Amtower Off Center

While You Were Out.....

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:37:00 +0000

As some of you know, I was with my family in London from June 19th until the 27th. It was a blast.

Checking my email upon our return, imagine my surprise to find out I had won no fewer than 4 lotteries: Netherlands, UK (of course - I just got back), Swiss and Lottomatica (who comes up with these names)! Zounds - I must be rich!

Not only am I now rich, but famous, too, as I have been nominated for the Who's Who in the Heritage Who's Who, the Presidential Who's Who, and the Starthnmore Who's Who.

Wow, if I wasn't impressed with me before.....I am tingly all over.

NextGov Aggragates Gov Twitterers

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Will Colston from GovExec sent me an interesting email.

http://www.nextgov.com/ , part of the Government Executive Media Group (which is part of Atlantic Media Co.), has put together an aggregated feed government agencies Tweets, so you can see dozens of agencies tweets at the same time on one page. I already follow a couple of these agencies separately, so the "feed" is a great way to catch a quick glimpse of many agencies with one click. The link is

www.nextgov.com/thefeed

take a look.

DoD Buyers Guide Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:46:00 +0000

My commentary is in italics - what I received is not:

So I get an email today from
Federal Buyers Guide
To:
Subject: Amtower and Co. listing update - DoD Buyers Guide

offering me
SUPPLIERS LISTING APPLICATION Complete & Return By Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Fields in red are required.

for the appently low price of
The cost of a listing is $595 for 6 months and $995 for one year.

Then there is a long form to fill out, giving them more information about you than you give to your spouse. The information they have on me (name, address, email etc is largely WRONG).

Alright. It's an offer. But it does NOT tell me who the directory is going to, how many will go out, when it will go out, or how it is to be delivered.

Hmmm.

They also offer a GSA Buyers Guide, Federal Government, Homeland Security, State & County and more.

This is not the first time I have seen this and I am sure it will not be the last. I have not and would not recommend this as a method of advertising to the government - Federal, state of local.

According to web survey tool http://www.alexa.com/, the web site associated with this directory - http://www.dodworld.com/, is ranked 2,837,858 in web traffic.

Hmmm.

My advice is save your money.

Ken Blanchard in DC

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:08:00 +0000

Ken and several of the Ken Blanchard Companies staff were in DC today doing a seminar for Feds on "Staying Focused and Productive During Uncertain Times." It was a great event and well attended.

After having spent a couple hours of the phone with Ken over the past 18 months (including an interview on my show), it was great to finally meet him, and his lovely wife Margie.

Apart from being a prolific writer (over 55 books and counting) and the co-author of one of the best selling business book of all times (The One Minute Manager, which is still in print almost 27 years) Ken is truly a nice man and a class act. He is everything you'd hope he would be, and more.

Beware of B2G Institute, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:33:00 +0000

The Huffington Popst weighs on the alleged mis-deeds of the B2G Institute:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/03/scheming-businessman-hold_n_210851.html

and this major warning from The Center for Public Integrity:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/1404/

A few tips for selecting venues requiring your time and your money:

1) pedigree - has the event producer "been there, done that." Many have beendoing this a long time (Federal Business Council,, Digital Government Institute, 1105 Government Media, government Exec, AFCEA, etc) - and some have not. See my posts from Feb 2009 on Why People Are Leery of Events.

2) how many times has this particular event occurred (annual sinc 1990?, 2001? annual since last week?)

3) will the event producer list the sponsors and exhibitors from previous years?

I have seen events where the event producer will list key government people as speakers, yet when I call the govies, they have no idea who the producer or event is.

Hmmm????

Government Market Master on LinkedIn

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:14:00 +0000

I am very active on LinkedIn and much less so at Twitter, Plaxo, GovLoop, FederalContractor, Facebook, etc.

I have 1,503 connections and belong to fifty (5-zero) groups on LinkedIn. I was not satisfied with a few of the B2G groups I was in, so yesterday I started my own - Government Market Master, with the idea that I would make this one more active than those I was not satisfied with.

The group will provide information for all the "skill" areas of doing business with the government: BD, marketing, sales, program management, C-level, operations, GSA and more.

