Discernment Discovery Day Workshops

About Discernment Discovery Day

Discernment Discovery Day is a day-long gathering of Friends from throughout New England. The event is a chance for Friends of all ages to explore what is at the heart of the Quaker practice of discernment through dialogue, workshops, worship-sharing, and connection-making. 

Logistics

This event will be fully in-person, on-site (not hybrid).

As part of our program, we are looking to offer a number of workshops in the early afternoon. We expect that each workshop will have 8 to 30 participants and will run for 90 minutes. Our goal is to have between 5 and 7 interactive workshops that will speak to an array of interests and learning styles. If we have more proposals that we have space to accommodate, we may list more workshops than we intend to run and will cancel the workshops with low registration. 

We cannot offer honoraria for leading a workshop. However, leading a workshop will qualify leaders for a fee waiver for the event and we have some funds to cover travel expenses for workshop leaders. Childcare and a youth program will be available for the full day.

Workshop Criteria

We are looking for workshops that:

• Provide an opportunity for relationship-building through activities, discussion, or worship-sharing
• Support Friends in deepening their understanding of and connection to the Quaker practice of discernment
• Have an impact on daily life of individuals and/or local meetings after the gathering
• Create spaces that can’t be easily created in local meetings (the workshop should be something that it makes sense to have with a smattering of Quakers from different meetings engaging in on a single occasion)
• Provide opportunities that can't be easily created via online connection (for example: activities that engage one's body/senses/movement as able, opportunities for participants to use their hands, opportunities for small group and one-on-one connections)
• Are facilitated by people able to connect with and respond to the needs of participants; facilitators should be aware of learning needs (for example: visual learners) and potential group dynamics (for example: different backgrounds of participants)
• Are not intended to do the work of the Yearly Meeting or season agenda items for Sessions 

Submit a proposal

Go here to submit a proposal.

The proposal deadline is January 20th. If you have questions regarding workshops, please email Program Director Nia Thomas.