The conference season is heating up, and while we're not at TED or BIL or FRED*, Andrew, Josh and I will be busy over the next few weeks. Here are some highlights:

--March 4-5, Politics Online, Washington, DC:
-Andrew and I are co-moderating a session on "Successful Organizing Using Social Media," and the speakers we're working with are first-rate: Ben Rattray, the CEO and founder of Change.org; Randall Winston, the director of non-profit relations for Project Agape and Facebook Causes; and Allison Fine, the author of "Momentum, Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age."

-Josh is speaking on a panel on "Building Grassroots Momentum," along with Alex Hunsucker of Eventful, Amy Rubin of the DSCC and previously with the Edwards campaign; and Justine Lam, Ron Paul's eCampaign Director.

--March 6, ETech, San Diego
-I'm giving a short keynote on "Digital Democracy 2008 and Beyond." Here's the write-up: "Four years ago, at ETech 2004, O’Reilly hosted a seminal one-day Digital Democracy Teach-In, focused on how internet technologies were “putting power back into the hands of the people.” Well, how far have we come? In 2008, the internet has become a central battlefield for the presidential campaigns, but how much are they actually using the net to empower their supporters? How much are networked practices altering politics from the outside? We'll review the landscape, covering the role of social networks, video-sharing, open-source fundraising, “onffline” organizing, and voter-generated content. We’ll also look at the leading candidates’ tech policy platforms and what to expect from the White House in 2009."

--March 6, con*nect*ed, Dayton, OH
-Josh is keynoting on "Social Media and Politics," and the timing couldn't be better, happening literally days after the climactic Ohio presidential primary.

--March 31-April 1, Freedom to Connect, Washington, DC
-Andrew and I are working on a panel on politics and tech policy for this seminal conference put on by the amazing David Isenberg, who every year attracts the leading practitioners and thinkers in the realm of networks and communication.

--April 10-11, Social Computing Summit, Miami, FL
-I'm running a panel on "Politics and Social Computing," and will be joined by Robin Miller of Slashdot; Jascha Franklin-Hodge, CTO of Blue State Digital; and Alex Hunsucker, VP at Eventful.com. Fred Stutzman, who blogs here at techPresident, is master of ceremonies.

--April 17-18, Politics: Web 2.0: An International Conference, University of London, Royal Halloway
-I'll be keynoting this conference along with techPresident blogger Mike Turk, and I'm really looking forward to the whole event. There's a mouthwatering array of papers being delivered on the whole spectrum of questions raised by politics in a networked age. If you can make it to England, you don't want to miss this event.

I'm sure there will be other engagements to add to this list, but I'm very much looking forward to all of these events. If you want to cross paths with any of us while we're in town, just write to info-at-personaldemocracy-dot-com and we'll take it from there.

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*For Rejects of Either Do. (Not a real event, as far as I know.)