I have three discussion posts (with 10 comments) and 3 news posts in the first 24 hours - and 177 members in the first 24 hours. Tomorrow I will announce the first free teleseminar for the group, which will be held next week.

Come check out the group when you have a few minutes - Government Market Master -
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1979445

Content Guy as Keynoter - part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Yesterday I delivered the keynote at the 10th annual SEWP conference in Austin, Texas. For those of you who do not know the government market, SEWP is a government-wide contract (GWAC in our parlance) for high-end information technology products.

First - I had a great time. I learned that SEWP is not simply a contract and that the conference is not simply an event, but that SEWP is a community comprised of the SEWP staff, agencies buyers, and the contractors. These people know one and respect one another and truly enjoy themselves when they get together.

Second- We have all been to events where have either been or seen the "fringe" people - those who are too new to an event to feel a part of it and who will go to their rooms for meals. This event did everything possible to be inclusive, with the SEWP staff acting as ambassadors, seeking out all the attendees.

Third, looking at the agenda and talking to the attendees, I know that Joanne Woytek, Marcus Fedeli and the rest of the SEWP staff put together a great program, chock full of stuff people could use as soon as they got to the office.

Finally - the content guy as keynoter. As soon as I hit the stage I felt at home. I knew some of the attendees from before, met several others at dinner the night I arrived, and I just felt good. It is not for me to say how I did, so I will ask some of the folks who attended to comment - but I had about 20 people come up to me after the speech to say how much they enjoyed it. As I was only there for about 20 minutes after I was done spoeaking, I think that I must have been OK.

All things considered, I am honored to have been a small part of the event.

Beware of the B2G Institute

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:04:00 +0000

I have had several calls lately asking me if I knew of the B2G Institute.

I do not.

Then I got this google alert aiming me at an article highlighting the same B2G Institute as a company to avoid.

http://www.sandiego6.com/mostpopular/story/B2G-Get-Rich-Scheme-Targets-San-Diego-Business/naLrwamJG0yVGJpNkBaAfg.cspx

Make your own decision - but read the article!

Content guy as a keynoter

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:35:00 +0000

I am a good speaker, but not a great speaker. I am known for content - stuff you can use, either right then and there, or whenever (if ever) you get to it.

But I am a content guy, not a polished platform guy.

Overall, I think it's fair to say that I am not your usual conference speaker. I dress in all black, wear cowboy boots (or black sneakers), and don't wear ties. I am easy to find as I am not small and dress this way all the time.

Yet I am the keynote at the SEWP conference next week. For those of you who don't know what SEWP is, the NASA SEWP (Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement) GWAC (Government-Wide Acquisition Contract) provides the latest in Information Technology (IT) products for all Federal Agencies. It is a truly great government contract and it hosts it's own event every year, and they asked me to keynote.

Who was I to say "no"?

So when I speak in Austin on Tuesday to kick off this event, I will tell them up front that this is not your typical keynote and that note taking is encouraged. I will give them some info they can use, if they so choose, or ignore. You can lead a horse to water....

And I will report back here next week to let you know how I did and what I told 'em.

Some Tech Blogs to watch, and one to ignore

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:35:00 +0000

Patting oneself on the back isn't a bad thing. I have been known to do it myself. But starting a separate "independent" company whose main job seems to be patting you on the back is something else, especially when you make the assumption that people will either not find out or will not care.

The creation of an artificially inflated food chain in an environment like the web is begging for public humiliation. The transparency of the web is real, and the Lincoln adage that "you can fool some of the people all of the time..." may well be passe in an environment where, when they have not heard of you, they can google you in a heartbeat...

TechCrunch references a survey from PR Sourcecode that ranks the tech blogs allegedly used and preferred by PR agencies. The only problem is the #7 ranking...Meritalk, which is owned by the same company that owns PRSourcecode.

Follow the interesting discussion here:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/04/survey-says-pr-people-love-our-no-embargo-policy/

Draw your own conclusions.

Not hat I have an opinion.

Some current and upcoming B2G Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:14:00 +0000

A couple items of interest to the B2G community.

My friends at World Wide Technology are hosting a webinar on Putting Stimulus Doallrs to Work:
http://www.wwt.com/external_content/stimulus_registration.html
WWT is a major provider of Cisco, Sun and other high-end IT products to the government.

