Grab your coffee before the NN action begins each morning while getting an update of the days news with "The Morning News Dump" with Daily Show co-creator and comedian Lizz Winstead and friends.

The Morning News Dump is sorta like "Morning Joe" except we won't have guests who have actually gotten everything wrong for the past ten years. There will be a healthy dose of progressive opinion, analysis, and mockery of conservatism--coming from the panel made up of Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead, popular comedian Elon James White and pundit & author Cliff Schecter.

Guests will include Pam Spaulding, Sam Seder, Shannyn Moore and a variety of others yet to be announced.

It's nice to get a dose of the world before you launch into your Netroots Day.

Come by the lobby outside the Community and Exhibit Hall for morning coffee and snacks sponsored by American Values Network, Faith in Public Life, and Institute for Welcoming Resources (while supplies last). [It’s Fair Trade, so “Do Good. Drink Coffee.”]

This panel will take a hard look at how we can tell what messaging works and why framing matters. Contrary to popular belief, making stuff up isn't the best way to persuade the public.

The "wage theft" meme has been called a rare messaging success for progressives. This meme names a complex problem--employers who illegally underpay their workers--and reframes wages as something that a boss owes his or her workers, rather than the dominant narrative that money belongs to the bosses who can dole it out as they see fit. Through creative organizing and by naming the problem, wage theft is getting media attention and employers are being forced to pay workers what they're owed. In addition, progressive legislators at all levels of government are working to pass anti wage theft legislation. Learn about how wage theft hurts millions of workers from day laborers to retail store workers to TV writers. Hear the creative ways worker centers, unions and other advocates are organizing to combat this crime--and how they are winning.

This panel is a case study in what happens when fiery activism trumps cynicism and forces Washington to act, as was the case with the push to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell and the DREAM Act in the very last days of last year's Congress. It's not often that these two issues are taken together, despite the common struggles both LGBTQ and immigrant communities face. However, the highly parallel, fierce fights over DADT and the DREAM Act last year--both key issues at last year's Netroots Nation--provide vital takeaways for the larger progressive movement.

Years after the economic crisis, one of the greatest challenges for progressives remains figuring out how to foster more cohesion around an economic narrative that would produce progressive outcomes including: a more equitable distribution of resources, less corporate control of government and money and a robust and functional government. We know a lot about what we want the world to look like, but we lack the narrative tools that help tell a clear story for how we would get there. We need to answer some basic questions in the minds of everyday people, including: what is the economy, and what is our place in it? Experts on economics, organizing and strategic communications will explore these questions and more in a lively panel discussion. We hope to provide attendees with tools and lessons learned in ongoing efforts to build an economic narrative, as well as begin discussing how we will deliver the narrative to different audiences in order to build power for real structural change.

Grassroots organizing has reached new levels not just in the U.S. but across the world, as activists work to counter conservative governments pushing austerity reforms across the board. Despite differing environments, cultures and experiences, we all face ugly and common enemies--corporate special interests with unending financial resources, procedural hurdles and a media climate that all too often rewards destructive politics. How are activists in other countries leveraging social media and other online tools for political action? What lessons can we share from each of our efforts? And how can we work together to support the work of our progressive allies across world?

In 2010, progressives in California faced the most well-funded gubernatorial candidate in history in Meg Whitman. Despite spending more than $170 million, Whitman lost to Jerry Brown by 13 points. One of the key reasons for Whitman's defeat was California unions' use of the most sophisticated microtargeting program in the country to identify swing voters and communicate with them on the issues they cared about using a convergence of online, field, direct mail and traditional media. In an era of Citizens United and virtually unlimited corporate spending, microtargeting programs like this one can allow progressives to spend their resources more wisely while engaging voters more deeply on issues. Informed by the California experience, panelists will discuss how using the latest microtargeting technology combined with a targeted communications program reaching voters with messages tailored to their concerns will be critical to progressive victories around the country in 2012.

During election years, both the right and the left jockey for position to utilize pop culture and powerful artists and youth to help sway the discussion. In the past two elections, these efforts have become more and more localized. What is the relationship of the left to cultural organizers and what role does technology play in this conversation?

Hear behind-the-scenes stories from state Senator Chris Larson about the "Wisconsin 14" experience, plus discuss details of the national organizing campaign to recall Republican senators from groups in the thick of the battle, such as Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America. We'll also discuss what's next as the Wisconsin recall elections get closer.

