Rising Tide 6 is at Xavier University on Aug. 27

Check RisingTideNola.com, the Rising Tide Blog & this page for details, y'all.

Friday Night Party Aug. 26: Tracey's, 2604 Magazine Street

Amazing Speakers and Panels all day Saturday, Aug. 27.

Registration includes morning pastries & beverages and lunch by J'Anita's

Everyone is welcome (not just for geeks)!

The Rising Tide Conference is an annual gathering for all who wish to learn more and do more to assist New Orleans' recovery. It's for everyone who loves New Orleans and is working to bring a better future to all its residents.

Leveraging the power of bloggers and new media, the conference is a launch pad for organization and action. Our day-long program of speakers and presentations is tailored to inform, entertain, enrage and inspire.

We come together to dispel myths, promote facts, highlight progress and regress, discuss recovery ideas, and promote sound policies at all levels. We aim to be a "real life" demonstration of internet activism as we continue to recover from a massive failure of government on all levels.

This year's featured guests include the creator of HBO series The Wire and Treme, David Simon, and author of six critically acclaimed books on the physical and human geography of New Orleans, Richard Campanella. Past featured speakers have included Mac McClellan (blogger and writer for Mother Jones) Harry Shearer (writer, actor, host of the weekly radio show Le Show), John Barry (author of Rising Tide), Dave Zirin (author of Welcome to the Terrordome) and authors Christopher Cooper and Robert Block (Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security).

This year's main stage panel discussions include:

• Social Media, Social Justice Panel – Cherri Foytlin, contributor to the Bridge the Gulf project; Jimmy Huck, Jr., Executive Committee member of Tulane University’s Center for Public Service; Jordan Flaherty, author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six; Stephen Ostertag, creator of PublicSphereNOLA; and moderated by Dr. Kimberly Chandler.

• Louisiana’s Coastal Health Panel – Moderated by Alex Woodward, writer for Gambit,  panelists include Len Bahr, founding editor of LACoastPost;  David Hammer, contributing writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune; Ann Rolfes, founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade; Drake Toulouse, blogger at Disenfranchised Citizen; and Bob Marshall, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the Times-Picayune.

• New Orleans Food Writing Panel  -  Guests Peter Thriffley and Rene Louapre of Blackened Out and Offbeat Magazine will join Todd Price, author of A Frolic of My Own to discuss the eating out in New Orleans and writing about it, and the new generation of great online New Orleans food writers. Chefs and Restauranteurs: Green Goddess' Chris Debarr as well as Adolfo Garcia and Alex del Castillo.

• Brass Bands Panel - featuring Lawrence Rawlins, band director of Roots of Music; Alejandro de los Rios, producer of the Brass Roots documentary; members of the TBC Brass Band Edward “Juicy” Jackson, Joe Maize and Sean Michael Roberts; moderated by writer Deborah Cotton; followed by a performance by the TBC Brass Band.

Rising Tide is also proud to announce the addition of Tech School to this year’s lineup. Tech School will offer a second stage of panels devoted to hands-on, how-to style social media and blogging topics ranging from improving your photography, advanced Wordpress techniques, the latest in web strategies and online tools. Presenters for Tech School include FSC Inter@ctive, the Louisiana Bloggers Network,Neighborland, Invade NOLA, Ben Varadi and more.

Rising Tide started in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of the city when a small group of New Orleans-based bloggers decided to expand their on-line advocacy for the rebirth of New Orleans into a public event.

Participants are encouraged to blog, post on Facebook and Twitter and otherwise connect and share with others in attendance and around the world (#RT6). The goals of Rising Tide are numerous, but are briefly:  We seek to protect and preserve the cultural qualities of New Orleans that make our city unique. We resolve to root out and expose the corruption and incompetence that harms us all. We work to enact a vision of a restored and resilient community that respects traditions and reaches for a sustainable future for all citizens.

Join us as we map out the course of this great city now and into the future!