The Montgomery County (Maryland) Chamber and its GovConNet program is hosting a Procurement Conference and Expo Wed May 13 - here is the link:
http://www.montgomerycountychamber.com/pubs/main/Procurement_Confer_1.cfm
The lineup is very impressive.

My friends at Onvia are hosting a webinar on May 20, 2009
https://onviaevents.ilinc.com/perl/ilinc/lms/register.pl?activity_id=pwmyvmp&user_id=
This is regarding the economic recovery initiatives that are under way. Onvia is always a good source for this information. Onvia Webcast: Recovery Projects are Underway – How to Secure your Success.

I am back on StartUpNation
http://www.startupnation.com/articles/9439/1/government-contracting-gsa-schedules.htm

For those of you not familiar with http://www.startupnation.com/, is is an information portal for new and small businesses, filled with articles, podcasts, etc, from a variety of niche experts. Take a little time to browse the site.

I am also in the current Maryland Daily Record in an article regarding private business clubs - see
http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=11411&type=UTTM

NC Contractor Uses Social Media to grow Gov Biz

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:15:00 +0000

Gal Borenstein forwarded me this link from one of my favorites biz magazines, BtoB. I quote:

Marketing to government agencies traditionally has not been an activity for companies seeking quick returns—something that Jennifer Filipowski, exec VP-marketing at InterAct Public Safety Systems, is quick to point out.

“There is a hurry-up-and-wait scenario,” she said. “You get a bunch of leads in and, once you're working that relationship or opportunity, you are waiting for the next budget cycle or chasing down a grant.”

The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company markets mobile data systems and computer-aided dispatch, emergency call-taking and mapping solutions to law enforcement agencies, fire departments and medical response teams.

read the entire story here

http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009304249997#seenit

The 100 Day Test

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:27:00 +0000

Well, it's here. Not exactly sure what "it" means, but it's here.

100 days have passed since Senator Obama became President Obama, and the big media want to know - Time magazine wants to know....what's different? Did President Obama pass the test?

What test, you ask? The 100 day test, of course!

My answer?

There is no test. Nothing is different, yet. It's the government. I don't want it to change fast, it's too big for that. It is not designed for quick change. 100 days my Aunt Ruth's....

Further, when the Senator became the President, he inherited an economy that was rapidly going down the drain. There was absolutely nothing anyone could do in 100 days to turn around that mess. And unlike some other radio hosts, I am neither predicting nor hoping that his stimulus plan fails. I pray that it works for the sake of all those who are out of work, and those who fear they may be out of work soon, those who probably listen to a radio host besides yours truly....

But I digress.

100 days. Who cares! This is yet another media measurement that means nothing. No wonder traditional media is tanking - it has so little to offer that it invents stuff.

In two years will it be 100 hours? And when Twitter really takes over, it'll be what, 100 seconds? 100 characters?

Get a grip, media folks. Analyze the news, tell us what is happening. Stop creating false measurements.

Not that I have an opinion.

Post from OhMyGov.com and interview w/ Dr Dray

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Ten ways to improve government web sites - tidbit I picked up from @tjohns06 on Twitter -
but advice that is applicable to feds and contractors.

http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2009/04/23/10-ways-to-improve-government-websites.aspx

excellent stuff!

Also I interviewed Dr Mark Drapeau today for my show Monday at noon - Amtower Off Center on WFED 1500 AM in DC, archived and webcaast on http://www.federalnewsradio.com/ (the show will be up and downloadable AFTER it airs, Monday). Dr Dray is @cheeky_geeky on Twitter.

Dr Dray (http://www.markdrapeau.com/) is one of the 4 who put together the Government 2.0 Camp last month (follow them now at http://www.government20club.org/) Also on the first half of the show was Maxine Teller (http://www.mixtmediastrategy.com/). The 2 who were not on the show (yet) who organized the show were Jeffrey Levy (EPA) and Peter Corbett (http://www.istrategylab.com/) .

Dr Dray, Maxine & I discussed how the "camp" evolved and where it might go from here, and other web 2.0 stuff. Tremendously fun and informative interview.

