Right Online: Saturday Afternoon

Two sessions remained in the afternoon, and both dealt with reaching out to youth. One highly telling statistic is that 67% of the youth vote went to Obama in the recent election. This is troubling. Obama’s use of social media to drum up support was masterful, and it is possible for us Republicans to learn some lessons from this.

A variety of speakers addressed us. We were reminded us that engagement is critical with youth. Young people under 30 are different from previous generations, and not only because they seem to like the social media and the cell phone. The group born between 1981 and 1994 are the largest generation in American history. 52% of this demographic voted in the 2008 elections; this percentage has grown every two years. 70% of young voters have gone to college; on average, they graduate with $20,000 in debt (and therefore, have reason to be concerned with the economy). Only 28% of them self-identify as Republicans, although this group is usually “die-hard.” A majority see the economy as the most important issue right now; Iraq was second with only 12%.

Today’s youth like to travel in groups, whether to the movies, on dates, or to the mall. Mobile technology is the primary means of communication; the average teen reportedly sends 3000 text messages per month. They care what their friends think. They operate by cooperation and strive for life/work balance. This group almost without exception is on social networks, but only 22% of them use Twitter. Most find e-mail antiquated and don’t trust political campaign ads. They value change, and tend to be a bit “ADHD.” They tend to focus on participation more than information.

The premise going forward, then, is that we must be able to meet youth where they are. To that end, websites like campusreform.org (full rollout coming soon), theycc.org, smartgirlpolitics.org, and pinkelephantpundit.com have been developed. We need to find out what they value. We should not hesitate from using emotional appeal with them; they are idealistic, and it tends to work [Note from Ken: Yes, those of you over 35 can see problems with this; but we’re dealing with political persuasion, not core moral issues, etc.].

And finally, a topic came up that I really, really wanted to hear about: How to drive traffic to your blog. Some of the suggestions that were given included:
1. Use twitter. Make connections with lots of other people; send your blog postings via twitter. (Note: In case you haven’t noticed yet, Twitter was a huge topic throughout this conference. Opinions on its efficacy varied, but most contributors found it to be invaluable)
2. Link to other blogs. Links are often reciprocated. Link to specific posts in addition to the overall blog; these are often more track-able.
3. Post comments on other blogs, and make sure your blog can be linked from the comment.
4. Do all of these things often.

My scheduled flight prevented me from going to the final session without running too high a risk of missing my flight out of town. Many, many thanks to RightOnline, a project of the Americans For Prosperity Foundation; and to RightMichigan.com, for having the Bloggers’ Challenge contest last June!

Right Online: Saturday Morning, Part 2

Phil Kerpen, AFPF Policy Director, came to the podium and encouraged us that liberal blogging numbers are down, and ours are up! He also warned us that there is a good chance that the “single payer” option part of the healthcare bill will be removed, but that the rest of the government takeover may very well go through in some sort of compromise. This entire bill needs to be killed! The insurance companies would love to see the bill pass without single payer. We must be informing ourselves and becoming alert to how this is going down in Congress. Cap and Trade seems to be dying a slow death right now. HR 3458, a bill that would deliberately regulate the internet, has been proposed and should be fought.

Rachel Carpo, a blogging mother of five (a fact which registered obvious surprise among everyone present, as she neither looks old enough nor, um, like she’s had five children), spoke briefly.

Matt Lewis, who spoke in a Friday session I attended, gave several suggestions:
1. Adopt a “win mentality.” The Left is now worried about us. They want to mock us and demoralize us; don’t let them!
2. Get the tools. Go to conferences, read, get and learn the tools (cameras, iphones, etc.)
3. Get networked
4. Stay principled. Don’t let others co-opt you…in either party
5. Get the facts. Don’t be sloppy. Someone has to keep the MSM honest!
6. Stay aggressive.

Steven Lonigan reminded us that the difference between liberals and conservatives can be summed up by noting the conservatives believe in the individual, while the liberals want to sacrifice the individual for the collectivist good. He brought one copy each of the healthcare and cap-and-trade bills—nearly 2500 combined pages, with the cap-and-trade bill being the larger—for us to see. He eloquently described the consequences if these bills are passed. Quote to note: “E-mail is the musket of today’s revolution.”

John Peterson, a former Congressman from northwest PA, followed. His visual aids consisted of two posters with graphs regarding energy sources and consumption. He spoke of the cancelling of energy leases by the Dept. of Energy, a development unnoticed by the MSM. Huge new energy taxes are being proposed, some with minimal press coverage. His quote to note: “If we don’t drill, OPEC will.”

