DFA Academy in Bloomington, IN

Written by: Eric Schmitz on May 14, 2007 3:57 PM EDT

Well, even after a night's sleep, I'm still a bit dazed from this weekend's activities! The DFA Academy came to Bloomington, Indiana, this past weekend, and it was a truly amazing experience! After several months of planning, organizing, and often frantic scrambling, we finally got to The Day – and it was well worth it.

The last thing we got planned was the Friday evening Meet-n-Greet. When we didn't have any venue worked out by a mere week beforehand, Carole, one of our organizers, made the suggestion that we hold the Friday social at my house. We live just outside Bloomington on ten acres, and it's a beautiful place, if I may say so myself. Lots of folks had come in from out of town Friday evening, and it was great to have a chance to meet each other casually before getting started Saturday morning. My regret is that Matt and Dorie, two of our DFA trainers who also arrived Friday afternoon, didn't manage to find the place!

Speaking of the trainers, I must say they were top-notch! Matt Blizek, especially, was like the "Energizer Bunny" all weekend. Even by late Sunday afternoon, he seemed to have just as much energy as he had Saturday morning – and having energy that early on a Saturday morning is itself impressive!

The training itself was non-stop and high-energy, with never a single wasted moment. And very well-structured, at that. We started off Saturday morning by jumping right into how to develop a field plan, with the all-important first step of setting goals for whatever campaign we may find ourselves working on. Everything that followed was something that would have a place in that field plan. During lunch, we had a couple of very interesting speakers: Jill Long Thompson, who is planning to run for Governor of Indiana in 2008, and also former Lt-Gov Kathy Davis, talked to us about the importance of what we were there to learn. The afternoon had us learning the basics of all the other aspects of working and running a campaign: timelines and benchmarks, developing a message, fundraising, and an overview of voter contact.

Even though we did have “homework,” many of us gathered at the Ragazzi Art Café that evening for a wonderful meal, wine & cheese, and socializing. I was tired by the time I got home, but I still took the time to finish that homework – and I must say it wasn't anything like as hard as I thought it might be!

Sunday morning, we covered what is always the near-culmination of any campaign's field plan – getting out the vote. The rest of the day was given over to elective sessions. Later in the morning, we chose between learning more about fundraising, or working with the media. Lunchtime again was embellished by another fine speaker, Indiana State Representative Matt Pierce, who gave us a legislative update, and then went into the importance of grassroots activism both during and after a campaign.

I wish I could have gone to all the elective sessions on Sunday afternoon, but I ended up focusing on voter contact, volunteer management, precinct organizing, and working with a voter file. I'm seriously considering taking a “refresher” and picking up the advanced sessions on media and fundraising, at the upcoming DFA Academy in Frankfort, KY, on the weekend of July 7-8 this year.

I would not hesitate to recommend this experience to anyone who is at all interested in running for office, managing or working on a campaign, being a precinct organizer, or getting involved in political activism at any level. If you can possibly get to a DFA Training Academy near you, DO IT. I guarantee it will be time – and just a little money – very well spent!

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Location: Bloomington, IN 47401