In the wake of a successful military surge in Iraq, waning media attention and an election year, are MilBlogs as relevant to the national conversation on war as they once were?

Andrew Jones, social entrepreneur and mission consultant, will explore the phenomenal rise of faith blogging over the past decade and what it will take to see the church fully utilize this window of opportunity.

Whether you are new to the blogosphere or a sports blogging vet, marketing your site efficiently and effectively is key. Hear some of the most well-known personalities in the sports blogosphere discuss how they got themselves noticed and how you can create more exposure for your site in any stage of your blogging career.

The political blogosphere was born after the divisive 2000 presidential election and has matured rapidly in the eight years since. The selection of a new president in 2008 will be a key transition for political bloggers who have been inspired or infuriated by the policies of George W. Bush. How will the "netroots" and the "rightroots" react?

A fascinating look at how the milblogging community was built, what its achieved and how deep and wide its reach has become. We’ll explore how milblogging gives a voice to supporters, parents and spouses of service members, and how that voice is effectively used to support an entire military community.

Sports blogs are growing rapidly in popularity and establishing a solid reputation in the world of online advertising. This means more and more opportunities arising for the effective monetization of traffic by sports bloggers. Experts from around the industry will share their success stories in sports blog monetization, as well as offer their thoughts on what the future holds for monetization in the sports blogosphere.

Military officials from the Department of the Army will join us for a LIVE Bloggers' Roundtable to discuss operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. These officials will be taking audience questions.

This panel, the first of two sessions about Social Media and the Writers' Strike, will offer an overview of how the writers used social media during the strike to inform the public, encourage and reward fan support and keep union members motivated. We will focus on community-developed sites like United Hollywood and the inpact of fan support as we discuss the overall impact of social media (vs. mainstream media) on the outcome.

Alternative media are rapidly becoming a critical part of the information flow for both professional and retail investors. When the subprime crisis emerged, blogs were telling the story months before the mainstream media took notice. This session will explore why financial blogs are often better positioned than traditional media to uncover and understand emerging trends. The panel will also look at blogonomics – which blogs might be the next acquisition targets and why; the impact of microblogging in the financial space; and how blogs are starting to act more like traditional publishers and vice-versa.

Online political junkies bemoan the fact that politicians are too cautious and don't engage in genuine, freewheeling conversations with "the people." But are the people, with new media in hand, actually fostering less straight talk and interactivity by "tracking" politicians with video cameras and tape recorders, and constantly replaying and mashing up every political gaffe, no matter how minor?

Reporting from the Green Zone is not an option for this gritty band of milbloggers. Today’s technology enables milbloggers and embedded reporters to report directly from the battlefield. We’ll talk with some of these milbloggers about their experiences in the combat zone.

This session will include: Leveraging blogging, social networking and online video to drive traffic. Emerging trends in digital media and online content delivery. Harnessing the power of community interaction with sports bloggers and pro athletes.

Democrats and Republicans broke new ground when they invited a few bloggers to their political conventions in 2004. Four years later, bloggers and new media mavens are everywhere in the political arena, both inside and outside campaigns. What are their roles, how do those inside and outside the campaigns interact with each other, and how, if at all, have new media experts changed American politics?

With content spanning across social networks, miro communities, and media aggregators, comments, conversations, and responses are taking place on and around the original blog post. This panel will explore distributed conversations, fragmented expertise, and also the challenge of being everywhere - and whether or not it's not only necessary, but also feasible.

Web 2.0 and social media have blown open the doors of communication in the entertainment industry. Now that the veil has been lifted, what does this mean for celebrities and the entertainment Industry as a whole? On this panel, we will be discussing examples of celebrities and entertainment businesses that utilize the concepts of openness and conversation to communicate with their fans and customers, refute rumors, take control of their image, transform their image, endear themselves to the public, manage their reputation, transform their reputations.

We will explore what the entertainment industry, and big brands in general, can learn from these practices in the greater context of corporate Online Reputation Management.

Case studies: The Roxy Theatre, Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Office Cast, Wil Wheaton, Good Charlotte

A few years ago, daily newspapers laughed off "pajama-clad bloggers" as a passing phenomenon. In the last couple of years, though, many newspapers have changed their tune. The average big-city daily now hosts at least a dozen staff blogs. In total, there are now thousands of newspaper staff blogs, producing tens of thousands of posts annually – and therein lies a revolution. Our panel includes those on the front lines of the newspaper blog revolution, as we look at how the post form is joining the article form in everyday journalism – and what that means for writers and readers.

American public discourse has become harsh and unhealthy. This is especially true of political discourse. Unfortunately, many have "cursed the darkness" as though it would serve as an antidote to the problem. John Mark Reynolds, public speaker and director of the Torrey Honors Institute, will address some of the problems of internet discourse, what Godbloggers can do to raise the level of conversation on the internet, and we all can move productively forward in conversation and debate.

The mainstream media and the political establishment like to portray the political blogosphere as one monolithic beast. But like the United States itself, the political blogosphere is a mixing bowl of diverse personalities with niche audiences and different approaches. Some focus on specific states, others on the national scene. Some blog for themselves, others for institutions. Get your own ideas from this mixing bowl of panelists.