2025 ANCA Outdoor School Summit
January 10-14 at NorthBay in North East, Maryland
The Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA) is the only association focused solely on professional development and best practices for administrators of nature centers, overnight outdoor schools, and environmental learning centers. The ANCA Outdoor School Summit brings together leaders from organizations that share the unique challenges of housing and feeding program participants for multiple days. The Summit fosters a space to solve problems and build connections in this particular field.
A participant speaks in a session at the 2023 Outdoor School Summit.The Outdoor School Summit is a collaborative event that uses Open Space planning for the meeting agenda. At the Summit, all participants collectively suggest and select session topics. Summit participants and organizers then create a session schedule for the following two days.
Given this system, we invite you to bring management-level and program topics to the Summit to suggest sessions.
Facilitated Discussions
This year, we are excited to invite participants to submit proposals in advance for a limited number of planned Facilitated Discussions. Facilitated Discussions are conversational sessions in which all participants contribute to the discussion. Facilitators guide the dialogue and do not give a formal presentation. These sessions last 90 minutes.
We are introducing Facilitated Discussions to the event for multiple reasons:
- Planned discussions ensure we include topics relevant to our audience.
- An invitation to lead a discussion can justify Summit participation, and help anyone who must request approval to attend.
- Planned discussions are an opportunity to provide training and experience in facilitating a discussion with a group of peers.
We will select a limited number of Facilitated Discussions and are interested in sessions on the following topics:
- Advocacy & Political Involvement
- Equitable Pay & Hiring in Environmental Education
- Fundraising
- Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
- Media & Marketing
- Outdoor School for All
- Program Evaluation
- School Pushback on Overnight Programming
- Universal/Accessible Design & ADA Compliance
Facilitated Discussions will take place on Sunday, January 12 and Monday, January 13.
How to Submit a Proposal
Use the following form to submit a proposal for a Facilitated Discussion. The deadline for program proposals is December 2.
If your proposal is accepted, you will be asked to facilitate the discussion. If you are new to facilitation, we will work with you to find a co-facilitator to help you manage the session. You will also have an additional opportunity to finalize session information after you receive your acceptance notice.
Please note that all facilitators must register and pay for the Summit as Participants or Sponsors.
If you have any questions or want to discuss your idea for a Facilitated Discussion, please contact ANCA Director or Programs & Member Services Daniel Auer at .