Ed Morrissey of hotair.com was next. He pointed out that “Americans for Prosperity” would have been considered a redundancy until recent years in this this country, as America was virtually designed for prosperity. The Declaration of Independence “declared” our God-given, unalienable rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the ability to change our government if it became destructive of our ends. It lifted the individual above the state. The first mention of property rights in the Constitution (Article I, Section 8) dealt with patents and such: No one has the right to confiscate the “work” of others! Healthcare is not a right; if anything, it’s the doctor who has the right to charge a fee for his work.

Ronald Kessler, author of All The President’s Men (#3 on the current bestseller list), mentioned that although the quality of media overall has diminished, the marketplace is working; media such as the Washington Post, with its recent improvements, are seeing their declines mitigated. He also spoke at some length about newsmax.com, which emphasizes stories not typically seen in the MSM.

Steven Moore, another WSJ writer, spoke of the “Three Pillars of Evil in Washington:” (1) The hoax of global warming and its attendant cap-and-trade; (2) The fiscal policy and debt (which he referred to as “financial child abuse,” an apt phrase); and (3) The healthcare issue. Most in Congress have never run a business or dealt with payroll before, so they might not be aware that it’s the small businesses which are paying most of the taxes in our country. His Quote to Note: “The next eight weeks may be the most critical in our country in the past fifty years.”

Finally, the best known speaker of the day came to the podium: Michelle Malkin. She stated that the Left is attempting to redefine such things as political dissent, etc., in an effort to discredit whatever disagrees with its point of view. She, like the rest of us, seems to find it amusing that democrat officeholders are hiding from their constitutents of late (she likened it to “sanctuary”). Some think that the Beltway GOP is behind the Tea Party protests; she pointed out that they could only wish that they were!

Based on something she said about her work career, my guess is that she’s about forty years old. She does not look that old! Indeed, all three women who addressed the crowd are attractive both in their facial appearance/demeanor and in their ideology.

Right Online: Saturday Morning, Part 1

Saturday began with a 3-hour general session and a great array of speakers. Here are the first ones:

The large general session this morning begin with an AFP video, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a word from Tim Phillips, executive director of Americans for Prosperity, which sponsored the Right Online conference (and provided my trip prize).

Our first speaker was Joe the Plumber. He pointed out quickly that we cannot let people take away our American heritage from us. The movement needs to be an “American movement,” not a left-versus-right struggle. After all, there are a lot of union members and other self-identified liberals and democrats who, if they understood the issues, would side with us. Let us not antagonize them. He also reminded us that political correctness is another way of keeping us down.

Joe summarized four things that will turn our country around: (1) Accountability—we have to hold Congress accountable for their actions (Joe pointed out that, like me and many others, he hates being lied to). (2) Responsibility—everyone needs to show responsibility, beginning with Congress. (3) Education—people need to know what’s going on. (4) Constitution—America needs to follow the Constitution and we Americans need to fight to see that it is followed.

Despite his identification as a plumber and the jeans-and-t-shirt appearance, Joe the Plumber is actually a very effective public speaker. I don’t recall this being mentioned in the MSM.

Next up was John Fund of the Wall Street Journal. He made referece to the fact that Net Roots Nation (the liberal counterpart to Right Online) just so happens to be meeting at the Convention Center across town right now, and then the liberals are worried about us. Some of the liberals are afraid that the democrats will lose 20-50 seats in the U.S. House next year (so be it!). The theme of his message dealt with Ronald Reagan, and the premise that those who are elected as moderate democrats cannot govern that way; those who “pay the bills” won’t let that happen. Quote to remember: “You are the new leaders of American government.”

Erick Erickson, managing editor of RedState.com, was up next. Paraphrasing Lincoln, he said, “If Obama succeeds, you won’t be able to make yourself”—a reference to the fact that the self-man made is iconic in America. He suggested we have a coup in this country—a coup of the political party structure. He suggested that people become precinct captains, get involved, and take the parties back.

A video message from Mike Pence followed.

Glenn Meakem, entrepreneur and radio host, spoke. His focus was the issues with Barack Obama’s leadership (i.e., he’s a liar), not knowing where the truth ends and the lies begin.

He was followed by Grover Norquist, from Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist is quite humorous. Conservatives generally want to be left along, with the government staying away from their guns, their educational decisions for their children, and their faith. [A reference was made to the hypothetical children’s book, Heather Has Two Hunters]. We are the “Leave Us Alone” coalition, while the left is basically a “Take It” coalition. The left “is made up of competing parasites,” Norquist said, all wanting a piece of the tax revenues we pay. He compared the stimulus packages as taking water out of one end of a lake, dumping it back into the lake—on the opposite side and in view of the cameras—and then assuming that the lake will then become deeper. He also said that most of the damage being done in D.C. right now is at the hands of Reid and Pelosi, not President Obama.