Not that I have an opinion.

Oracle buys Sun

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:34:00 +0000

The NY Times reports Sun has been purchased by Oracle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/technology/companies/21sun.html?_r=1&ref=technology&pagewanted=print

What does this mean for the government market? Until 9/30/09 (end of FY) - nothing. The deal won't close until summer anyway, and no one wants to disrupt ANY end-of-FY deals. But they will be disrupted to some degree.

Any pending deals for Sun's competitors are now in some jeopardy, as Sun now has the financial solvency of Oracle behind it. With a compelling product and solvency, Sun is now poised to regain marketshare.

And Oracle's recent deals with Dell and HP? One can assume that these will not be vigorously pursued, but stranger things have happened.

And what does this mean for the various channel partners (VARs, SIs, etc) of Oracle and Sun, who are not always the same players?

This deal will be very interesting to watch as it unfolds.

Not that I have an opinion.

FOSE, Government 2.0 Camp and more

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:57:00 +0000

Government 2.0 Camp:

Although I was not there, this event created a ton of buzz which continues. Steve Radick has a great post on the event here
http://steveradick.com/2009/04/07/a-challenge-to-government-20-camp-attendees/
Give it a look, take some of the challenges to heart. I will be at the next Camp.

FOSE:

I posted a question on about 20 of my government-facing groups at LinkedIn on FOSE: I simply asked what people thought of it. I did not attend FOSE this year as I was heading over to the UK that week and had some prep to do for my trip.

The consensus is....that there is no consensus. This has been the same for several years now. Here are a few of the unedited responses (without names):

- Mark, I did not go and haven't for a few years now. FOSE has lost interest for me because it became so hardware and even software vendor based. I'd much rather go to a homeland defense/homeland security conference and see the specific items designed for the fields of work rather than a generic IT conference.

- I attended. Thought it was a good conference - presentations, keynotes, exhibit floor. Of course, I might be a bit biased as one of the presentations was mine. :-) The 1105 folks know how to put on a conference.

- FOSE was a solid event this year. Industry particpation was down - but government attendance was strong - and the decision makers were throughout. Its been the best conference of 2009 so far.

- I did go for two days and was disappointed with the turnout at the Gov. 2.0 presentation especially.

- I thought that the show itself was pretty good. I didn't attend last year; however, most I have spoken with who attended last year and this year seem to think that this years show was a lot better than last years. I was only down there one day, but the foot traffic was pretty steady all day, and I really enjoyed some of the topics covered during the breakout sessions... by far, imho, the Web 2.0 panel discussion was great.

-We were actually "exhibitors" at GovSec in the adjoining room at the Center and we were (literally) fifty feet from the connecting door... We received a ton of walk through our booth from folks headed to FOSE. They claimed that they had no idea of the co-joining and if the did they would have brought additional folks from their departments. Personally, I think there was a wonderful opportunity for synergy between the IT folks and Physical Security folks since those worlds are coming so much closer together... If they continue to co-join the events then they should sponsor some "joint presentations" showing the inter-operability of the two sectors... It just makes sense to me!

- FOSE is not worth attending unless you are a big box provider. The big box companies: IBM, CISCO, HP, etc. dwarf any independents from gaining attention. Also, typical attendee is lower level government managers without control over funds who are there to get the swag handed out at the booths.

As you can see, some liked the show and benefitted from it, others did not like the show. Part of this is the expectation and plan you have before attending. Part is the show itself.

Events need to be a part of the government market landscape - no doubt about it. I prefer more focused events as a rule.

If FOSE, along with GovSec, is to remain part of the B2G ecosystem, I think it needs a strong focus and a broader networking appeal - networking in both the web 2.0 sense and the traditional face-to-face sense.

A couple thoughts on what needs to happen is FOSE is to gain broader community support;

1) year-round conversations (via web 2.0 platforms) on what FOSE needs. This will get grassroots feedback that should help planning.

2) continued emphasis on the educational/certification side. I was happy to see this get some emphasis this year.

3) a FOSE groups on various social networks, including FederalContractor.us, GovLoop.com and LinkedIn.

