Over this last conference season I had the task of arranging Total Politics’ presence at the Green, TUC, Liberal Democrat, Labour and the Conservative party conferences which also meant I was present at all five. Although I have a degree in politics and do admit to being a bit of an anorak I don’t align myself with any party (despite my green-of-centre views) and thus I have never been to a party conference. So as a somewhat neutral observer here is what I found at conference...stereotypes of our political parties, their delegates and their conferences are all still thriving.

My conference marathon started with the Green Party in London, it was a rather amateurish affair compared with the grandness I was later going to witness. However, there was something quite quaint and reassuring about the hemp, linen and sandal fest I found myself surrounded by. The exhibition stands acted as a safety blanket to some, who, rather than hang around after the various debates to confer further with their fellow delegates, sought instead to scurry back to its warmth and safety, plus it was where the tea and bickies lived.

Caroline Lucas, by comparison to her party members, seemed to glide among the hairy and unkempt delegates in her smart matching suits with the adoration and reverence a monarch might command. The Green party worships her as well as the new young prince that is Adrian Ramsay, all convinced this most worshipped duo will lead them to their greatest ever success, the first ever Green Member of Parliament. The whole conference was abuzz with the excitement of the oncoming battle.

The conference was more interesting than I had believed it would be and the delegates, although peculiar, each with their little quirks, were very friendly and welcoming.

I then moved onto Brighton and the Trades Union Congress.

Again the TUC lived up to its most blatant characterization; Northern and Cockney accents prevailed, along with the fumes of alcohol that wafted along every time the door was open- the local pubs and bars of Brighton seemed to be doing a roaring trade at eleven o’clock on a week day morning.

The delegates, although questionably sober, were the most friendly and genuine. They wanted to know about the magazine, who I was, my background and interest in politics. They openly displayed their feelings of contempt and disagreement with each other when it came to business, but as soon as time was called on the day’s meeting, they were down the pub buying each other a round until time was called there.

Being a little to left myself, I was expecting to fit right in at the Liberal Democrat conference so I was looking forward to attending this conference more than any of the others, especially as it was by the sea in Bournemouth. However, not even the first morning had passed when I developed a seething and passionate resentment of the Liberal Democrats, or at least those who attended their conference.

The conference was dull, delegates seemed scarce on the ground, and I witnessed first hand the inherent middle class prejudice of the party who champion themselves as the party of eradicating discrimination and promoting and valuing minorities. Counting the number of ethnic minorities on my fingers - no need for toes - I spent the entire conference having to explain to delegates, who gave me that patronising tilted head look, that of course I knew who Nick Clegg was (unlike most of the general public) and am in fact interested in politics. Apparently being young, female and having the added misfortune of being blonde automatically excludes you from having any interest and or knowledge of politics.

As soon as you walk into Manchester Central and the Labour Party conference, having just undergone airport-like security that would make Heathrow proud (I was actually searched several times), you know you have walked into the conference of the Government. You are instantly struck by the magnitude of the space that is the old Manchester Central station, with its high glass ceiling and massive clock.

Speaking to delegates it seemed I was attending two different conferences - one where the mood of impending doom and the knowledge that nothing could prevent the imminent thrashing from the British electorate meant that many delegates thought their time would be best spent playing a drink game version of Top Trumps and attempting to network and rub shoulders with the likes of Eddie Izzard in the incredibly over-priced bars in the conference hotels.

The diehard party faithful; on the other hand, were fired up for the fight of their political lives, the war cries ringing through fringe after fringe. It was incredibly easy to get carried away in the furore - actually cheering at Harman’s ‘Labour are made of stronger stuff’ and Blears’ ‘lets show the Tories the metal in our spines’ during a Labour local government fringe, before I realised I was not in fact a Labour supporter and that they actually stand very little chance of pulling off an election win.

However, once I had indeed regained my senses, I realised that although these speeches were incredibly well staged, the war cries of these ministers were designed to rally support for the Labour party, rather than for its leader. This seemed to explain this parallel universe that was the Labour Party conference - love and commitment to their party - just not their leader.

With the Conservative conference I could see the home straight, my last conference. This was definitely the busiest conference, delegates were crammed into the ICC in Birmingham; there was no escaping the crowds. The excitement and determination was palpable, the delegates know they have Labour running scared and the only thing that was dampening the mood was that the party bigwigs had ‘advised’ against popping the Champagne due to the economic crisis. However the economic crisis for the Conservatives, if anything, adds to their growing cause of exhilaration as it is another nail in the coffin for Labour and Gordon Brown.

The Conservative delegates themselves however, did not disappoint; lots of upper-class, white, tweed clad teenagers bounding around with bellybutton fluff for facial hair, old men in Savile Row suits grasping their canes for dear life, mocking the poor deluded socialist hoards that were the Trade Unions protesting outside.

