The 10,000-Foot View

The structure of the Hispanic Summit is interesting, as it provides for different types of benefits. There are sessions where elected officials have been pre-chosen to expand on achievements in their districts. These sessions serve as an important "best practices" component, and many of the attendees were seen taking notes and discussing some of the content in between sessions.

The breakout workshops were a great idea, because it gives the party the opportunity, if it is able to do so, to really study comments and input generated for possible solutions and follow-up in the following cycles. One component that did not seem clear was whether there was a Task Group or Office, or perhaps and individual, that would eventually go through and process all of this information.

Networking is a third and critical part of the summit, which attendees made liberal use of before, during and after other sessions. This enabled "power-brokers" to meet some of the newer, up-and-coming leaders, it enabled those working for similar campaigns or projects in disparate geographic areas to learn about each other, and it allows groups such as National Lawyers Council and Latinos for America to do some recruiting.

--Jerome Wiley Segovia