On Saturday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Carlton Union Building’s Stetson Room, Stetson University will host its fifth annual “Politics 101” conference, a free, non-partisan, one-day crash course on political campaigning.

“The goal of Politics 101 is to provide area students and citizens free education in the craft of making political and social change,” said co-organizer David Hill, a political scientist at Stetson University. “Stetson values engaged citizenship, and Politics 101 is a way for us to advance this value to the benefit not only of our students, but all interested area students, citizens and aspiring community leaders.”

Politics 101 will feature workshops led by campaign operatives, political scholars and community leaders of varied political stripes. Workshop leaders will, among other things, show participants how to build grassroots campaign organizations, create winning campaign strategies, analyze data to make informed decisions, use social media and fund raise. In addition, area political organizations and campaigns will be present during a networking fair to provide information about their candidates or causes, and to recruit interns and volunteers.

“Politics is not a spectator sport,” said Kevin Winchell, conference director. “Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, independent or else, whether you want to run for public office, manage a candidate or campaign issue, or simply learn how ordinary citizens can help make change in a democracy, Politics 101 is a great way for citizens to learn how to turn their passion into policy by electing the change they want.”

Politics 101 was created at Stetson University in 2010 when staff member Kevin Winchell ’07, wanted to learn about political campaigning but found that there were no free, public opportunities to learn about it across the entire country. Winchell shared his story of creating and directing the Politics 101 Conference in his TEDx talk at Stetson University in April 2014. A video of the full TEDx talk is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpb2O5ohzPI.

Registration for Politics 101 is open to everyone, and attendance is free. The conference is non-partisan. For more information about Politics 101 or to register, visit stetson.edu/politics-101.