Several speakers at the convention summit have raised the following program: how would such a convention engage a California public that is famously disengaged?

No one has a great solution. (There was a little talk about the Internet and Obama-style organizing). But the difficulty of engaging citizens is itself a strong argument for a constitutional convention. The convention itself would be so novel that, with a little bit of show biz (some ceremony, and you know your blogger's weakness for powdered wigs), it would attract attention and might, at the very least, teach people about their state and how it currently works. For the educational value alone, a convention might be worth having.