Well, it occurred to me this week that it has been nearly six weeks since the MuniGov2.0 group pulled off our very first organized project - MuniGovCon'09. I'd be remiss (and perhaps flogged) if I didn't do a post on the conference and what it meant to us and the growing 2.0 movement in government. It turns out that I had to miss the conference due to a last minute family emergency, but I was there in spirit, my peeps were representin' and we got it all on film for eternal posterity. You can view all of the speaker sessions on the MuniGov2.0 Blip.tv channel.
This was a virtual government conference held entirely in the virtual world of Second Life. The theme of the conference was introducing Web2.0 to the government realm. Based on our estimates, this conference would have cost us $165,00 (USD) to pull off in the real world. By offering it virtually, we estimate that we saved each attendee at least $1300 to attend a similar real life conference of this caliber (and we gave out the souvenir t-shirts to prove it!)
By the time the conference time rolled around, we had nearly 170 registrations. And although we don't have an exact number, we estimate that the number of attendees was actually at least double this. Many organizations filled a real-life conference room and watched the conference on the big screen via the virtual eyes of a designated avatar. As you'll note from the session videos, we certainly had a fair share of technical hiccups throughout. We knew this was inevitable, given the heavily concentrated noob herd that the conference attracted. However, your friendly and courteous MuniGov2.0 hosts and our speakers showed tenacity, resourcefulness and perseverance in working through the problems and still putting on a good show. And if you were in that audience - thank you for showing patience with us and thank you for being willing to help us try out this new avenue for collaboration and discussion!
Our speakers at the event were certainly well-received by the crowd. We had all levels of government and higher-education covered with intriguing ideas and engaging topics that seemed to be very popular with the audience. We even had an interactive Q&A session that engaged the audience with a panel of government 2.0 enthusiasts focused on several social media related topics. (Again - you can see all the sessions at our blip.tv site)
If you want more detail on the conference itself, I'd encourage you to take a look at Pam Broviak's blog post about it (hers was much more timely than mine). If you are in Second Life, you can also visit the MuniGov2.0 Center to view some excellent billboards that highlight the dynamic demographics of the conference attendees. And while you're at the center, you can take a stroll through the Technology Showcase - a virtual mini-exposition highlighting the wares and services of some of the vendor members of MuniGov including CDW-G, ActiveGovernment, Microsoft and Earth911.
During our post conference wrap-up, we gathered tremendously valuable feedback from the attendees in the form of a survey, and we documented a lengthy list of lessons learned from the MuniGov members who pulled the conference together. All of this feedback will guide us in the development of future events and gatherings to make them even more valuable for the participants. For example, we are working now on a regular schedule of Second Life Orientation sessions exclusively for government participants.
And finally, this post would not be complete without a special shout-out to the MuniGov peeps who stepped up to really make this thing happen. This conference was a culmination of the efforts of many members of the MuniGov group, without whom this would have not been possible. I would like to personally recognize my fellow ringleaders in this endeavor:
- Barry Condrey, CIO for Chesterfield County, VA (who also stepped in to be my stunt double for the keynote when I had to unexpectedly bail at the last minute)
- Leslie Fuentes, IT Director for Hampton, VA
- Robert Menter, Human Resources Analyst Virginia Beach, VA
- Lisa Nelson, Program Manager with the Intergovernmental Solutions Group of the General Services Administration
- Jeff Jacob, Junior Applications Analyst from Nanaimo, British Columbia
- Joe Mangano, Bus Dev Mgr, Vertical Solutions, CDW-G
- Beck Sullivan, Manager of Interactive Communication Services, Municipal Association of South Carolina
- Sonya Shoreman, Public Information Officer, San Diego County
- Wayne Chronowire, Detective Sergeant, Wells, ME
- Lynette Shaull, Web Content Coordinator, City of Winston-Salem, NC
- Michelle Gardner, Coordinator of Administrative Services for the John Scott Dailey Florida Institute of Government at the University of Central Florida
- Paulette Robinson and Jim Rich and the rest of the folks from the Information Resources Management College of the National Defense University, who were gracious enough to lend us their experience and this excellent venue for the event.
- And of course my founding partner in all this, Pam Broviak, a Public Works Director and City Engineer in IL
If you are not a member of the MuniGov group, I would encourage you to register today. Pam Broviak and I started MuniGov2.0 back in Sept of 2008 with the purpose of bringing together like-minded government people who were interested in exploring the possibilities that the tools and concepts of 2.0 could bring to us here in the public sector. I am happy to report that as of today we are over 430 members strong with a diverse membership from all levels of government in several different countries and from a dozen different disciplines! We have a very dynamic Web site, an active list serve and some very productive meetings in SL each Wed evening at 7PM EST/4PM PST. In addition to the group meetings, access to the list serv, etc. we also offer every member organization free use of the Munigov facilities, including your own customizable govpod - a virtual office that you can use as a home base while exploring SecondLife. If you are interested in membership, you can sign-up on our Web site.
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