This past weekend saw over 500 young and college Democrats descend on the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, IL, for YDA’s Winter 2012 National Conference, our first ever joint event with the College Democrats of America. After an exiciting weekend that featured tours of the Obama for America HQ, 4 different tracks of training offered by Organizing for America, and a keynote address from Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina, the conference attendees left Chicago ready to do big things, biggest of all, ensuring Barack Obama gets four more years in the White House.

The conference kicked off Friday evening with committee meetings followed by our welcome reception. Congressman Joe Donnelly of nearby Indiana, DNC Secretary Alice Germond, and Valeisha Butterfield-Jones, National Youth Director for Obama for America provided keynote addresses for the evening.

Almost all of the conference attendees managed to make it to Saturday morning’s 9 AM plenary session to hear Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina’s keynote address. Messina discussed the campaign’s strategies to win 2012, and regaled the crowd with stories of running the campaign’s “War Room” on Election Night 2008, serving as Deputy White House Chief of Staff, and how President Obama flew the Montana native to Hawaii to ask him to run his re-election campaign.

After plenary session, the conference had its first round of constituency caucus meetings, and then, the beginning of the four-track training provided by the staff of Organizing for America. The day’s schedule concluded with a second round of constituency caucus meetings, followed by regional caucus meetings. After the day’s programming ended, many conference attendees began their Saturday evening by attending a rooftop party kicking off Planned Parenthood’s “Women Are Watching” campaign in Chicago.

The “Spring Forward” into daylight saving time did not prevent General Session from starting at 10 AM Sunday morning. Keynotes were provided by YDA Stakeholder board member Christine Pelosi, and Illinois State Sen. Iris Martinez, chair of the DNC’s Hispanic Caucus. YDA’s National Committee then got down to official business, accepting the application of San Antonio, Texas to host YDA’s biennial convention in 2013, voting to officially create YDA’s Hispanic Caucus, and approving a resolution in honor of late New Jersey Congressman Donald Payne.