MONTREAL - While the Liberals are using their policy renewal conference to kick the tires of ideas they hope to ride into office, the party is almost more excited about the social networking technology they're taking for a test run this weekend.
By the time the conference had reached its half-way point Saturday, organizers were already gushing about its success online.
The party boasted the conference was the most Tweeted topic on Friday, and was number two on Saturday.
It had hoped to reach 10,000 viewers over the weekend for its webcast, and counted 9,500 on Friday alone.
And thousands more have been following online via live streams, webchats and website visits. There are more than 50 satellite events being held this weekend across the country where participants pose questions through webcam and email.
The conference's online moderator, Randy Boissonnault, said the size of the online audience was "beyond our wildest dreams."
But many Liberals feel the measure of their online success goes beyond numbers; it marks the creation of a new democratic space.
"This is probably the most inclusive, pan-Canadian conference of its kind than any political party has ever put in place in the history of our politics," Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff claimed during a webcast interview Saturday.
"You've got to be made of stone not to be touched and excited by the democratic possibilities that we've just opened up this weekend."
In fairness, much of the technology the Liberals are using this weekend isn't new.
So called "un-conferences" -- where delegates only participate virtually -- have been growing in popularity. Observers point out political parties are only now making use of long-standing social networking tools, such as in the Prime Minister's much-watched YouTube appearance earlier this month.
"It's a first step," said Mark Blevis, a digital public affairs strategist who was following the weekend's proceedings online from his home in Ottawa.
"To a certain degree these are novelty events, but you have to have the novelties before you can have the routines."
Senior party officials say they are exploring how some of the technology used over the weekend could be deployed in a campaign scenario.
Boissonnault suggested campaign rallies in the future may see a virtual component, with questions and messages of support being fielded from several different ridings at once.
"It shows that now there are all these possibilities that maybe people didn't think existed before," he said.
"The challenge for political parties is how do we take this experience and make it something that benefits them politically."
Several Liberal MPs were clearly enjoying the new connectivity. Gerard Kennedy was seen walking around with his laptop, giving a group of 30 people back in his Toronto riding a tour of the conference floor thanks to Skype.
But the fact that many of the satellite events were held in the constituency offices of Liberals MPs further blurred the party's claims this was a non-partisan event.
Indeed the Conservative war-room couldn't resist the chance to suggest, in an email to journalists, that the Liberals were using taxpayer money to support a party conference.
While part of that is certainly push-back from Liberal criticism of their use of so-called "ten-percenters," it is also indicative that the race to be the most connected party is now on.