4) semi-related, but in the category of nothing to be done about it....I do not like the DC Convention Center and I am far from alone in that assessment. Parking is minimal and the layout is poor. Again - nothing to be done about this because there is no fall-back venue.

Suufice it to say I heard nothing about big bags - http://www.federaldirect.net/offwhite21.html

Enough said for now.

To (Social) Network, or Not to Network

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:00:00 +0000

This morning I attended a great event put on by Market Connections on winning government business. The panel was comprised of 4 market professionals and the Editor of Washington Technology (this is not to imply the editor is not a market pro, but he is a journalist, the others are front line folks). Lisa Dezzutti presented findings of the recent Market Connection studies on how contractors are marketing - great stuff and now my weekend reading! It was a great event for networking and the info was top notch.

I got to ask a couple questions near the end - so I asked how many people in the room were on LinkedIn. Of the 75 or so B2G market pros, and nearly all raised their hands. Then I asked how many heard about the event on LinkedIn. About half had their hands up.

Several times over the past month or so I have run across those who think LinkedIn is

- a joke
- a job site
- a time waster
- full of people living in the parental basement

And if they think this way about LinkedIn, what do they think of Facebook and Twitter?

And yes, despite my rant last month, I am still on Facebook, and using it a little. I am also now on Twitter and have about 260 followers. I also use www.FederalContractor.us, www.GovLoop.com, www.BeltwayNetworker.com and a few others.

But LinkedIn remains my social networking focus.

I am not here to convert those who remain convinced of the above myths about whether or no social networks are useful ("Maybe they are for some, Mark, but not in my area...." is the typical whiny remark.)

I do not care if you do not wish to migrate where the world is moving.

I do not care if you want your business to operate under marketing rules that were dying in the 1990s.

I do not care if you are brainstorming in a closet with a like-minded sycophant.

The market, and marketing, moves with or without us.

I prefer being on the bus before it leaves the station.

If you prefer otherwise, do not whine to me about it.

And if you are not on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twiter, GovLoop, FederalContracting or BeltwayNetworking, you may not be hearing about to many events in the future.

Not that I have an opinion.

Buzz Marketing Daily: Top 5 Things We Learned @ South By Southwest Interactive (plus 5 BONUS takeaways!)

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:01:00 +0000

http://www.buzzmarketingdaily.com/2009/03/top-5-things-we-learned-south-by.html

This is not my post, but notes from BuzzMarketingDaily about the conference last week in Austin - SouthBySouthwest, This was a major web 2.0 event attended by several of my totally web savvy friend - David Meerman Scott (http://www.webinknow.com/) , Alice Marshall ( http://technoflak.blogspot.com/ ), Debbie Weil ( http://www.debbieweil.com/blog), Geoff Livingston (www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/ and others.

As Web 2.0 tools gather steam in the B2G arena, I will be tapping into these folks and others (http://www.federalcontractor.us/, http://www.beltwaynetworker.com/ and http://www.govloop.com/ among them) on a regular basis.

This is a very hot, emerging area and one we need to be on top of as marketers to the government.

Not that I have an opinion.

Why People are leery of events, part 4, and FaceBook

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:09:00 +0000

Back in Feb I wrote about the Economic Recovery event being offered in DC. I wrote about this 3 times, as it appeared to be a non-event, with no speakers and no real information. When you went to the web site, there was vistually nothing there; no real agenda, no speakers, etc. And then the venue kept changing and getting (seemingly) smaller.

Well, they are back, and the subject line in the email was "Register Now - Billions in New Spending!" and the email was from "Recovery Summit ". This is now a 2 day event which desribes itself this way: "The American Economic Recovery Summit is designed to introduce the specifics of the federal government’s massive economic recovery programs to American business and to the American people. "

I have yet to find someone's name associated with ANY of the emails that have gone out on this. Nor have any speakers been identified.

Draw your own conclusion. I have drawn mine.

***

re: My Facebook rants, also from February., in regard to facebook's privacy snafu. Well, I did not pull out of Facebook. A number of rasons, not the leats of which is there are many people there, who, for some reason, are not on LinkedIn. So, I am still there (sort of under protest), but I still concentrate the bulk of my social networking efforts at LinkedIn. Ahead of Facebook, the Federal Contracting Network (http://www.federalcontractor.us/) is now my #2 network.

