Roots Camp Photo Wrap-Up! 0

So no time to do a proper text wrap-up of Roots Camp tonight, but I did manage to get all my photos online from today. Take a look on my flickr set here, or just click through the embedded slideshow below. Thanks everybody at Roots Camp for a fantastic day today, it was a blast and I learned so much. Can’t wait ’til Roots Camp 11! I’ll try and get my text-based wrap-up (lessons learned, criticism, etc.) at some point soon, probably sometime during this week.

Roots Camp So Far, in Photos 2

Hey guys! So just a quick update–next session starts in 15 minutes–but I wanted to give you some photos from this morning, the first event, and some photos from the unconference “wall”. They’re embedded below, enjoy!

Update: I’ve posted my full set of photos from the event now, they’re in the post just above this one.

Roots Camp #RC10 Begins! 3



Breakfast at Roots Camp! #rc10
Originally uploaded by alex.priest

So just wanted to toss out a quick update this morning as I’m sitting here waiting on NOI’s Roots Camp to begin. So far, so good! I biked down here about 20 minutes ago (it’s a beautiful day, by the way) and now I’m sitting in the atrium of the National Education Association waiting on the festivities to begin!

It looks to be a fun-filled day of learning, talking, networking and organizing. For those of you unfamiliar with Roots Camp, it is, in a lot of ways, just a look back at the progressive organizing of 2009, what we’ve learned and what we can do better. Expect lots of talking Twitter, online organizing, as well as the “old” methods of offline organizing!

Roots Camp is what they call an “unconference,” a really cool, somewhat new format of conference where, quite literally, the participants set the agenda. When you walk in, they give you a blank card with the words “Session title:” and “Your Name:”. The participants create sessions (as many as possible!) and then arrange them on a giant grid in the atrium to fit with the pre-set schedule. Then you just go to it! The schedule may change and fluctuate throughout the day, and yes, it’s a little chaotic, but it’s also fun and gets everyone participating.

Another quick thing: my friend Chris Golden pointed out that the infamous Glenn Beck is speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) here in DC. Interesting contrast, I’d say.

More to come later on, possibly today, maybe tomorrow, maybe this week… who knows. Regardless, you know you can always find me tweeting (and I’ll be tweeting about Roots Camp all day with the hashtag #RC10).