Yesterday I attended EschaCon 08 in Philadelphia. I had a great time and want to commend the organizers for putting on a really successful conference. What made EschaCon special was its intimate nature. It looked like there were about 100 people at the conference and there was only one panel discussion taking place at a time. Each panel was also given an hour and a half, which is a long enough time to see an interesting discussion among the panelists as well as have large involvement from the audience. Unlike other political conferences I frequent like Yearly Kos Netroots Nation, Take Back America, DNC meetings, and Personal Democracy Forum, EschaCon preserved the thoughtfulness and camaraderie that really represents the best of the netroots community.
It was also great for me to meet so many bloggers that I’ve been reading, linking to, commenting on, and emailing with for years. Athenae of First Draft, NTodd, Thers & Molly Ivors of Whiskey Fire, Spocko, watertiger, Lambert of Corrente, Hubris Sonic of the Group News Blog, Will Bunch, and others I’m sure I’m forgetting. Meeting people who you’ve only communicated with online for the first person is a pretty cool thing. What I’ve found tends to be true of bloggers in particular is that we can always have a great discussion, full of passion, insight, and humor, once we’re put in a room together. Good things happen when we’re face to face, even if that’s a rarity. So once again, thanks to Molly Ivors and all the other organizers of EschaCon 08 – it was a blast.
Hold Fast 