Preparing for the Conference

Find your passion! Learn about our shared global issues! Make connections!  Develop an empathetic action plan!

Figure out what you are passionate about, what your interested in, what moves you to take action and find people that feel the same!

After some research and reflection you and your group will choose what global issues you will tackle and how. As you create and develop your project you will closely monitor and document your efforts while discovering and forging relationships with community allies, mentors and partners. For many of you, it will not be creating more work but celebrating and sharing your efforts to date.

*** We strongly suggest that you start with our guiding units under “Get Started: Start a Project” main menu tab.

You will find our inquiry based units will help you craft your action plan, message, and conference workshop. You will also find a “Learn About Our Global Issues” tab where you can find short videos and excerpts from Jean Francois Rischard’s book, “High Noon- 20 Global Problems, 20 years to Solve Them” to get your started in understanding and connecting our shared global issues and your innovative solutions.

How to prepare to attend the conference?

The GIN group should meet regularly. Schools are invited to send a GIN team (or four) to the conference. Each team is made up of 2-6 students from Grades 7-12. Two adult advisers must accompany your school’s students, whether you send one or more teams. There should be at least a 1:2 ratio of advisors to teams if your are bringing more then two teams.

We will accept a total of 450 students and advisers to our conference.  Conference registration costs may vary according to location (cost of living, currency value, etc.)

Note: We would like to stress that younger students will be expected to bring their passion and focus as they will be required to participate in all aspects of the conference. They must be committed to rising to the many challenges a GIN conference provides.

What are the key responsibilities of your team?

 Student Workshop Guidelines

• The student team is asked to prepare an interactive workshop (wireless will be provided at the conference) on their efforts to address a global issue with sustainable solutions. The team will present this workshop to 20-30 other delegates. These will also be streamed to allow for a larger audience. Check out the Student Workshop Guidelines GIN page for more details.

 Film Festival Guidelines

• Also, each team of students needs to make a short (less than 2 minutes) film about the project to be posted to the website and shown at the conference Film Festival.  You can find a Film Festival Guide under the workshop guide (hover over “How to Prepare for a GIN Conference” and you will see both guides).

What are the components of the conference?

• Entirely student led and organized conference.

• Keynote speakers from around the world will present on their projects, lead a skill based workshop and work with students to heighten student project efficacy.

• Student run interactive GIN project workshops by teams of incoming student conference participants working locally to affect global issues.

• Global Villages, student facilitated small group discussion, processing and learning.  Global Villages will examine climate change through a lens of community building and empathetic action.  A safe space for students to explore and express themselves while building a larger network of allies and authentic friendships.

• Student project teams will spend time during their conference reflecting and developing their project.

• A Global Issues Fair will offer students the chance to talk with NGOs creating change in the local community.

• Film Festival will screen a film made by each incoming GIN Project Team to be shown before their workshop. Every team’s efforts will be shared with the entire delegation.