What does a clean economy look like? It’s more than just the alternative fuels of the future. A clean economy will be will not only include investments in renewable energy sources --like wind, biofuels, and solar—but will also in producing safe products for our kids and families. This panel will look at the potential for Minnesota to lead the country in pursuing these technologies.

During this hour, we will discuss the intersection of traditional earned media and new media. Our focus will be on making the most of new media tactics and techniques during mainstream media opportunities.

We all have candidates we love and candidates we hate. Now it's time to have an open and frank discussion about how to help our favorites online. Does being polite get you ignored? Does being a pit bull make people hate the candidate as much as they hate you? When is it too much, and how to handle abusive commenters? And, as always, learn how what to deal with anonymous trolls on your sites.

Volunteers are the power behind any grassroots campaign. But how can you work with a great volunteer and turn them into a leader who takes real responsibilities on your campaign? In this workshop, we will share some of the best tactics and tools learned on the Obama campaign and with Organizing for America.

This is a training on how "this is how the caucus process works." From precinct caucuses to congressional conventions, to the state convention, we walk participants through every step of the process and the rules governing the process.

Note: This panel is sponsored by Alliance for a Better Minnesota.

Alliance for a Better Minnesota Education Fund and Grassroots Solutions invite Netroots Minnesota attendees to do some IRL (in real life) "social networking" on the Atrium level. Please join us for cocktails and conversation. Be sure to use the #nmn09 hashtag to tweet about all the fun you're having!

DFL candidates for governor will join us at Netroots Minnesota to take questions directly from you. The candidates will be asked questions solicited online via Twitter, Facebook, and email, and in person, during a discussion moderated by Star Tribune writer Lori Sturdevant.

It's shaping up to be one of the most engaging forums for the candidates to date -- make sure you get a front-row seat at this must-see-for-yourself political event.

Note: This panel is sponsored by Alliance for a Better Minnesota Action Fund.

This session is a chance to discuss the current state of Minnesota's Progressive blogosphere in a facilitated open discussion. We’ll talk about what's working and not working, share struggles we are having, and reflect before we get ready for 2010 gubernatorial election. There is no panel, only a moderator. And, much like the Gong Show, once the moderator says it's time to move on, it's time to move on.

Moderated by the Center for Independent Media's Robin Marty.

With all the communications sent to the Capitol Hill and state capitols today, adding a voice advocacy program, driven by mobile technology, can lead to increased visibility for your organization's grassroots lobbying efforts. Learn how organizations are also using mobile advocacy to build their lists, reach new audiences, and add a new communications channel to drive advocacy response rates. Bring your mobile devices and try out a few campaigns.

Today's cameras make video pretty easy, but there's more to shooting video than knowing which end of a camera to point. The UpTake's basic training walks us through not just the technical aspects, but also how to use video to tell stories in an engaging and convincing way.

Coming Soon...

New media tactics are a core part of a modern campaign. This session is dedicated to exploring how campaigns can use social media to turn online activists into community organizers. Drawing on the Obama campaign experience, Xavier Lopez-Ayala, Obama's Minnesota New Media Director, and Jeff Blodgett, Obama's Minnesota State Director, will share best practices for campaigns about how to engage voters online and how to use social media tools to build meaningful relationships with supporters through an ongoing conversation -- a conversation that takes place on social networks like Facebook and through sharing platforms like YouTube and blogs.

A one hour discussion with reporters, advocacy organizations and outreach communicators on how to create impactful stories, reach out to interested advocacy groups, and bring about action that will create real change. We will also walk through a case study of how one article written in September of 2008 eventually forced John McCain to concede Michigan.

What exactly does it mean when a YouTube video "goes viral" -- or is the term already out of fashion? Where's the cutting edge in social media, and how are those tools being used most effectively?

This session will explore ways to use online tools and resources in your grassroots advocacy efforts to generate offline results. In particular, we’ll examine the combined usage of online and offline tools in the context of the Power Shift ‘09 National Summit, which brought 12,000 young people to a historic conference and the largest Lobby Day on climate change ever.

One of the strengths of the political blogosphere is the multitude of local experts around the country, ready to speak whenever local issues take on national importance, such as when an obscure Governor from a small-population state gets the VP nomination. Yet translating local events such that a national audience understands them can be daunting. In this panel, Marcy Wheeler will use her experience blogging the auto bailout over the last year as a way to understand how better to communicate local and regional issues for a national audience.

These days, every organization needs to engage their supporters online. But, just because your organization has 200 Facebook friends does not mean that they your have 200 volunteers or 200 people that will contact a legislator. This workshop will explore how local organizations are able to successful engage their members online to create change. We will look at case studies from labor, the choice movement, and the environment.

Panelists will discuss the successful coordination of online and offline activities for the Al Franken for Senate campaign and during the 2008 recount. Specifically we will look at how an underdog Senate campaign built an online and offline organizing powerhouse by aligning traditional field tactics with an aggressive online effort.

Communications is a fundamental human right. It's a right that's denied to many people and communities everyday. In the past couple years media justice organizations like Main Street Project have been establishing closer ties and relationships with allies based in Washington D.C. With a stronger emphasis from the government to shape the future of the internet and deploy broadband to more communities, well-organized grassroots organizations and well-informed D.C. allies can ensure that changes to the internet are in the best interest of digitally marginalized communities. To date, this collaboration between media justice organizations in the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) and D.C. allies like the Media Democracy Coalition have helped to produce an Internet white paper, shape comments on Net Neutrality and Mobile Broadband access to the F.C.C.

During the lunch hour, Rep. Tim Walz (MN-01) will brief Netroots Minnesota attendees during lunch about what's happened so far in this session of Congress and what's on the agenda in the new year.

Note: Boxed lunch provided to attendees.