Sure, if your organization has a sizable budget, there are plenty of platforms and consultants available to get you fighting online fast. This session will help give you tools to bootstrap your local campaign or organization for little to no money.

The Analyst Institute will showcase the latest cutting edge research into what works and what doesn't for getting out the votes on progressive campaigns. We believe that the progressive community can gain a sustainable competitive advantage through the widespread practice of evaluating voter contact strategies and through the systematic dissemination of empirically-validated findings.

From Wiconsin to the middle east, 2011 has been the year of the citizen reporter. This 75-minute session led by the Minnesota-based The Uptake will show you how to use mobile devices to record and break news as it happens.

Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our regional caucuses.

Led by Kelley Stieh.

Interested in issues like immigration or education reform? Come to one of our new strategy sessions! Held in place of our typical issue caucuses, these moderated sessions are similar to caucuses, but aimed at forming greater strategic alliances on progressive issues including the environment, labor, LGBT community, immigration, women's issues, social justice and education. We'll look at case studies and discuss ways to work together better in the coming months.

It's not just Wisconsin and Ohio; Republicans in state legislatures all around the country are bringing serious right-wing craziness into the mainstream. This panel will encourage participants to help expose these shenanigans, push back on the insanity and share input and ideas on countering the crazy before it spreads. Panelists will provide examples of extremist Republicans in the states and how progressives have fought back. Through a moderated discussion, attendees will be encouraged to share stories of their own and discuss tactics for pushing back and exposing right-wing extremism in its nascent stages.

2010 marked the first year when more than 50 percent of undergraduates chose to attend two-year community colleges over traditional four-year colleges and universities. Because traditional youth organizing has largely centered on four-year colleges and universities, a large proportion of the potential progressive base is routinely overlooked and underrepresented in organizing, advocacy and movement-building. Community college students tend to live, work and play in the same community after completing their studies, so community colleges present huge opportunities for progressives to invest in long-term, place-based infrastructure-building. Imagine if every one of the 12 million community college students was armed with organizing and advocacy tools. Who are these students and why are they the backbone of the progressive movement? And why does this approach have the potential to be truly local and sustainable over the long-term?

Electing a Democratic governor prevented Minnesota from facing the same attacks on the middle class as Wisconsin, but how exactly did that happen? This panel will take a look at how labor joined with other progressive groups to create strong coalitions in Minnesota to win the Governor's race in 2010. We'll also take a look at how coalitions helped move other key progressive priorities, including Tax the Rich legislation passed last year in Oregon. What lessons can be learned to create stronger coalitions in other states?

Years worth of bailouts, banking deregulation and stagnant wages have put a new level of political focus on the Federal Reserve. But so far progressives have had scant engagement with the Fed's core mission of setting monetary policy, and the debate has taken place exclusively between the status quo and the right's goldbug cranks. The left urgently needs to get informed and get engaged--the debate can't simply range between Ben Bernanke and Paul Ryan. At a time of sky-high unemployment, it's more important than ever for progressives to dive into the ins and outs of monetary policy.

To win elections in 2012, progressives need to start mobilizing now. While primary challenges to some Democratic incumbents are still important, progressives are also moving to pick up open seats and challenge Republicans who won in 2010 in Democratic districts. This includes recruiting progressive candidates now--and providing them with the campaign expertise, strategic advice, technological help and financial resources they need to win. This panel will give a preview of 2012 candidates who are already on the horizon, as well as the strategy being implemented to recruit and support more bold progressive candidates for 2012.

Government is supposed to be accountable to the people, but many political decisions are made outside the public eye with little popular understanding of how regular people can impact these decisions. Using lessons learned from recent campaigns--for example, to influence committee leadership decisions, change Senate rules or protect net neutrality--organizers from ColorOfChange.org, CREDO Action and P Street will explore the benefits and challenges of bringing grassroots pressure to bear on less commonly understood political processes that have until now allowed leaders to evade accountability.

The New Organizing Instutite will bring together research from MoveOn, the Analyst Institute and other major organizations to lead this 75-minute training covering statistics, experimental design, optimization, data analysis and other ideas to make sure you're running the best online campaigns you can.

Our ability to move people to action rests fundamentally on our ability to build strong relationships. In this session participants go deep into what it means to build relationships based on common interests, issues and values, and practice doing “one-on-ones” as a relationship-building tool.

Need Ideas for expanding your state blog's reach? Trying to build your frontpage crew? No idea what we're talking about, but interested in getting into blogging at the state level? Drop by for a workshop on the state blogosphere, how we got here and where we can go in the future.

Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.