Will social media elect the president? Panel discussion Oct. 30, 8:30 a.m.

Experts in politics and digital media will discuss social media's role in the 2012 presidential campaign on Oct. 30.

The event begins at 8:30 a.m. with continental breakfast and coffee, with the program beginning at 9 a.m. in the First Amendment Lounge.

Members may register for free, but must login to get the discount code. Click here to register. The cost to non-members is $10.

This year's presidential election is like none we have ever seen before. Americans now follow real-time debate commentary via Twitter, advocate for their candidates on Facebook and join Internet memes with Tumblr. Balancing tried-and-true strategies with bold experimentation, the campaigns of both President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney have invested heavily in social media as part of their fundraising, grassroots and media strategies. They have had to.

This panel focused on how the 2012 presidential candidates have used social media as part of their campaign strategies, what future U.S. elections will look like as social media become even more predominant, and why communications executives should pay attention to these trends when considering their own clients' goals and strategies.

The panel includes:

David Almacy, senior vice president, digital strategies at Edelman public relations, and an adjunct lecturer at The George Washington University. A high profile expert on digital strategy and politics, Almacy was responsible for digital strategy in the George W. Bush White House and campaign;

Colin Delany, founder and editor of EPolitics.com, a site that focuses on the tools and tactics of Internet politics and online political advocacy. The author of "How Candidates Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012" and a comprehensive guide to the 2008 Obama online campaign, Delany has worked as a consultant to help dozens of advocacy campaigns promote themselves in the digital world;

Alex Howard, Government 2.0 Washington Correspondent for O'Reilly Media, where he writes about the intersection of government, the Internet and society, including how technology is being used to help citizens, cities, and national governments solve large-scale problems. He has contributed to the National Journal, Forbes, The Huffington Post, Govfresh, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, CBS News' "What's Trending," Govloop, Governing People, the Association for Computer Manufacturing and The Atlantic, amongst others.

The moderator will be Anthony Shop, managing director of the digital agency Social Driver and chairman of the National Press Club's Events Committee. He is a former press secretary for a U.S. congressional race.