Retooling Federal Workforce Skills

With the introduction of technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile apps and more, the business functions of government are becoming more automated. While fears of machines taking over the world -- or at least our jobs -- are unfounded, the type of work government employees will be doing is changing dramatically. Additionally, there is a huge learning curve needed for employees to adopt these technologies to ensure they live up to their promise of greater efficiency and cost savings. The common denominator for managing all of this change? Training.

In a recent survey, 43 percent of Federal IT professional respondents said that one of the reasons their IT environments were not optimized to meet current demands was insufficient investment in training. Organizations need to take full advantage of budgeted education stipends to get holistic training for management and employees to ensure they get the most out of their technology investment. Investing more in training up front can save money down the road by avoiding the need to re-tool or even scrap systems to better fit the skill sets of the workforce. Continue reading

How To Maximize Your Public Sector Events: A Q & A With Kerry Rea Of GovEvents

Recently Katie Hanusik with SpeakerBox Communications interviewed GovEvents President, Kerry Rea. Here's the article we wanted to share:

I recently had a chance to catch up with Kerry Rea, President of GovEvents, who shared her thoughts on the changing government events landscape. In the following Q&A, she discusses how topics have changed over time, how event planners can ensure success for their public sector events, and how to avoid common event planning mistakes.

Q: Can you give us a quick overview of GovEvents?

GovEvents was created as a complimentary service to government and military personnel, contractors, vendors, and event organizers to provide one place on the web to find and post government-related events. Without GovEvents, government personnel looking for professional development and networking opportunities would have to search numerous sites and monitor dozens of email newsletters to get a look at options open to them. Industry had the same challenge in developing their event plans each year - determining which events to attend, exhibit, and sponsor.

The site provides in-depth information on hundreds of events, from major industry tradeshows and government conferences, to agency-sponsored roundtables, government job fairs, training events, webinars, and on-demand webcasts.

The site has grown to more than 80,000 members. On average, 90% of the events on GovEvents are posted by members. Continue reading

Wrapping up 2015’s Key Events

With back to school activity wrapping up for the kids, it's time for professionals to think about their own continuing education. As we've done throughout the year, here's a list of some of the remaining 2015 can't miss events for the government market. [Tweet "Remaining 2015 can't miss events for the government market. #GovEventsBlog"]

  • NASCIO Annual Conference (October 11-14 Salt Lake City, UT) - The National Association of State Chief Information Officers represents the interests of state chief information officers and information technology executives and managers. This annual meeting brings together these professionals for a chance to share challenges and successes with one another and meet with the vendor community. This year's event is focused on "advancing smart government."

Continue reading

What A Hybrid Event Can Do For Your Next Government Conference

A few years ago, online events seemed to be the solution for government agencies wanting to cut back on the expenses and travel often associated with in-person conferences. As time has passed, many have realized there are other benefits to blending online opportunities with in-person events.

Here's a look at the top benefits from iCohere:

Pre-Event Exposure and Long-term Engagement

An online platform offers the benefit of connecting with the audience well in advance of the conference. When using a platform that offers online communities, libraries, chat rooms, and discussion forums, meeting planners can engage with conference delegates as early as the planning stage to ensure the conference content will be relevant to the audience.   Continue reading

The Breakout App of SXSW and What It Means for Events

From time to time GovEvents will come across information we feel our members and audience would benefit from. Here's something we wanted to share:

Originally posted on bizbash.com

When Ed Gala, global head of events and sponsorships for Philips, arrived at South by Southwest on March 12, he had not heard of Meerkat. That's not surprising since the free live-streaming app only launched on February 27. But what a difference a day--and an event full of avid techies--can make. Gala became a believer in the potential of Meerkat Friday morning while showing the C.E.O. of a digital strategy company around the Philips exhibit in the Austin Convention Center.

"She said, 'I'm going to Meerkat this, do you mind?' So we engaged in a live-streamed exhibit tour using Meerkat. There were about five people watching, and I was so impressed with the fact that we could take our message out and show in real time all the exciting things happening in the exhibit. Shortly after she left I thought we have to experiment with this because it's a really important tool for us to leverage moving forward," Gala says. Continue reading