We’re in love. In love — with Denver.

Our host city has it all going on — which is why the conference program features many opportunities to explore the Mile High City.

Our four Connections sessions give conference-goers all kinds of ways to get to know Denver. In Connect on Foot, you can take self-guided walking tours in Denver’s historic Five Points neighborhood and in the art district on and around Santa Fe Drive. In Connect With Art, you can explore the amazing collection on view at the Denver Art Museum. In Connect on the Air, you can visit the Open Media Foundation, get to know some of the movers and shakers in Denver’s media scene, and listen to a conversation with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman. And in Connect Over Beer, you can experience — first-hand — why Denver has a first-class reputation among lovers of craft brews.

We’ve also got a bunch of sessions that feature panelists from the Centennial State — including Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit of the Flobots, Kelley Griffin of Colorado Public Radio, Elena Nunez of Colorado Common Cause, Wick Rowland of Colorado Public Television and Adrienne Russell of the University of Denver. And we have sessions that focus on Colorado, like Reinventing Media in Colorado and We Built This City: How Communities Can Get Better Broadband, which explores efforts to build municipal broadband networks in places like Longmont, Colo.

And then there are the parties. Yes, the parties. Our Denver Welcome Party was held in the Mercury Café, a local favorite for more than two decades. Meanwhile, our Shake the Media Maker dance extravaganza is being held in the McNichols Building. Built in 1909, the building was previously the Carnegie Library and is now part of Civic Center Park, a bustling arts hub. With its soaring ceilings and stellar acoustics, the McNichols Building is the perfect place for us to rock out.

Hip-hop musician Kitty Crimes, a local marching band and the Romero Theater Troupe will all perform at our dance party, and Public Enemy beatmaker and Grammy-nominated producer Hank Shocklee will be the headliner. He’s not from Denver, but he’s so awesome the city will surely be happy to claim him as its own.