The tallest speaker of the day, 6’9” Jim Pinkerton, was up next. A contributor for Fox News, he showed appreciation for the online community and spoke about his own media experiences.

Time to run to the book signings….more to come!

Right Online: The Rest of Friday

The final session of the afternoon was by Beverly Hallberg, titled Online Video 101. I chose this one thinking that it would be more of a “How to use YouTube” session (similar to the previous ones about how to use Facebook and Twitter), but it turned out to be more of a “Video Production 101” class. If you are interested in knowing a variety of technical suggestions regarding video production, leave a comment and let me know; I took the notes and will be happy to share…if you are happy to know. To her credit, the session was quite interesting and included a variety of examples of both bad and good video work.

Some points of interest for the non-professional:
· People watch video primarily for entertainment. Don’t make your video look like the reading of a policy paper.
· If you interview someone, be a “friendly interviewer,” even if you don’t agree with their position. She suggested having interviewees sign a release.
· Music has emotional impact; if you can include music in your video (staying clean on copyright issues, of course), that’s a big plus.
· Video for web should be short, generally no more than 90 seconds.
· The viewer should be able to “get the message” the first time he/she views the video.
· Copyright matters. Don’t let your good work be besmirched because you didn’t cross your t’s and dot your i’s.

The action then moved to a “Send Specter a Message Cap-and-Trade Rally” that filled much of the time between the final afternoon session and dinner. After you have been to a rally of freedom-loving, higher-tax-hating, patriotic Americans, you get a real feel for the state of disgust with what Congress is doing these days.

Dinner, by the way, was very good. The meal included a trailer for the upcoming movie, Not Evil Just Wrong; the main feature after the meal was Pat Toomey, conservative GOP candidate for the Senate seat currently held by the (much-despised) Arlen Specter. Pennsylvania Republicans seriously dislike Specter. A few other speakers got up and, in general, thanked the conservative online community for its work.

There was a screening of that movie this evening; it is intended to be the counterpoint to Al Gore’s ludicrous global warming propaganda piece. It is subtitled, The True Cost of Global Warming Hysteria. I took a pass on that…had to get to work on blogging!

Right Online: Twitter and Facebook by David All

David All, of the David All Group, spoke a lot about why and how we should be active on Twitter and Facebook. A large chunk of the session was on the nuts and bolts of these (I will not bore you with these; twitter information can be found at http://www.twitter101guide.com/).

Facebook now has over 250 million users; 120 million will log in daily. Twitter is up to 6 million users and is expected to double within another year. It is the new wire service, as demonstrated by the immediacy of news events finding their way onto Twitter: Mumbai, the Iran elections, the plane that went into the Hudson, the Air Force One flyover, etc. Twitter is a communication vehicle.

Don't abuse your followers. Send them substantive information.

There was also discussion of what #tcot (top conservatives on twitter) was all about. Now I know why Saul Anuzis used it all the time.

Coordinated action: It can mean a lot when a group of people all send a twitter message to a single state legislator or other person whom they wish to influence on an issue.

Virtually all reporters are on twitter now; you can communicate with them about stories of the day.

Tweets can be imported directly to facebook, although facebook evidently doesn't like to see the approach of twitter in its rearview mirror. Even "changing your facebook status is activism," since your "friends" will see what you are saying.

Right Online: Blogging 101 by Matt Lewis

Matt Lewis, compiler of "The Week In Blog," spoke to us bloggers (a.k.a., "Online community organizers") next. He said that we have a lot of power to influence.

He began by pointing out that each of us bloggers should "find a niche." We have expertise, so we should capitalize on it. Perhaps we can illuminate a new angle on an issue. We can bring focus to local and state issues, and hopefully use our platform to lobby and influence politicians.

"Blogging gives the MSM permission to cover something." Would the vicious rumor that Sarah Palin's baby was not actually her own have gone anywhere, if some liberal bloggers hadn't taken the fabrication and run with it? More recently, consider what happened at Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee's recent town hall meeting: Had no one gotten video of her taking a phone call during a question, would it have made the MSM? If someone had not pointed out (with e-mail correspondence screenshots to validate it) that one of the persons at her town hall lied about being a pediatric surgeon, would anyone know today?

Bloggers need to practice basic journalism. Journalists, for the most part, have abandoned the practice. Build up credibility; don't go off half-cocked; check your facts.

For impact, pictures are better than words, and videos are better than pictures. He suggested that all of us have the tools (iPhone, flip phone, etc.) to take video should a great moment happen in our presence. Learn how to get screenshots, and use them.

