I’m getting nervous. Tomorrow at 3 PM, I’m making my panel debut at Netroots Nation in a session called "Fearless Campaigning, Door to Door and Beyond." I’m pretty fearless about campaigning, so not sure why I’m nervous about telling my stories! Perhaps it’s because I feel unworthy in the company of such an impressive moderator and co-panelists!
Read more below the fold...
Fearless Campaigning, Door-to-Door and Beyond
Friday, August 14th
3:00 PM - 4:15 PM
Room 303
The past year saw thousands of online activists putting reams of campaign rhetoric to the test, particularly in the daunting arena of face-to-face voter persuasion. This panel will transform this collective, real-world knowledge into practical tools for fearless campaigning. Beyond analysis of framing on blogs and in books, how can we feed the lessons gleaned door-to-door back to the Netroots—for greater success in campaigns and stronger cohesion across the progressive movement? We’ll begin by engaging geographically diverse participants in a conversation about words that worked and words that did not.
Moderated by Jeffrey Feldman. Panelists: Paul Delehanty, Janice Caswell, Susan Smith, Elizabeth Winter, Adam Ruff
If you plan to attend the panel, I need a little guidance. What would you like to know about campaigning in Florida? Please give me suggestions in the comments and I’ll try to incorporate them into my brief presentation.
Enough about that. Let’s talk about other stuff.
I arrived in Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon, clueless as always about what to do once the plane landed. Not sure why I didn't do a little homework on my destination ahead of time. I used to be an obsessive planner but as I get older, I like to go with the flow (at least in this one area of my life!) Anyway, I quickly found the Super Shuttle to the hotel (round-trip ticket $36) and was on my way.
The Westin is very nice and even has energy-saving feature of the key slot by the door which is supposed to prevent unnecessary use of electricity when you’re not in the room. Nice to see the U.S. doing something that European countries have been doing for decades! A big drawback, which I wrote a quick-hit diary about Tuesday evening is NO MSNBC IN THE HOTEL! If we make lots of noise about it, maybe the Westin will put it back in the lineup. Apparently they used to have MSNBC but replaced it with the golf channel. Of course, Fox and CNN are available. C-SPAN is also missing.
After settling in, I went for a walk near the hotel and found Saks and Macy’s. Both were nearly empty. Not sure if that’s a sign of the bad economic times or just the nature of downtown shopping in Pittsburgh.
Back to the hotel for an early dinner at the Fish Market off the lobby (avoid the sushi), then bed.
Yesterday after a lazy morning in the room, I checked out the convention venue and found a group of eager volunteers unpacking boxes of goodies for the swag bags. Because the convention is smaller this year, the job wasn’t nearly as daunting as last year in Austin when it took two days to put them together. I spent some time helping out. Several of my old blog friends were also there: MissSpentYouth, sobermom, teacherken, cskendrick, and more. Also reconnected with Mona Brooks, the official Netroots photographer, and super volunteers Eric and Linda.
Fellow Floridians Beth and Maria arrived and we went to dinner at a great restaurant called Seviche on Penn Avenue. Definitely check it out.
Say hello if you see me around, and please attend our session!