In previous years the panel selection process isn't something we've really talked about. It's really been very similar to the theory of underpants gnome economics.
1. We ask for everyone to submit ideas
2. Stuff happens
3. A great agenda is produced!
But embracing the spirit of this brave new DK4 world we want to talk more about what goes on along the way.
But before we get to the meat of this post I have to encourage everyone to really think about attending Netroots Nation this year. From what I've read so far the panels will be fantastic. Register now.
Last year we received a truly overwhelming number of submissions. If I recall correctly it was around 450 when things were all said and done. We had the brutal task of whittling this down to about 70 panels for Netroots Nation 2010. It was a committee process but everyone had to read, score and talk about each of those panels.
Needless to say that took a lot of time and we knew we had to make some changes.
So this year we decided to recruit a greater number of people to sit on subcommittees that would deal with smaller numbers of panels. These folks might be considering economic panels, for example. So it is their job to read the submissions in their area and score them, so that we can then have one or several conference calls to discuss them and whittle them down to a more manageable number.
Those best panels will then be forwarded on from each subcommittee to a final selection committee. That committee has to ultimately build the agenda, which entails making decisions about what issues we primarily want to focus on.
Once that's done, we notify the people who are presenting and those who didn't make the final cut. With any luck we expect to be doing that around the last week of March or the first part of April.
So if you haven't zoned out by now, here's the point of this diary. :)
We can measure the level of interest in various topics based on the number of panels submitted in that category.
But we wanted to know what you thought as potential consumers of this content. It wouldn't be practical to talk about all 350+ panels and we don't want to single out examples in case they don't make the cut. But we can talk about general subject areas a bit and see what areas you are most interested in.
Here's how things break down for this year in terms of total submissions:
Domestic Policy: 26 (includes topics like education, health care, judicial policy, etc)
Economy: 29 (includes labor related panels as well)
Environmental Justice: 14
Equality/Social Justice: 55
Foreign Policy: 15
Media/New Media: 37 (includes state blogging, media topics, technology topics and everyone's favorite: meta)
Movement/Elections: 73 (includes Congress, elections, fair elections, messaging and progressive movement building topics)
Online Organizing: 36 (covers online, offline and bridging topics)
So here are a few questions to ponder in the comments.
1. Are you going to Netroots Nation this year?
2. What topic areas are you most interested in discussing this year? There are a few areas like the Movement/Elections category where specific sub-topics can be weighed. Would you rather discuss a lot of electoral related stuff in preparation for the 2012 cycle, or should we be more introspective and talk about the progressive movement and/or messaging more?
Look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments. And if you haven't registered, do it now (it's less than four months until Netroots Nation)!