So one thing I did learn, apart from to carry water everywhere, drink the free alcohol at the fringes - don’t buy drinks from the terrible the price hotel bars - is definitely that the political stereotypes that the parties try and play down as outdated, are actually still alive and well and thriving.

PR Week have cottoned onto the '100 Most Influential'-type list vehicle but have only managed 29 names for its survey of bright, new talent in the communications business.

One name that catches my eye is Olly kendall, former Deputy Head of Press for Charles Kennedy, enough to 'challenge' anyone.

I dealt with Olly a few times and he's a bright talent. Amazed he's not been coaxed back by Clegg. I think he was involved as an informal adviser for Clegg's leadership bid.

He's also a good writer. Check out his piece on conference speechwriting here.

I feel compelled to post about 'that Labourhome poll'. I am one of the folks that help run the site, primarily alongside co-founders Alex Hilton and Jag Singh, therefore I have my fingerprints all over the decision to regularly poll our members.

One important function of online communities such as Labourhome is that it can act as a block when expressing views and opinions. Our job is to facilitate that and help the members get behind particular campaigns e.g. the recent demand for better behaviour in the fundraising area.

We decided exactly a year ago to use online polling as a way of aggregating the voices on the site and amplifying their concerns into mainstream media. This ensures that the voice of the grassroots on Labourhome is represented against the plethora of pressure groups, think tanks, trade unions, consultants, backbenchers and former ministers. It also means that people have an incentive to participate and contribute more to the community if they see that their concerns will be taken to a higher level.

We've done this roughly every month for a year. Sometimes the poll is positive on the Party, sometimes it carries views on how we can all do better. This time we negotiated an exclusive deal with the Independent, who splashed on their front page that 55% of Party activists would like a new leader.

People rightly ask questions. How do you purport to represent Labour's grassroots? We don't, just the thousands that use our site. How do you know you are not attracting Tories in disguise that will make mischief for the Party? We use the same software used by the Hilary Clinton campaign. To reflect the mischievous nature of Tories on the blogosphere, we can track and screen out repeat users, users from particular IP addresses e.g. Tory HQ (!), geographical locations (a bunch of people from Prague?!) and screen out users who are linked through from Tory supporting blogs. Were you paid in terms of cash or favours for working with the Inde? Nope. Placing an exclusive in return for a better splash is part and parcel of media relations.

The million-dollar question is - will you do another one? Yes, but I talk a lot about the Party listening more to the grassroots and adapting its approach. We are listening also and will pay heed to the feelings of our users, Labour bloggers and folks within the Party.

Top tip if you want to make social media work for your candidate or organisation - do something that gets your audience involved or makes your subject more human, but only choose a theme that rings true with how your organisation or candidate acts, thinks, in an overall setting.

Don't do things that make him look like an everyday guy if he isn't, people will find out or it will look staged. Don't try and make your organisation look like a concerned corporate citizen if in fact it's investing in corrupt regimes or just not really doing anything positive outside of the marketing puff.

The press love to catch you out, there will be a steady supply of whistle blowers and you don't have a very sustainable online community if there's nothing solid worth talking about.

On that note three cheers for the Co-op Bank. They've created a video blog that follows a staff member around Bosnia, showcasing the Bank's microfinance investments in poor communities. It rings true with what their brand is all about and its certainly the sort of thing their customers would love to see.

At last, a bank getting something right

Derek Draper is setting up a taskforce to advise on how Labour should deal with the blogosphere. He made the announcement at a feisty Labour fringe meeting, where I also appeared on the panel. PR Week were in attendance and have written up his comments on needing to monitor conversations on the web and where necessary challenge them. It is spun as an 'excalibur for the blogosphere' and Guido responds accordingly.

I agree with Guido’s sentiments that Labour shouldn’t even think of trying to manipulate bloggers or "astroturf" (positive comments about the party purporting to be from independent persons but are actually written by the party). In fact Guido’s blog isn’t the right place to engage for the Labour machine at all.

What they can do is monitor blogs that they decide are influential - either because they are read by target voters, the mainstream media or they will motivate the party membership.

Monitoring isn’t expensive and it will give a picture over time of sentiment among these groups rather than relying on a slanted media or focus groups.

They should also open up a bit to some bloggers. In the current age there are lots of intelligent, articulate people who take part in blogs etc who could contribute to the message, not as spokespeople or astroturfers but as genuine supporters. They just need to be taken seriously, treated better and armed with a few facts.

Finally it's also important that groups affiliated to the party have the tools to campaign for Labour causes. They may not relate directly to the general election but they challenge the emerging Tory orthodoxy and mould the agenda onto those things that Labour wants to talk about.