Image credit: Netroots Nation website.

We join the entire nation in praying for peace and justice in a troubled time. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” There’s so much we can do standing together and Netroots Nation represents a timely opportunity to gather in community to collaborate for positive social change.

This week, several Fissioneers will be in St Louis for Netroots Nation #NN16, while I have been supporting the NN team in her capacity as a member of the Board of Directors. Especially at this moment in time — when we need solutions and action — we know the discussions at #NN16 will be powerful. Get in touch with us if you will be there too.

Here’s what we’ll be talking about at Netroots Nation this year:

Thursday, July 14

• Hemly Ordonez, VP of Digital Mobilization and Strategy @HemlyMO 9:00 AM in Room 222 (panel) Wise Latinx: How to Build Power for 2016 and Beyond Online Influencers Training
  With moderator Hemly Ordonez and panelists Jessica González-Rojas of National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Zenen Jaimes Pérez of United We Dream, Nelini Stamp of RiseUp Georgia, Catalina Velasquez of Young People For (YP4), we discuss the 2016 election cycle, in which the Latinx and immigrant community have been demonized by Donald Trump. Meet Latinxs who are challenging the national discourse and owning perceived wedge issues to tackle the biggest issues of our time.
• Austen Levihn-Coon, Chief Innovation Officer @AustenLC in Room 221 (panel) The Progressive Movement Has a Sexual Assault and Harassment Problem. Now What?
  With moderator Mariana Ruiz Firmat of Presente.org and panelists Molly Haigh of Megaphone Strategies, Bridget Todd of New Organizing Institute, and Wagatwe Wanjuki of Transcribe Online, Austen discusses the rape culture problem in the progressive movement. How to address this issue? What would a positive structured response look like?
• Rosalyn Lemieux, Co-Founder of Fission and Attentive.ly @rozlem 2:30 PM in Room 102 (training) The #1 Way to Engage Your People
  With Beth Becker, Roz shows engagement isn’t a trend; it’s how we win. We’ll demonstrate a powerful new tactic to dramatically increase engagement with this one idea-responding to people as they talk about your campaign on social media.

Friday, July 15

• Hemly Ordonez, VP of Digital Mobilization and Strategy @HemlyMO 9:00 AM in Room 228 (panel) Letting Members Lead: The Mess and Magic of Distributed Organizing
  With moderator Josh Nelson and panelists Allyse Heartwell and Yeshimabeit Milner, Hemly will talk about how distributed organizing has proliferated across the advocacy space. A conversation with Color of Change, MoveOn, 350.org and Fission Strategy about what’s working, what’s not and what’s next as we move toward more participatory campaigning.
• Julien Burns, Director of Impact and Innovation @JulienBurns 9:00 AM in Room 222 (panel) Moving Into Action: Raising the Bar for Co-Conspirators
  Julien will moderate with panelists Heather Cronk, Cayden Mak, Dara Silverman and Monique Teal. Many non-Black progressives profess anti-racist values online and in conversation but fail to show up when action is needed. How do we move people with privilege up the ladder of engagement to riskier actions?

Saturday, July 16

• Julien Burns, Director of Impact and Innovation @JulienBurns and Anna Hovland, Technical Project Manager @jayhovla 9:00 AM in Room 100 (training) Digital Organizing on a Dime: The Low-cost Tools You Need to Launch a Digital Program
  This session will take you through the cheap and free tools you need to start connecting with supporters, raising money and winning advocacy campaigns today. Case studies of scrappy organizations who have punched above their weight will be used to illustrate how to use these tools.
• Hemly Ordonez, VP of Digital Mobilization and Strategy @HemlyMO 3:00 PM in Room 104 (training) Chewbacca Mom Takeover: The Future of Online Organizing
  There is power in everyday people being able to take over the Internet with their joy, their pain and their authentic lives.

Interested but can’t attend in person? You’ll be able to livestream here: http://www.netrootsfoundation.org/ and keep up on Twitter with #nn16.

Let us know if you’ll be there and let’s meet up!