So you got the scoop...Now what? His first suggestion was to get on twitter (this seems to be a theme so far among the speakers, and will be a direct topic of the next session) and accumulate a following. Be active in the blog community. Reciprocate; if they follow you on twitter or they follow your blog, return the favor. Respond to comments on blogs; the left has been making great progress in mocking and demoralizing the Right when they speak up. Gather an e-mail list of media members and other bloggers whom you can contact when you uncover something of interest....ditto with other media.

You are your own PR firm. Make friends. Hook other people up. Use twitter.

Do research. For example, go to fec.gov and find out who gave your Congressman money (Remember those people in the shack who gave Hillary Clinton thousands of dollars?)

Start a blog if you don't have one already. (Matt Lewis suggested Wordpress.) Buy your own name for a domain name and get your own name on twitter, if you still can.

Next great session: Twitter and Facebook, by David All....it's about to start. And I'm still sitting on the front row.

Right Online: Winning in a Web 2.0 World

Our first session was a panel composed of Emily Zinotti, of the Sam Adams Alliance; Adam Bitely, from Americans for Limited Government; and John Hawkins, of rightwingnews.com (and various other sites). Each began with a statement where they made some important points:

Emily: We need to learn the new media tools for political change. The Right has leaped forward in the past year on the internet and new media, partly in response to President Obama and the Left’s progress in the past few years.

Adam: He has identified over 90,000 conservative blogs. There has been a huge uptick in conservative blogging in the past couple years.

John: (It should be pointed out that John was definitely the talker of the three…but he had good things to say) The early adopters generally take the lead. Those who have been on twitter the longest generally have the most followers; those who have blogged the longest get the most hits. He pointed out that the Left tends to be more “collectivist” while the Right tends to be more “individualist;” the Left consequently tends to be more likely to fundraise online. Left-wing politicians tend to be more prone to engage bloggers; Right-wing politicians are more top-down and dismissive, on the whole. Blogging is like an ocean: There are tides, and when your tide is coming in, you need to take advantage. If the tide is going out, you need to hold onto your gains.

Prior to the Q&A time, we were reminded that the goal of Right Online is to get the right wing more involved online. The Q&A session that followed was pretty thorough. Here is a digest of its important points.
· What can you do if you aren’t already engaged online? Emily suggested that the new media is a conversation more than anything else. Meet people online. Comment on blogs. She suggested that each person do one thing new, even if it is uncomfortable. Challenge others to start blogs and to read other blogs. Adam spoke about Twitter and what it can do.
· Emily mentioned that the average age of a Daily Kos reader is 43. It’s not just the youth that the Left has online.
· Emily also said you should “own your expertise.” Produce quality content on what you know. Commit to a medium (be it a blog, facebook, tweeting, etc.) and do something daily.
· Adam suggested turning in Barack Obama to flag@whitehouse.gov, since he is lying abot the healthcare issues of our day. Suggestion was well received.
· Adam also said that it was important to translate online activism to “boots in the field.” Online activism won’t get nearly so much done unless it is accompanied by action: Getting out the vote, gaining contributions, etc. Emily added that mybarackobama.com did a good job linking online to action.
· John pointed out that conservatives tend to speak to logic, and liberals tend to speak to emotion. Conservatives need to use emotion, too [Remember Sarah Palin’s use of the phrase “Death Panel” the other day?]. Adam pointed out that emotion typically wins elections.
· On the question of how to best find a “central location” that works well for your constituency, it was suggested that you get them all in a room and work it out, to see what will work best.

For part of the session, a twitter feed was shown on the video projector of what the participants in the room were tweeting. It was a busy group!

The remaining afternoon sessions will be dealing with blogging, twitter, and the like….Stay tuned!

Right Online Conference: About to Begin!

The opening session of the Right Online Conference begins in about 10 minutes and I have a front row seat to the action (literally...I'm sitting in the front row). This session is a panel session titled "Winning in a Web 2.0 World."

In unrelated news, the locals here are very happy that the Steelers won their first preseason game last night, 20-10.

More posts will be coming throughout the day as I attend the various sessions and seminars!

The Right Online Conference

As the winner of the 2nd Annual RightMichigan.com Blogger's Challenge, I have the honor of attending the Right Online conference this Friday and Saturday in Pittsburgh, PA. I plan to be frequently posting from that conference, and here are some of the things I hope to address:

• Making your blog better, and making it better known to more people.
• Getting your message across.

In my case, the two topics I blog most about are (in order of frequency) politics and biblical issues. I am passionate about these topics, I have learned much about them, and I want others to see things as I see them.

• Using facebook (which I already employ) and twitter (which I don't) effectively.
• What new things I have learned about the issues of the day.

I also intend to cross-reference my posts at RightMichigan.com, since Nick told me I could.

It's going to be a busy blogging weekend...here I come!