Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner Trouble the Water takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. Directed and produced by Fahrenheit 9/11 producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, the film features an aspiring rap artist who survives the flooding of New Orleans by any means necessary, recording her experience in a chilling video diary which opens the film. "Captures a tale of thrilling human drama, terrible tragedy and unbelievable heroism among some of America's most stigmatized and downtrodden people." —Andrew O'Herir, Salon.com

Sponsored by Advomatic, Aristotle, Blackrock Associates, BlogAds, Bullitics, The Clinton Group, Fletcher Rowley Chao, Mission Control, Mobile Commons, New House PAC, NGP Software, Russo Strategies, VShift and Wired for Change

This event at the Hilton Ballroom will recognize Netroots candidates—at any level—and shine a spotlight on those who organize and mobilize progressives locally. Light snacks will be served.

This moderated morning session gives attendees a chance to engage America's current House leader, Nancy Pelosi, in substantive discussion about current issues and the legislative process. Submit your questions at http://www.askthespeaker.org

Netroots Nation 2008 will feature a spectacular 26,000-square-foot Exhibit Hall centrally located near all the action. The Exhibit Hall will include interactive displays from non-profit progressive organizations and corporate sponsors eager to connect with the progressive community. We will also reprise the successful convention bookstore featuring book signings from progressive authors. We invite you to join us.

This panel will look at the ways the Netroots has changed campaigns for the U.S. House and consider where the biggest opportunities for further change lie. Current and potential impacts on press, fund-raising, strategy and organizing will be discussed.

Getting your blog in front of new visitors can be a challenge. Using new online social techniques as well as old-fashioned outreach can help! Discover hands-on techniques that allow you to join the blogosphere conversation, leverage traffic from social news sites like Digg and Reddit and put your blog in front of thousands of potential visitors. Learn how to build your own online community from a panel of bloggers who have worked on their own blogs; for non-profits; and for state, congressional and presidential campaigns.

Many people helped lead the U.S. into war in Iraq, but few were as wrong, uninformed and unaccountable as the television pundits. How do war pundits influence and distort our foreign policy debates? Why are they the most influential voice in the public discourse of foreign policy? This panel will convene journalists and actual foreign policy experts to dissect the broken punditocracy, Pentagon propaganda and the marginalization of voices critical of war or the government. From Iraq to Iran, panelists will discuss what activists can do to improve the accuracy and accountability of America's foreign policy punditry.

Five leading pundits/bloggers connect to discuss a late-breaking issue of universal relevance. Topic will be announced at Netroots Nation.

A progressive social movement is rising among evangelical and born-again Christians committed to eliminating poverty, saving the environment, protecting separation of church and state, aiding immigrants and promoting justice across racial, gender and class lines. Zack Exley and Jamie Moffett will facilitate a discussion about how all progressives can work with better understanding of each other across the Evangelical divide.

The Interior West is an important part of the country for Democrats this year. New Mexico is the ultimate swing state in the region. It was the closest (in margin) in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential contests. Every Congressional seat is open in 2008, as is the Senate seat of retiring Republican Pete Domenici. The west has important regional issues: water, public lands, fire, remote rural areas, large Native American and Hispanic populations and more. Speakers include the Democratic candidates for NM-01 and NM-03.

Even before 1960, when Kennedy trounced Nixon in the first televised presidential debate, video has played an important role in politics and elections. With the advent of the Internet and YouTube, video escaped the confines and control of mainstream media networks and suddenly anyone with a camera and PC can produce and distribute video to a worldwide audience. Today, viral videos can be downloaded, viewed and shared via the Internet and a wide variety of mobile devices. This panel will explore how viral videos are being used to further progressive causes.

Will healthcare reform be delivered to the American people? Not if we sit by and don't take action. This panel brings together fierce advocates of healthcare reform. You'll meet Nataline Sarkisyan's mother, who turned her grief into action. A cancer surgeon struggling with a rising tide of insurance company denials. A politician spearheading civil and criminal investigations into insurance industry practices. A trauma nurse/activist. And a policy expert with answers.

In this panel, you'll learn about how the Obama campaign built an unprecedented grassroots movement -- from the way the campaign uses community organizing principles in its local field operations, to the campaign's use of online tools that empower supporters to self-organize, to the training a new generation of grassroots leaders through our Organizing Fellows program. And you'll learn about why the Obama campaign is the first in a generation to pursue a 50-state strategy, engaging new people and empowering supporters from all across the country to not only win an election, but build a long-term movement for progressive change.

This year's Netroots Nation marks the launch of a bold experiment in participatory democracy: Together, the Netroots will craft their very own policy platform in advance of the Democratic Convention! Come join this working session, where we'll use MixedInk's web-based collaborative writing tool to begin putting our best ideas and language together. The effort will continue in the weeks following the conference - and the final, collectively written platform will be presented to the DNC before the convention in Denver. Come help kick off the process! Laptops encouraged (but not required).

Technology pioneer and professor Lawrence Lessig will address his current focus: a non-partisan reform initiative to fight corruption.

One of the challenges facing the Netroots in creating a progressive movement is the transformation of Netroots activism into grassroots action. This panel will discuss the benefits and challenges in working within the Democratic Party on the state and local level. This discussion will include a primer on how to get involved, as well as a discussion on the resistance one may face “crashing the party.” The goal of this discussion is to encourage more Netroots community members to actively engage in politics on the state and local level.

To date, blogging has been a medium limited almost entirely to the written word and embedded video. However, new technologies and platforms are quickly enabling the development of an expansion to online radio hosting, podcasting and v-logging. Join thereisnospoon, clammyc, and famed hosts Cenk Uygur and Sam Seder as we teach you how to get started in this brave new medium, discuss the challenges and opportunities for those who make the leap, explore the exciting world of v-logging and discuss the world of traditional radio and how it relates to the new online radio medium.

How has digital technology changed advocacy? What should influence look like in a networked social environment? How can individuals best affect government? What role should intermediaries, advocacy organizations, opinion leaders and movement organizers play in organizing government?

Improv comedy ... you can talk about how it builds confidence and the ability to think on one’s feet. You can laud team-building and listening skills. You can praise the way it generates new ideas. Or you can just admit that it's fun. This two-hour workshop is an energized, involved intro to improvisation (no watchers, only participants). It’s NOT political improv; you can politicize it on your own if you like. For these two hours, it’s just for fun.

Building social connections around our shared politics is core to our movement. And just as there are social clubs, book groups and a host of other gatherings that allow people to make politics part of their every day lives, there is an increasing number of film clubs that share their politics while they share their love of cinema. This roundtable discussion looks at the effective ways of organizing these communities and how to turn reel action into real action.

Election officials and lawmakers make hundreds of decisions affecting everything from voting rights to what equipment is used to tally votes. Join California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and top election protection advocates for a discussion about how we can continue protecting and expanding the rights of every voter along the entire spectrum of the electoral process.

Here are two seemingly paradoxical statements: All bloggers who have a solid knowledge base in a specific subject, or who have a flair for writing, should consider writing a book. Most writers are incapable of writing a book and there are tons of books out there that should never have been published. If the first statement applies to you, come check out this panel. By the end of the session, you just might find out that the second statement applies to you.

Join in one of these ad-hoc sessions that originated from Rootscamp (or organize your own). Check out the details on how a self organizing session works here (.pdf 155KB).

Join in one of these ad-hoc sessions that originated from Rootscamp (or organize your own). Check out the details on how a self organizing session works here (.pdf 155KB).

Join in one of these ad-hoc sessions that originated from Rootscamp (or organize your own). Check out the details on how a self organizing session works here (.pdf 155KB).