The Conservative Political Action Conference is placing a larger focus on campaign and grassroots training sessions for students and activists during this week’s event in Washington, D.C.
Many of the sessions are led by the Leadership Institute—an organization focused on training conservative activists and students—and cover a pretty wide range of campaign basics from fundraising to GOTV.
One Thursday morning session laid out some fundraising basics, drawing an audience of students who were new to the campaign world and practitioners looking for fresh ideas.
Syndicated columnist Joel Mowbray, who founded an Internet software firm after working for Republicans on the Hill, preached the importance of personal interaction when asking for dollars. The personal touch is critical when it comes to soliciting large donors, he said. The bigger the ego, the more time and attention you should be placing on the ask.
Along with training sessions that cover the basics of political organizing, representatives from Google and Facebook are on hand in force at CPAC this year for political technology trainings and demos.
“We want to make sure activists are aware of all this technology and understand how to use it so that when they volunteer or work on campaigns, they can actually put it to some good use,” CPAC Director Christopher Malagisi told C&E.
Friday’s CPAC agenda includes sessions on developing a winning social media strategy and drawing up a basic GOTV plan.