NOI Rox! NOI organizers -- Roz, Zack and Judith -- planned eight days of the most incredibly intense infusion of political knowledge and awareness (generally related to online campaign fundraising) for a few dozen very fortunate people from across the country. The experiences and expertise of the speakers were diverse and deep, and the contacts, relationships and networks that we established should maintain many years of strengthening both the Democratic Party and the progressive movement.

The Data Track training was extremely interesting. Josh Hendler, of the DNC, was very engaging. I was familiar with much of the voter database information he covered; however, it was excellent information and a good refresher course, even for anyone who has used the VAN. Similarly, Dr. Amy Gershoff, of MSHC, began with a very basic statistics lecture before getting slightly technical. She very practically combined probability and statistics with politics, and I thought it was very intriguing. Additionally, Maren Hesla, of Emily's List, seemed to engage her audience with her practical Introduction to Polling. I thought Keith Goodman, of the Bullseye Political Group, further provided very useful information (Reading Polls and Banner Groups). The microtargeting research he does in battleground areas is awesome.

The trainers from Google; Lola Elfman from M+R; the Wesley Clark and Jim Webb campaigners; some of the top bloggers, especially Cliff Schecter; those from Moveon.org; and of course, Dr. Marshall Ganz (Harvard professor and organizer under MLK and Cesar Chavez) -- who shared two hours on "Organizing and History" (what amazing stories and what a mensch) -- were fascinating, and in some cases, even riveting. Sunday's career preparation was also amazing. Having the opportunity to tap into minds, such as that of Kari Lundstadt-Vogt, of Emily's List, should prove to be invaluable to developing my political career. The icing on the cake, though, was the Job Fair -- the opportunity to meet with representatives from dozens of progressive polling and research firms, issue advocacy organizations, Democratic Party organizations and Presidential candidates.

Roz, Zack and Judith even considered details for our comfort, such as the wonderful eating, overnight, and travel accommodations, covering practically all our expenses. When the airline agency misplaced my luggage, Zack even offered to reimburse me for out-of-pocket expenses. I would like to see future NOI training bootcamps continue providing these tremendous opportunities for politically and socially driven individuals.

Areas that NOI may consider improving upon their training experience would include perhaps more training on building Web sites and integrating the various Google tools. The Friday night HTML / CSS breakout training session that Kyle and Kenny -- our fellow alums -- provided, for example, was terrific. I would have loved to have received more than the two hours for which we hijacked them. I also regret missing Monday's comprehensive e-mail training, which coincided with the important Data Track training. Additionally, I wonder whether our time spent Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights on the simulation could have been better spent (although I did feel like I benefited from Monday's analysis of the polling banners). From my campaign training experiences, I believe that simulations are very challenging for which to produce the desired results.

In final summation I would declare that the entire national movement to build a more blue and progressive-minded America needs to recognize the NOI as a major power player for building a progressive network of smart and talented, patriotic Americans.

NOI is the real deal! NOI rox!


--Greg Williams  ¶ posted by Greg Williams @ 6:18 PM