Calling all AAUW adventurers!
Grab your compass and be a part of . . .
Adventures in AAUWland!
This year’s convention will be different. Renaming it the “Annual Event” and holding it virtually are only the beginning.
On Saturday April 30, 2022, we will all be explorers, searching for new routes to connect to AAUW and its mission.
And YOU can be a Trail Guide!
To launch the trip, the morning session will:
- Kick off with inspirational words from Lisa Maatz , Senior Adviser, Ohio Citizen Action and former AAUW Policy Rock Star, and Jasmine Sadler, Owner and Founder, The STEAM Collaborative
- Focus our telescopes on the year’s accomplishments
- Honor our AAUW expedition leaders with the announcement of the Named Gift Honoree, Equity Champion and Branch Activity of the Year winners
- Review our advocacy efforts
- Share important news and updates
- Venture out with a few surprises
The afternoon route will wind into unfamiliar territory. Instead of the usual workshops, you will have the chance to venture out and Choose Your Own Adventure with a self-guided journey deep into the “topical” jungle of AAUW ideas that you might be interested in talking about.
We will offer multiple Zoom breakout rooms hosted by Trail Guides (people like YOU), who will informally guide the conversations in the room. No agendas. No Powerpoints. No handouts. We’ll just network and share thoughts, stories, experiences, and maybe some debate. There’s no set trip itinerary. You will be able to move freely back and forth between breakout rooms to stay and share or take off and find another!
As we travel along those afternoon passageways, we’ll take a few side trips to see the three Speech Trek finalists’ inspirational videos.
Call for Trail Guides!
This is your chance to talk about what you care about. Offer to host an informal 30-minute sharing session in a Zoom breakout room with your fellow explorers. Co-hosts are okay. Non-members too. Be brave!
What provisions will you need?
A topic! What do you want to talk about with other members? We want to be more inspirational than instructional. Let’s remind people of the shared values and interests of the AAUW community. Some possibilities:
- Personal stories – has AAUW touched/changed/enriched a life?
- “Speech Trek for Grownups” – thoughts on this year’s topic?
- “Life Lessons Learned” – what should we tell our daughters and sons?
- Whither goes AAUW?
- “Roads Not Taken” – what do you wish you’d done differently in life?
- “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” – what are branches doing well? What are their challenges?
- Open membership – should we try again?
- “True Life Tech Trek”—any virtual camp volunteers or campers have experiences to share?
- Brushes with inequity – have a story?
- Re-entry from COVID – how’s it going?
- “Creative Aging” – ideas for staying vital?
- Mentors – who impacted your life? Whose life have you impacted?
- Who has AAUW helped? Conversations with grants recipients or NCCWSL participants or Start Smart/Work Smart attendees
- Volunteering – why do we do it? Is volunteerism dead?
- Self-promotion and brand identity in your career – huh?
- What should AAUW be doing? What should it not be doing?
- “Hot Topics” – pick some bills that AAUW is supporting and talk about them!
- Diversity reigns – DEI is not a jungle!
- “Show Me the Money!”-has your branch had a successful fundraising treasure hunt?
- TTAG: A Roadmap to Tracking Tech Trek Alumnae
- YOUR TOPIC!
What steps will you take?
- Do NOT prepare a PowerPoint presentation!
- DO prepare a little 20-second “commercial” pitching your awesome topic so people will trek to your room. Feel free to add a costume or music or poem or quote. Entice them. We’ll help you.
- Be a facilitator, ready to gently guide people’s discussion of YOUR topic. Let the road wander where it may.
- Convince others to become Trail Guides.
A journey starts with a single step.
To become an AAUWland Trail Guide, complete the short form HERE and don’t look back.