The morning's first plenary session, You Don't Need Ink to Be Heard, was moderated by Jeff Jarvis of the Buzz Machine and PrezVid. Panel members included Jeff Brady from the Washintgon Post,  David Plotz from Slate, and Jay Rosen from New York University. The panel focused on mostly on media relations, both for traditional journalists and bloggers. The speakers addressed the declining number of print subscribers and the growing use of the Internet in progressive campaigns, specifically within the 2008 presidential campaign.

The second plenary session, entitled "Got Data," was sponsored by NGP software and CMDI software. Aiming to "bring sexy back" to data management the presidents of both organizations, along with two other bipartisan panel members, explained the benefits of effective data management for both political and non-profit campaigns. Additionally, this session featured the release of the new IPDI publication, "Constituent Relationship Management: The New Little Black Book of Politics. A Guide to CRM in Politics."

The afternoon sessions, slightly more specific and definitely more intimate, were split into two sessions with four sections each. I chose to attend the Campaigning in a Web 2.0 World and Total Constituent Impact: eCommunications in Elected Office. The first, moderated by Justin Perkins from Care 2, offered a review of tools, and how they are used by non-profits and political campaigns. The session was mainly interactive, offering a significant portion of the session for Q & A. From social networking to content management systems this session was prescriptive and encompassing. The second, and last session of the conference, featured several staffers from current elected officials offices. They discussed integrated communications including email - surveys and e-newsletters - and new technology - iTownHall live conference - as tools for communicating with constituents.

Both the morning and afternoon sessions were informative and practical for organizations aiming to implement new opportunities and technology into their campaigns.

For more information on the Politics Online 2007 Conference check out the live blog. It's a great resource for the most up-to-date information as it is frequently updated by IPDI bloggers.