As I want my first blog post here on cristinamoon.com to embrace the new country world in which we find ourselves after the 2008 general election, I’m excited to write a post on the New Organizing Institute’s Rootscamp conference.
Rootscamp 2008 was an open conference for progressive online and offline organizers who worked on the 2008 election cycle, held at Trinity College in Washington, DC.
A note first on the conference format: This was the first time I had been to an Open Space event with more than 10 people in attendance (600+!), and I feel the format worked out quite well. Perhaps the most important outcome of this format, was the genuine promise for collaboration that came out of each session. One could be confident that session leaders were passionate about their topics and were seeking out partnerships, not just responding to the interests of conference organizers. It was an exciting weekend, all around.
Highlights included sessions led by Obama campaign Western Regional Field Director Buffy Wicks and Professor Marshall Ganz, father of the teams model of organizing implemented nation-wide by the Obama campaign.
More highlights:
- A ‘What should we do now?’ session run by Rootscamp sponsor MoveOn,
- A volunteer-management workshop led by Jefferson Smith of the Bus Project and now a member of the Oregon State House,
- Sessions on testing, data, and new best practices by folks from VAN (yes, the VAN), Catalist and the Analyst Institute, and
- Video 101 and 202 led by Max Glass of the Obama campaign’s New Media Team.
High on everyone’s agenda: How do we professionalize progressive organizing and create a nation-wide infrastructure of local, sustainable, progressive organizers? And, of course, what’s next?