This past Saturday saw the latest running of the lefty online organizing bulls — the New Organizing Institute’s regular post-election RootsCamp, which brings Democratic and progressive field organizers and online staff from around the country in for a mass de-brief. It’s an “unconference,” meaning that the agenda is written on the spot as people propose discussion sessions and the organizers assign rooms. This year’s event drew roughly 1000 of us, many fresh off campaigns, and it was a true joy to get to learn from people who are applying online orgnizing principles in the Real World (i.e., we got to listen to actual practitioners rather than the usual loud voices that hog the stage at these things). Kudos all around — besides meeting some great folks, I learned a ton, the best parts of which you Loyal Readers will get to share in the coming weeks.
BTW, NOI also used the weekend to unveil their new Organizing Toolbox. More on that here shortly, but be sure to check it out for yourself.
– cpd