More Voices from the Defending the American Dream Summit

On Saturday, at the Defending the American Dream summit, I got a chance to sit down with several interesting attendees and hold some short, purposeful interviews with interesting results. The blogging room was packed, but from what I could tell most of those there were still just doing exactly what they would normally do at home. They'd go out now and then and attend some of the break-out sessions and seminars, but for the most part they sat around and typed on the computer. I was almost the only blogger, aside from Mark Johnson who did a live show on BlogTalkRadio and blogs for the Illinois GOP Network, who was making any effort to get people to come in and be interviewed.

The good folks from Americans for Prosperity were well intentioned, but seemed not to have figured out how effectively to make use of the powerful tool which 30-40 captive bloggers could be. I pestered them some and as a result they managed to bring a few of the featured guests into the blogging area, but they clearly had trouble getting any of the more interesting or important people in there; the few they did get to come see us clearly didn't really know what was going on or what they were doing there. Most of these guests are of an older generation or have limited internet experience; they don't really understand the value of talking to bloggers, and the AFP staff clearly hadn't figured out how to impress that idea on them.

Most of those I interviewed I had to go out and get myself. Two whom I talked to on Saturday were brought in by AFP staff, but they would have gone for a quick tour and then walked out had I not aggressively made sure that they sat down to talk with me and a couple of other bloggers who were sitting nearby. Most of the bloggers seemed not to understand the value of interviewing notable attendees or just weren't equipped to take the initiative to get anyone to sit down and talk to them. Some had far better video equipment than I did, but I was the only one with the will or the people skills to grab people and ask for an interview. I didn't get everyone I wanted. Somehow Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund managed to sneak out on me while I was getting a drink, but I did end up getting some good material down in digital.

Article Author: Dave Nalle

Dave Nalle has been a magazine editor, freelance writer, capitol hill staffer, game designer and taught college history for many years. He is Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus, working to promote liberty in the GOP. …

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