also welcome.

Youth Only (High School) (submit)
Audience:  Youth, approximately 14-18 years old
Workshop Examples:  Body image; Impact of media; Negotiating abstinence or safer sex; Starting or maintaining a GSA; Healthy and unhealthy relationships; Facilitated discussions on identity specific topics; Dealing with homophobic students, faculty or staff; Activity based workshops such as dance, drumming, art, theater games, performance art are also welcome.


College Only (submit)
Audience:  Youth, approximately 18-24 years old
Workshop Examples:  Starting and maintaining a GSA on campus; Working with conservative school cultures; Coming out to your roommate; Being political on campus; Fighting a culture of apathy with activism; Negotiating safer sex, etc.