MEGA Family Conference

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MEGA Family Project's

2nd Annual MEGA Family Conference

October 2nd, 9am-5pm

The MEGA Family Project is proud to announce the second Annual MEGA Family Conference after a very successful first conference! This conference is the only of its kind in the Southeast, and will be a great opportunity for LGBT parents, prospective parents, families, their children, friends, educators and community members to come together to discuss LGBT family and advocacy issues.

The 2nd Annual MEGA Family Conference will host multiple topics that attendees can choose from – prospective parents, parenting, schools, and social justice. Within these tracks there will be multiple workshops that one can attend on various topics--over 25 topics!

Prospective Parents:

Are you a prospective parent looking to get answers on how to start a family? We have a track just for you! We will host a professional panel of experts on building a family, a parent's panel of people who have each traveled different paths to parenthood, a legal panel to talk about issues facing prospective parents, and a workshop discussion about waiting to build your family.

Parenting Topics:

Sample first year topics:

Single parenting, talking to our kids about donor insemination, coming out to your child, co-parenting after a break up, scream-free parenting, being a dad in a mom's world, moms raising sons, raising children of a different race or ethnicity, coming out after marriage, non-biological parents, issues unique to foster families, families of color, transgender families, attending a homophobic church, families created through international adoption, state of lgbt equality, raising transgender children.

School Issues:

Sample first year topics:

Dealing with bullying in schools, how to advocate for your child at school, choosing a school for your family, what teens are saying about bullying (Let's Get Real movie).

In addition to the many tracks you will have to choose from, we will have a keynote speaker and a large resource fair of particular interest to families and prospective parents. Lunch and snacks are included in your registration cost.

Kids 8 and Older:

For the youth who participate with COLAGE at the MEGA Family Conference, this program provides a rare and unique safe haven for building friendships, exploring identity, learning new forms of expression and activism, and having fun. Through the COLAGE program, children of LGBTQ families build confidence in themselves and their families, connect with role models who share and understand their experience and emerge as strong advocates for personal and/or political change.

COLAGE’s program is led by a fantastic team of adults who all share the experience of having one or more LGBTQ parent. As facilitators and coordinators of this program, they are committed to creating an inclusive, cooperative, and interactive environment for youth. We want the youth to have a wonderful time, create new friendships and develop youth leadership skills and self confidence.

Special Movie Screenings:

Let's Get Real - features actual middle school youth—not adults or actors—speaking candidly and from the heart about their varied and often painful experiences with name-calling and bullying. This unique and engaging anti-bullying resource includes interviews with youth who are bullied, youth who bully others, and those who find the courage to stand up and become allies.

Have children?

Childcare will be available! Kids 8+ will attend COLAGE programming. For young children, please keep in mind this is a long day, and you may want to arrange for childcare at home.

Resource Fair

In addition to these great topics, we will have over 50 vendors at our conference that are specifically geared towards families and prospective parents. Our resource fair will be sure to be a huge hit! If you are interested in having a table in our resource fair, contact Kathy Kelly at Kathy@megafamilyproject.org.

Registration Costs

$30 Adult Rate for Non-Members of MEGA Family Project

$25 Adult Rate for Dues-Paying Members

$20 Per Child (for children's programming, childcare, and food)

$15 Adult Rate for Low Income Person

If you cannot afford to pay for the conference, but would like to come, please e-mail kathy@megafamilyproject.org because we have a limited number of full scholarship slots.

MEGA Family Conference Schedule

8:15-9 Check in (Please pre-register)

9-10 Keynote Address

10:10-11:10 Session 1 Topics (choose one)

11:20-12:20 Session 2 Topics (choose one)

12:20-1:50 Lunch & Resource Fair

Lunch will be provided by Metrotainment Cafes

12:55-1:45 Film Screening

1:50-2:50 Session 3 Topics (choose one)

2:55-3:55 Session 4 Topics (choose one)

4-5 Session 5 Topics (choose one)

Where is the conference located?