The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is the premier liberty conference of the year, especially for students and youth activists.  Conservatives and libertarians come from across the country to hear speakers, network with like-minded individuals, and vote in the highly-publicized straw poll.  The media and the rest of the political world look at CPAC as the defining event of the year for conservatives, and so the importance of having the liberty movement strongly represented there cannot be overstated.  As you probably heard, Ron Paul won the straw poll last year, and it was mostly because of the strong showing of YAL and C4L members.    This year's straw poll is even more important, with the nation looking towards 2012 and the next cycle of elections.  Check out this video invitation from Ron Paul, in which he explains how important it is that we young people show up to CPAC in full force:

and here's the Southern Avenger (Jack Hunter) explaining why you should come:

Agenda

This year the agenda is packed with more liberty rockstars than we've ever had, including...

Ron Paul

Rand Paul

Tom Woods

Bruce Fein

Jack Hunter

Justin Amash

Mike Church

...and many more.  There will also be workshops, seminars, and panels given by leaders in the movement who will speak on a wide array of topics that are of interest to liberty activists.  YAL will even have it's own events specifically tailored to the youth!  Stay tuned for a complete schedule of the conference.

Registration

Discounted tickets are no longer available, but you can purchase your $35 ticket from YAL here.

Recruitment bonuses

To express how badly we want you to come to CPAC this year, we're offering you cold hard cash for recruiting your friends to come with you.  Here are the details:

• Recruit at least 3 friends to join you at CPAC, earn $100.
• Recruit at least 10 friends to join you at CPAC, earn $250.
• Recruit at least 25 friends to join you at CPAC, earn $500!

Just tell them to put your last name in the promo code box when they register, and you'll get credit for recruiting them.

Here's the Facebook event page that you can use to recruit your friends.

Travel

No matter how you are traveling, you should plan to get to DC Wednesday night, as the conference begins early Thursday morning. 

Air:

Washington, DC is serviced by three major airports, but Ronald Reagan National airport (DCA) is the most convenient and is highly recommended to individuals flying in for the conference. It's located on a the Red Line. 

Car:

If you need a ride, or have extra room in your car and would like to split the gas costs with someone, try posting the details of your offer/request on RonPaulForums.com, DailyPaul.com, or Erideshare.com.  Feel free to get in touch with us here at YAL as well by emailing contact@yaliberty.org or getting in touch on one of our social networking sites.

Both the Marriott Wardman Park and the Omni Shoreham hotel across the street have parking. However, both are valet only and tend to be expensive. There is limited street parking with parking meters and a few parking garages in the area.

Train and Bus:

If you're not the flying or driving type, try a train or a bus.  There's Amtrak (the DC station is located here) and Greyhound to get you started.

Lodging:

There are of course many different hotels you could stay at in DC, and be sure to check the Campaign for Liberty page to see the options they provide, but if you're looking for a cheaper option, try one of the many hostels in DC.