Saturday, March 14, 2026 | 9 am to 5 pm | Door County, WIA Day of Listening, Story & Place
A daylong, nature-based workshop focused on how nature and story can help us strengthen connection—to place, to the living world, and to one another.
Program overview
Grounded in ecology, nature-connection science, and storytelling, we’ll translate nature’s intelligence into human insight, strengthening our capacity to listen, understand, and act—together.
Lake Michigan and the lakeshore ecosystems will serve as the learning context for the day—not as metaphor, but as a dynamic system that models communication, responsiveness, interdependence, and change.
What the day will include
Part One: Attention, Listening, and Story
In the first half of the day, participants will spend time outdoors engaging in guided observation and attention exercises that highlight how nature communicates, receives and responds to information, and adapts.
We’ll explore questions such as:
How does a forest listen? How does nature communicate?
How does attentive listening—to nature and one another—change what we notice? What we think and feel?
How do stories help us connect to place, to other people, and to ourselves?
As part of this session, participants will become storytellers and story listeners, interviewing one another in pairs. This might include prompts like:
What captured their attention? What did it mean to listen to the lakeshore? What did they hear?
Tell me about your connection to Lake Michigan
Share a story of place—a memory, observation, question, or reflection that was shaped by the landscape around them.
These interviews will be collected through audio recordings that will help inform the storytelling elements of future Kairos programs, including how stories are gathered, shared, and used to invite broader community engagement.
The second half of the day shifts into a facilitated group inquiry and insight session. Drawing on insights from the morning, participants will help Kairos team members think through:
What felt most meaningful or resonant in the experience
What supported (or hindered) attention, listening, and presence
How future Kairos pilot programs could be designed to deepen impact
This portion of the day is intentionally participatory. Rather than a traditional focus group, it is a shared learning and design conversation that integrates individual experience, observation, and insight.
Part Two: Collective Inquiry & Insight
Who should attend
This experience is for people who
Care about and have a relationship to Lake Michigan and the communities shaped by it
Are curious about how strengthening social and ecological connection can help rebuild our fractured relationships with nature and each other
Value thoughtful dialogue and reflective learning
Want to contribute to shaping new, place-based community programs
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how attention, listening, and story function in both human and more-than-human systems—and with the knowledge that their insights and stories are helping guide what Kairos builds next.
Program details
When: Saturday, March 14, 2026 from 9 am to 5 pm
Where: Whitefish Dunes State Park in Door County, Wisconsin
Cost: Suggested donation of $25
What’s included: Lunch, beverages, and snacks
To note: This program takes place primarily outdoors on sandy, rocky, and uneven terrain. Please dress for the weather and wear appropriate footwear. Note that it is often much cooler at the lakeshore than inland areas.
If you’re curious about how nature can help us be better listeners, strengthen our attention, find common ground, and build community through story—this experience is for you. Please join us!