29 Aug, 2007
Teaching Conservatives How to Communicate Online
Posted by: Rob Bluey In: Capitol Hill| On the Job| Politics| Technology
Modern Media Strategies Workshop (Andrew Blasko/Heritage Foundation), originally uploaded by Rob Bluey.
As I mentioned on the blog before heading to vacation, I’ve been consumed with planning a Modern Media Strategies Workshop for conservatives on Capitol Hill and in the movement. Today was the big day — and it was certainly big. We had about 200 attendees and presentations from 15 of the smartest online communicators in the business.
Special thanks to Google (specifically Ginny Hunt and Michelle Rosen) and my wonderful colleagues Maggie Pitts and Melinda Brown, who did an exceptional job behind the scenes to make today a success. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also thank David All, Soren Dayton, Matt Lewis and Patrick Ruffini, who played a crucial role in developing the agenda and marketing today’s event. We had presentations on why blogs matter, social networking, engaging your community, online advertising, using technology to spread the message, online video and blogger outreach. Our 15 presenters did an outstanding job.
My early reflections on the event are quite positive based on the feedback I’ve heard, but I think we still have a long way to go. There’s already talk of doing an un-conference in a few months to see what today’s attendees found valuable and what they’ve implemented. I’d also like to follow up today’s event with smaller workshops focused separately on congressional staffers and non-profits. I think there’s a need for a workshop specifically for campaign managers as well, but that’s not for Heritage to host.
UPDATE — Aug. 30, 9:04 a.m.: Jose Vargas writes about yesterday’s workshop on the Washington Post’s blog The Trail. It’s a good piece, but did you really have to mention that Matt Lewis quote?
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