Internet Advocacy Roundtable: Meet Ups and House Parties - Then and Now
Internet Advocacy RoundtableTip O'Neil once said that "all politics is local." And while the internet makes it possible to ignore geography in many cases, we still need to organize people on the ground if we want to effect change. Join us on October 18th as we discuss new tools and strategies for using the internet to organize offline events.
This month, Internet Advocacy Roundtable features a panel discussion on how to use online tools to create offline gatherings. From the "early" days of 2004, when MeetUp changed the political landscape, to today, when Party2Win and Eventful join MeetUp to offer more powerful tools for organizing people online and offline, it is not only true that all politics is local, but now all virtual politics is virtually local.
David Salie was invited by Governor Howard Dean to work on his presidential campaign in 2002 and became Dean for America's Director for House Party Fundraising. Over the course of the campaign, David built relationships with grassroots leaders nationwide and developed a new outreach strategy for political campaigns.
Under David's leadership, the Dean House Party program engaged more than 80,000 participants and taught more than 3,500 supporters how to become grassroots leaders, and it raised more than $2 million for Governor Dean's campaign. "National House Party Days" became the signature events of the House Party program, with simultaneous nationwide gatherings, each featuring some form of live interaction with the candidate himself. The "New Year for America" event, for example, raised more than $850,000 and brought together 1,400-plus separate house parties nationwide—an unprecedented feat.
David works with clients to replicate aspects of this grassroots outreach and fundraising model. Political campaigns, non-profit groups and businesses are all exploring how this outreach model can work for them. A key element of David's approach is to remind clients that success still comes from building relationships with people. Technological innovations are powerful indeed, but they are only part of a successful engagement strategy. By learning to balance the use of state-of-the-art technology and good old- fashioned personal engagement, David's clients learn to connect with more people, at a deeper level, in shorter time frames.
As co-founder of Party2Win, Inc., David has used his party expertise to build a powerful party portal for organizations of all sizes. The site allows users to set up a party and guides them through creation and management of the party program.
Alex Hunsucker is the Business Development Manager and politics guru at Eventful.com. Alex has worked at Eventful since 2006 building strategic business relationships and leading a technical team working towards global event comprehensiveness. In early 2007, he helped launch Eventful Politics, a unique social media platform enabling voters to discover, share, and create grassroots political events. Previously, he worked on several state and local political races in Virginia. Alex holds a B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, and attended the Graduate Program in International Studies at Old Dominion University.
Note: Seating is limited. You will receive an email confirming your reservation. Please let us know if you change your plans and are unable to attend, so we may release your seat to someone on the waiting list. Thank you.
Event Location
Center for American Progress Action Fund1333 H Street, NW
10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Directions
One block from the McPherson Square Metro station (Orange/Blue lines). Exit on 14th Street, NW side. Walk one block south to H Street, NW. Turn left onto H Street, NW. Enter on left side of street, just after the Cosi.