When David, Rob, Soren, and I started kicking around an idea for an online training for conservatives, we maybe expected 50 people would show up to an all-day event in a sleepy August in D.C. when the city practically shuts down.

In light of that, the turnout at Heritage today rocked. More than 150 young conservatives showed up, many from out of town, ready to take the fight directly to the left.

More than anything, it was a great meeting of the minds, and my head is just awash in new ideas from all comers. It was also amazed me to see how many people are really following TechRepublican and instinctively buy in to the narrative about technology and the future of the party that we are building collectively. And that's not just online professionals. These are the people who will be running the campaigns and major nonprofits 5, 10, 15 years down the line.

With the success of the Save the Debate coalition, the emerging competition to ActBlue, and real efforts to churn out more online operatives kicking into high gear, I think we'll look back and say that this is the summer it started to happen.

My panel was about the boring, stodgy topic of email campaigns and how to build a mass movement on the Internet. It's something I don't thing gets enough attention with the current laser-like focus on social media (which is definitely emerging). I co-presented with my friend and former colleague Mindy Finn of Romney for President, who followed up with a case study of the campaign's enormously successful Sign Up America! campaign.

My slideshow is below. Consider this a teaser. You'll need to hear me speak for it actually make sense -- or so I hope!

On June 15, I told you that I was going to work my tail off to help organize a training workshop to help train the Right kind of political operatives. Staying true to my word to always be a doer in this Revolution -- and not simply a talker -- I've done just that thanks to a little help from my friends.

On August 29, from 9:30 AM - 4 PM (with a post-training workshop reception from 4:30-6:30 PM), we will hold the inaugural Conservative Modern Media Strategies Workshop at the Heritage Foundation. The event is open to conservatives, but closed to press.

And don't worry, along with a great workshop schedule, we'll have WiFi flowing so you won't miss a beat if you bring your laptop.

The event is co-hosted by both the Heritage Foundation and Google, Inc. It was organized by many people, but a crew of individuals who deserve particular attention include Robert Bluey, Patrick Ruffini, Soren Dayton and Matt Lewis. Ginny Hunt and Michelle Rosen with Google, and Steve Grove with YouTube have been extremely helpful (and patient) throughout this process also.

If you want to find out all the details, download this invite and make sure you RSVP soon as seats will fill up quickly.

Some of the questions we'll seek to answer during the workshop:

Why do blogs matter? What's the buzz about social networking? How do you track what's being said in the blogosphere about your boss? How can you most effectively engage your community? Is online advertising worth the investment? Should you be on YouTube?

For me, this will be the third training workshop I've helped organize for conservatives. The first staff workshop was way back when I was still referring to "modern media" as "new media" on March 5, 2006. The second staff-training workshop was on June 23, 2006. Both were organized thanks to the vision and direction of my boss at the time, U.S. Representative Jack Kingston.

The point of all of these workshops? If we're going to win this fight, we're going to need a well-trained army. And it is our hope that this event helps serve as the beginning of an ongoing discussion to do just that.

I hope you'll join us.

Revolution.

I'm in Jackson, MS helping teach at a GOP campaign management school. I'm live-blogging it over here.