Long-winded preface: I started writing a post before hitting the road, but didn’t get the chance to post :-( I realize that the #NN08 #RTON08 #BlogHer08 friends that may have come by in the last few days might take pause with my content: ‘Wow, Leslie seemed really [insert kind thought here // e.g., insightful, smart, serious, etc.] — really would have expected more from her than just a meme.’ I know, I know, I am GUILTY of not blogging enough about some of my crazy theories and passionate thoughts. After the Naked Blogging session @ BlogHer08 yesterday, I am ready to start taking more off, so to speak, when it comes to frequency and meaningfulness of my posts. So, here it goes…

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My dear friend, inspiration and colleague Jen Nedeau and I have been on quite a journey in the last few days (oye vez, and it is still not over). We left the Roslyn offices of New Media Strategies on Wednesday night, bound for Austin, TX and two events that I planned to simultaneously attend: Netroots Nation and Right Online. As someone who is passionate about social scientific field work, civic participation, ideologies, social media, online media and the issues, hitting both was really important to me. I also had many friends and colleagues from all over the country attending and presenting at both; I even had the chance to help my good friend and co-worker Bill Beutler on his reputation management/brand you presentation for Right Online, which even earned me a full-slide shout-out for my Twitter brand management (so I had to go to that one!) And, politically as a libertarian and undecided voter, I have been spending as much time as I can to better understand both candidates, their stances, their records and their supporters. What better way to do this than to talk with and learn from folks from both camps?

But wait, there’s more.

Over the very same weekend, there was another event (yes, another event) that I felt a strong pull to attend: BlogHer. I have been an outside observer of this community for the last 3 years and wanted to not only learn more about it, but, gosh darn it, finally “join.” I felt some of the same things calling me to this conference: social scientific field work, civic participation, the issues. There was also a chance to have political and issues-based discussions with fellow females about the upcoming election. And, as a woman, this conference spoke to the very core of my sex and my gender. I needed to be there.

Lastly, in all three cases, my job as a member of the New Media Strategies Public Affairs team and President of JESS3 gave me professional reasons to attend both. The industry-insight, thought leadership, technology/trend temperature check, business development, client-relations and contacts I have been cultivating over the last four years is always increased tenfold by showin’ up in person.

So, as Jen so eloquently put it over on her blog, we decided to “F$*% It” and “Do It From the Road”

I have a few friends waiting on me to head around San Fran before boarding the redeye later tonight, so please come back and visit, as I promise additional, thought n’ photo-rich comparison posts. In the meantime, check out Jen’s blog post above… and my many Tweets from the road (@LeslieAnn44)… great stuff, I promise. xo-L.