“If one can be taught anything, one can also be untaught everything: rules, norms, definitions, recipes, fixed-form poetry and prayer, shame, fear. whatever limits or takes away their freedom.”

Roxana Marin is a grassroots educator and activist, as well a public speaking coach for teens and professional adults working in profit and nonprofit settings. Another hat she wears is that of community organizer in Roma slums and mentor to young fellow-Roma and queer advocates at the onset of their course. For the past 3 years, Roxana has provided support to young transgender teens in different high schools.

Roxana Marin led the workshop on designing and facilitating workshops. Designing and delivering workshops is a valuable skill for activists who are often asked to present their area of expertise to a wide range of audiences such as government bodies, teachers, professionals or students. This workshop focused on providing the activists with theoretical knowledge and frameworks for designing workshops; different learning styles, the 4MAT Model, the ORID Model. The workshop also opened up time for discussion among the participants on their learning styles and room to apply the theory that they learned.

Tudor Kovacs’s career has been focused on education, empowerment and the rights and the health of the LGBTQI community. He now works as a Capacity Building Manager for the International Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth and Student Organisation (IGLYO).

Tudor led the workshop on public speaking which sought to equip participants with techniques to deliver more effective public speeches. Participants practiced constructing persuasive messages and delivering speeches so that they would become more effective activists in their communities. The workshop presented Monroe’s Motivated Sequence, a classic frame for public speeches focused on making a strong case using persuasive argumentation. The participants were presented with excerpts from famous speeches on LGBTQI topics.

“The stories told about LGBTQIA people can shape how the world sees and interacts with us. When we take the power of storytelling into our own hands, we can be agents of change, showing both our current realities and our vision for an LGBTQIA inclusive future.”

Mina Tolu is a trans activist and young green politician. They have 10 years of experience in campaigning and communications on human rights and environmental issues. This includes designing and implementing online and social media campaigns for IGLYO, Transgender Europe, and We Are – an LGBTQI youth organisation in Malta. As well as coordinating a national referendum campaign in Malta in 2015, and their own campaign as a candidate for the European Parliament in 2019.

Mina conducted a workshop on designing graphics for social media. Online presence is key for LGBTQI activists and this workshop allowed for participants to explore various formats of social media products. Participants were presented with specific concepts regarding visual hierarchy, colours, and content. The workshop included recommendations for specific social media such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Participants had the opportunity to evaluate various LGBTQI campaign visuals and learn from each other. The presentation itself was designed in such a way that it demonstrated the creation of a poster.