It was a thrill to participate in the Gov2.0 Expo and Summit this past week. Tim and his staff did an outstanding job. The venues were top notch. The sponsors were helpful and insightful. Best of all the crowd of attendees was truly unique and I had a lot of very interesting conversations over the three days. The evening networking opportunities were perhaps the most productive use of my time.
What Was Lacking
There were a few areas where I felt the conference just didn’t quite hit the mark. First was the whole “Government as a Platform” theme. I found myself agreeing more and more with Andrea DiMaio on the idea that government is quite the opposite. At several points during the conference I just felt that the analogy wasn’t exactly a fit. I don’t think this issue was as damaging as I feared. I was glad to see the volume on this dial tone turned down.
The second issue I had was with the focus on citizen participation. Clearly the focus of the Summit was on showing government executives the value of citizen developers. “Just open the data up!” was the transmission and our receivers were on. I felt like this focus often left out those of us working inside of government and do not have a way/responsibility/reason to liberate data.
Third, and finally, was the composition of some of the panels and speakers. Aside from the issue of gender and racial representation at both the Expo and the Summit, I felt that some of the content just didn’t resonate with the mundane, but important elements of working for the government.
What I Was Hoping For . . .
I was hoping for more speakers and sessions that:
Inspired the audience (Thanks, Clay! Awesome stuff)
Challenged the audience
Engaged the audience
Shared obstacle defeat strategies
Tapped into the collective creativity of our tribe
Focused on behaviors first and technology last
Doing Something About It
I spoke with a number of people during and after the conference. In particular, I spoke with Emma Antunes, Steve Radick, and Lena Trudeau about having a Government 2.0 practitioner-focused event. My vision is to have the same type of vibe and enthusiasm of the Summit, but focus the sessions around Enterprise 2.0 deployments and/or the internal difficulties of liberating data. While I also really enjoyed the Government 2.0 BarCamp, I think I would like to take a page out of Tim’s playbook and target an audience of people having with real, non-technical deployment problems.
Atmospherics Count
What made the “over spill” at the Summit the place to be was the more relaxed atmosphere it fostered. So, at this event we will have no theater-like presentations. Round tables; no rows of seats. Face-to-face interactions for sure. Staring at the back of a stranger’s head? Not so much. Intimacy first, distance last. Jokes? Yes. Passion? Absolutely. Work products? For a change – YES! Think fireside chat, but with computers and WiFi.
Next Steps
In the coming weeks, Lena, Steve, Emma, myself, and anyone else who wants to join up, will be meeting to discuss logistics, agendas, speakers, and the like. An event like this will probably take some time to pull together. I’m thinking that we’ll probably hold it in the Spring (at the latest). I’m looking forward to getting my hands dirty and helping out some executives in need. I hope you’ll join us.
I’d be up for it, sounds like a very worthwhile approach.I’d probably have many gov friends who’d want to participate in that.
Great post Brian, thanks for the thoughtful and constructive criticism. I think the Summit accomplished what was wanted, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to talk about.
If you want your event in any way to influence the content or audience of Gov 2.0 Expo next May, suggest you have it well in advance of it, like Dec or Jan.
[...] Inspiring the Intra-Government 2.0 Movement « The Green Dotted Line briandrake.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/inspiring-the-intra-government-2-0-movement – view page – cached It was a thrill to participate in the Gov2.0 Expo and Summit this past week. Tim and his staff did an outstanding job. The venues were top notch. The sponsors were helpful and insightful. Best of all the crowd of attendees was truly unique and I had a lot of very interesting conversations over the three days. The evening networking opportunities were perhaps the most productive use of my time. — From the page [...]
Brian, use the resources of Web2.0 to permit interaction during the planning of the event. Start discussions and do some of the work before hand and start to build engagement that way. Take a tip from the DoD CIO about the steps they took to use Intelink’s web 2.0 resources to discuss more sensitive issues (in this case DoD policy on accessing social media – https://www.intelink.gov/wiki/Web_2.0_Policy) with links to the open internet to bring in additional feedback. Government is not ready to do everything on the open internet and if you connect both an FOUO environment and an unclassified environment, you will bring a sense of comfort to the naysayers and get their participation in discussions.
[...] my colleague Brian Drake discussed in this blog post, we both spoke with a number of people who would like to see a Gov 2.0 Practitioner event that [...]
Your blog is so informative … ..I just bookmarked you….keep up the good work!!!!
[...] a conversation we started back in September, I think are quickly arriving at a solution to the nagging feeling that we need to take the [...]
[...] a conversation we started back in September, I think are quickly arriving at a solution to the nagging feeling that we need to take the [...]