Building a 21st Century Government

This year’s joint FOSE-GovSec (Government Security) was one of the most fruitful and most productive government-related conferences I have ever attended. This is because it was informative, educational, relevant, and well attended and efficiently as well as effectively managed.

I know whereof I speak because I have attended most of these conferences at the Washington Convention Center since their inception.  Having registered as a member of the media, I was given the opportunity to access almost all the sessions and Keynote Addresses. In previous conferences, I focused on attending the expo portion – visiting the booths that I thought were launching or promoting new technologies relevant to government users and even public consumers.   In recent years, because of the opportunity afforded the media, I decided to attend some interesting Keynote Addresses and sessions that were informative and educational.

The efficient and effective management of the entire event by 1105 Media's Government Events Group and the media support by the PR firm Connelly Works should be credited for this very successful affair. 

Impressive speakers delivered the Keynote Addresses.  The speeches by General Stan McCrystal, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel, former REDSKINS Quarterback Joe Theismann, and Futurist and Technology Strategist and Trends Forecaster Daniel Burrus drew full-packed audiences – in fact, standing room.

Senator Carper spoke of how we should look ahead and build a 21^st century government.  Daniel Burrus provided a futuristic outlook as he discussed “how technology would enable the government to be more efficient and effective.” The E-Gov of the Future at work!

Joe Theismann “discussed effective leadership skills and encouraged leaders to empower employees by letting them take risks and perform outside of their comfort zone.”  Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel discussed current federal technology initiatives to a group attended mostly by federal employees.

There were several workshops, sessions and very interesting education and live technology demos.  The number could actually overwhelm an attendee like me who wanted to watch, witness and listen to them all.

Management (1105 Media and Connelly Works) resolved this by archiving the Keynotes and sessions at a FededTV URL accessible to attendees and members of the media like me.

I now have sources of materials worth writing about for a long period of time.   Whether it is about policy, technology or management, these materials cover many of my favorite subjects, namely: Cyber security, Cloud and Virtualization, Mobile Government, Records and Information Management, Big Data and Business Intelligence.

There were exhibits that interested me.  I intend to follow up by communicating with the owners in the very near future.

Whether you are a federal, state, local and private sector enthusiast, it would be interesting to be aware of these technologies as I intend to write about them.

I look forward to the next year’s FOSE and GovSec!