Yesterday, I announced our first
Daily Kos Regional Conference to be held in Kansas City on April 25, 2015.
Today, I want to talk about the other kinds of meet-ups that will be happening around the nation.
I've defined three types of Daily Kos staff-supported events we'll have in the upcoming important year of organizing. Regional Conferences are described in the link above and we'll likely only have two more of that style in 2015. The other two types are State Meet-ups and Pep Talks which are discussed below.
State Meet-ups: We have some states that have been organizing for years. Texas is one of them. Without prompting, and before I had my position as Director of Community Building, they organized their inaugural state meet-up in March of 2013. I flew myself there on my own nickel because I was so impressed with the initiative. I wanted Texas to feel the out-of-state support they need. I Stand With Texas. It was a nice success and built a lot of camaraderie. Re-grouping after the recent midterm elections I found nomandates and Chrislove once again taking the initiative to coalesce their ranks with another state meet-up. Well, now they're gonna get some official support from Daily Kos on their second state-wide meet-up. It will be held in Austin on February 28, 2015. A few Daily Kos staff members will be in attendance. This meet-up for Texas is not only for Texans. Everyone is welcome. Again, stay tuned to Connect! Unite! Act! for announcements of the venue and other details.
I'd also like to announce that we're in the process of recruiting Daily Kos State Leaders. nomandates has been a continual visionary force for all the groups in Texas so I've asked her to lead the Connect! Unite! Act! groups there. She accepted! One of the many reasons I'm placing State Leaders is because each group needs maintenance. Texas, has five groups in place; Houston Kossacks, Dallas Kossacks, Cen Tex Kossacks, Caprock Kossacks and West Texas Kossacks. After the initial excitement of the 2013 inaugural state-wide meet-up in Texas a couple of groups went dormant because I didn't have the bandwidth to keep them engaged. This is why state leaders are needed, to give each group the attention it needs to stay active. nomandates's mission is to revive those groups, keep them going and build their ranks.
Pep Talks: Our first Pep Talk is scheduled in Seattle on January 17, 2015 and I'm pleased to announce John Crapper as our State Leader for Washington! He's been doing a great job of organizing Seattle and we need him to roll out that process around the state to create more groups. Meteor Blades, with his valuable 12-years experience as a precinct captain in Los Angeles, will be attending. I've found that when the Daily Kos staff attend various meet-ups it becomes a very energizing event for all. Earlier this year we had rewarding Pep Talks with Los Angeles and Sacramento. Both of those groups grew in size and calibre of action, such as, delivering a Daily Kos petition to the labor board at LAX. John Crapper has proposed visionary plans for Washington and we are going to show our support.
Recap:
• Regional Conferences will be a day-long seminar on regional politics. Planned activities will likely make it a two-night event. The program will be intensive and several Daily Kos staff members will be in attendance. All states are welcome to attend.
• State Meet-ups will be a long afternoon event starting with lunch and ending with a party in the evening. The seminar will focus strictly on the state's politics but neighboring states are welcome to attend. The state needs to have several active Connect! Unite! Act! groups functioning. A few Daily Kos staff members will attend.
• Pep Talks will be the typical meet-ups we've been having since 2006 but with a couple of Daily Kos staff there to strategize with. The usual format applies, meeting at a local restaurant with a private room to accommodate public speaking or someone's home with a potluck repast.
We have a whole year of events planned. Today's and yesterday's diary are only the first three of the year. I'll be announcing more soon.
Daily Kos will organize locally in every congressional district, including the reddest of them. There is no other progressive forum like Daily Kos. Let's take advantage of our 24/7 conversation and the large population of readers. You can look for a group to join here and if you don't see one, please consider starting one. Kosmail me if you'd like to lead a Daily Kos group.
Let's connect all the like-minded readers here in real life and get some political work done.