Communities Conference 2025 Call for Presenters
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The Twin Oaks Communities Conference is looking for presenters for this year’s event.
The application deadline is July 15. Submissions are considered on a rolling basis so early responses are encouraged, curated workshop slots are limited. Registration fees are waived for accepted presenters.
Workshop descriptions and presenter bios will be used in promotional materials for the conference in advance of the event. Pseudonymous presenters are welcome.
If you are confident you should be presenting, please fill out the form. You can find it embedded at the end of the post below, you can also go directly to the google form here.
If you’d like to know more about presenting at the TOCC, keep reading.
About the Communities Conference
For over 50 years, the Twin Oaks Communities Conference (TOCC) has brought together people seeking intentional communities with folks who are already living in them.
There are dance parties, workshops, mud pits, river swims, and more! You’ll get something out of the conference whether you’re brand new to communities and cooperatives, or have been living and working in them for decades.
About Event Themes
Since our post-pandemic reboot, each year’s TOCC has spotlighted two themes, with one theme focusing on diversity & equity and the other rotating by year. Every workshop slot will offer content on these themes, along with a variety of other workshops on more general intentional community topics.
Workshops may cover a broad array of topics in cooperative and alternative cutures, lifestyles, economics, and organizing. If the workshop is not specific to intentional communities, the presenter will be expected to address the topic specifically in relation to intentional communities.
Our themes for 2025 are:
Resistance and Resilience: Confronting Challenges, Cultivating Possibilities
Transforming Community Culture to support BIPOC and PGM Representation, Empowerment, and Long-Term Retention
Click here to read a more detailed exploration of our themes for this year.
What makes a good Communities Conference workshop?
Here are some typical workshops & presenters at past Communities Conferences.
While every workshop is unique, there are a few core things we look for when deciding which workshops to include on the curated Twin Oaks Communities Conference workshop schedule.
Are you on topic?
While the focus of the event is on intentional communities and our themes, workshops often cover a broader array of topics in cooperative and alternative lifestyles, economics, and organizing. If your workshop topic is not specific to intentional communities, your workshop proposal should address how and why your topic is relevant in relation to intentional communities.
For example, at the the 2024 Communities Conference program a workshop on the importance of self care did not just introduce & explore this in general, but rather explored it in the context of the especially stressful/difficult process of starting a new community in the workshop “Founding New Communities: Practicing Balance and Self-Care as You Forge Ahead”.
What’s your vibe as a presenter, and how flexible are you?
Think about your comfort zone as a workshop presenter. Are you an expert giving instructions, are you a panel moderator, are you holding space during a sharing circle- how do you relate to and interact with your audience?
Most successful TOCC presentations begin with the premise that “The truth is in the room”, and most workshops include at least some degree of audience interaction. If your plan is to give a 90 minute powerpoint presentation in a 90 minute workshop block, this is not the right venue.
We’re looking for workshop facilitators that can sense and respond to the energy level and understanding of the participants. Does it look like a playful group? Perhaps games and simulations will be helpful. Is this a serious (perhaps intense) group or topic? A Q&A or a hotseat format could be more appropriate. Conversely, perhaps the opposite prescription will work – the serious and intense folks could lighten up with games. If the participants are already well versed in your materials, then offer richer or more in depth materials
What are your tech needs?
We’re in quite a rustic environment, and are in some ways still recovering & rebuilding from the March 2024 wildfire. All our workshop locations have basic infrastructure like chairs and rain protection like a dome or pavilion. We have plenty of paper, markers, flip charts, and white boards.
Anything more complicated gets… complicated. Sound systems, projectors, microphones, and speakers to play recorded music are often available, but might also restrict when or where your workshop can be scheduled due to scarce resources, or the advanced tech could become unavailable with no notice. Cell service in our town can be spotty when it’s raining.
The conference will provide chairs, rain protection, white boards, and, with advance notice, some sound system. Your powerpoint presentation, for example, might dictate which workshop time slot your workshop will need to be in.
The deadline for submission is July 15th. Workshops are accepted on a rolling basis, early submissions are encouraged.
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