The following is what Tres Seaver, Chair of the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee reported:

I come away from today's event quite impressed, on several counts:
  - The DPVA staff put a lot of effort into the event, including expanding it to cope with *six* times the original projected attendance (there were more than 300 participants).

  - In my not-so-humble opinion, the tone and focus of the training was on exactly the Right Stuff (TM):  equipping the party leadership to do the real field work of finding and electing candidates.  There was almost none of the older "here's how you cogs fit in the big machine" stuff which put me off previously.

  - The new replacement for PREVAIL, called the VAN, looks like an enormous improvement:  it is a pure web-based application, for starters, and it actually seems to be desgined to make the jobs of candidates and committees easier, rather than harder.

  - The presentation of the Arlignton County committee on precinct organization and operations was inspriational.  In particular, the motto ("the most important job in the Party is that of Precinct Captain"), and their focus on volunteer recruitment and empowerment sounded like something we could really use here in FXBG.

Thanks to those of you who carried on with the committee's business here, so that I could go!
Best,
Tres.

the importance of blogs, the DPVA website, and in general the relationship between the Party and the "netroots?"

Hi Lowell,  I was told the DPVA website re-launch is still planned for January.  I'm sorry to say I was not able to attend both sessions so I can't say first hand if the importance of blogs and the relationship between the DPVA and the netroots were covered but they were not in anything I attended.

Regards,
Shawn 

Obviously, I think that the relationship between the netroots and the state party is critical, which is why I was asking.  I also hope that the DPVA's new website will have a kick-ass blog, first and foremost to keep the Virginian netroots up-to-the-minute on what's going on, and second to fight back against the new, blogger-led RPVA communications shop.

Yes, Lowell, there was much mention of blogs and their significance in future elections.  I will join with the others who attended and give the DPVA an A+ on their work.  It was a very good presentation, chocked full of what their plans are for the direction of the party and the tools to get there. 

As for the new website, sounds like February will be the rollout.  They definitely heard that so many think their current site sucks and from the sound of it, the new one will be fantastic--full of very useful tools to enhance tracking and communication.  I'm really looking forward to that.

As for blogs, it was suggested that each committee consider a blog to promote discussion on local and regional matters. The discussion was complete with the warning that anyone and everyone can post on a blog, so its more difficult to control the conversation, but, the presenter did point out to the uninformed that there is some control that can be exerted by the moderater or blog owner, so they weren't to be feared like so many do. 

Thanks to DPVA for listening and for acting. And thanks for disseminating this information to build a better party in the state.  The attendance was a real eye-opener since it shows just how hungry the Virginia Dems are to improve on their recent performances.  The party staff expected about 50 attendees and got 300 instead.  Both the leadership track and the candidate track, run simultaneously,  were full.  This bodes well for us.

Thanks for the info.

My thanks to the folks at the DPVA for putting on what should be a semi-annual event, and to all who attended. It's great to see that real organized progress is being made by Democrats across Virginia!

It was also great to see the 1st CD so well represented. In fact, the 1st CD must have had the most committed Democrats of any CD in the Commonwealth.  Committees were very well represented in the Party Leadership Training and many even had potential Commonwealth delegate and senate candidates and supporters attend the Candidate Training portion.

I'm pleased to report of the 23 jurisdiction in the 1st CD, from Faquier to Hampton, I only missed seeing a member of 1 jurisdiction not there! It also looked to me that Democrats from Mathews County led every jurisdiction in the population/attendee ratio! 

Way to go DPVA,
Way to go 1st CD Democrats!

Shawn

There was a tremendous turnout for both the candidate session and the Party Leadership training sessions. I attended most of the latter. Topics covered where;

  * Local Party Rules
  * Campaign Finance Disclosure
  * Fundraising
  * Party Outreach
  * Communicating with the Electorate
  * The New Prevail (VAN)
  * Precinct Organizing and Operations
  * Candidate Recruitment.

Each topic provided a wealth of information on how to improve your local Committee and ensure we elect more Democrats in the coming years.

Kudoes to all of the DPVA staff for all the hard work ensuring  the event's success. Virginia Democrats are on a roll and we all need to do our parts to keep up the positive momentum. Also, thank you for the wonderful reception on Friday night providing a chance to meet and mingle with wonderful people from around the Commonwealth.