Not that I have an opinion.

Congress pushes $750 million+ in Earmarks - Amtower's raection

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Don't you love it when all of the self-serving people in D.C. do their little rat dance? While not all are involved, many members of Congress & the lobbyists who push earmarks are little more than slimy things that crawl out from under rocks several times a year.

Not that I have an opinion.

Book World & Washington Post Revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:00:00 +0000

In the Washington Post (Sunday, March 8) in both the Business and Outlook sections, there are book reviews. Outlook has eight (one starting on the front page, with pages 6 and 7 devoted to books - history, a memoir. science and more The Business section has one in Michelle Singletary's column.

Keep it up, folks! It isn't book world, but they are trying. I've got to give credit to them and would love to see still more.

Is Space Advertising Dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:47:00 +0000

I just received a question from a government marketing pro I have known for a long time, one I respect tremendously. Here is the question:

"Mark, Is print advertising going to be dead in federal IT over the next 12 to 18 months? I still see print as a big brand building tool for folks like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc.yes it needs to be integrated with online and new media but it will never be replaced. Am I way off base?"

Here is my response:

"Your instincts tell you the same thing mine tell me. Space ads are already on life support and anyone telling a different story is living in a fantasy world. Possible space will die, but hopefully not. Can the big companies afford to the let print venues die? I don't think so, as none seem to have a strategy to live without them and their (the pubs) ability to reach a very broad audience. Last August (in my Government Marketing Best Practices seminar- http://www.federaldirect.net/order2008gmbp.html) I said that trade (niche) publications that did not adopts social networking strategy would die. There is still time - but they have to move FAST!!!"

In the GMBP seminar last summer, I pointed out that trade publications (and trade associations) serve a niche, a community of people who share a market. These commonalities are perfect for creating a social network so the proactive professionals in that community could better interact. Further, I said that these communities were going to occur with or without the publications. I said straight out that trade publications and associations that do not adopt a social network on the back end of their publication or group would cease to exist. Information dissemination and digestion is changing, and it is changing fast.

Since that time we have seen the birth of two social networks in our market: www.FederalContractor.us (aka TFCN, The Federal Contractor Network, which serves the contractor community) and www.GovLoop.com (which serves primarily a Federal employee audience, with some contractors). These are robust forums and each is growing.

I don't think we can afford to see the demise of trade publications, as the quality of the information they provide is critical to the decision making process in the government and contracting communities - in our shared community. Each of the publications that serve this market provides the vital intellectual nourishment required for us to collectively grow.

I am not referring to unfettered, unregulated growth of government spending. I am referring to the growth of a joint community that better serves the needs of the government and us as citizens.

Your thoughts are welcome.

FOSE reversal - expo is free to all

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:57:00 +0000

If somehow you have missed it, FOSE occurs next week at the DC Convention Center.

Over the last several weeks radio spots for FOSE were saying the expo was "free for DOD and Federal employees". The FOSE web site now says the expo portion is free for DOD, Federal employees and government contractors.

This is not the first time this reversal has occured. A few years back, under the previous owner (Post Newsweek Tech), FOSE did this when the contractor community balked at paying $50 to see exhibits. It seems overall attendance may be down again, and the last minute jolt might help. I understand the need to monetize the event in as many ways as possible, but charging contractors for the exhibits does not work and with fewer people in the exhibit halls, the show floor looks like a ghost town.

If you'd like to register, go to
www.FOSE.com

I will not be attending for the 2nd time in 25 years. I will be leaving the country on the 11th and will have several things to do prior to that. Even if I were in town, there are fewer reasons for me to attend. High among my reasons for not attending is the lack of parking in the vicinity of the DC Convention Center. I hate going there. Whoever designed this place had an obvious Metro bias which does not servve the best interests of the event producers.

Last year I was at FOSE to do a live radio broadcast from the show floor, and it was fun having several of my friends who were exhibiting as guests on the show. This year my radio station - WFED, www.FederalNewsRadio.com - opted not to go, as did some of the exhibitors who were on my show.

I would like FOSE to succeed, but the age for the mega-tech show may be passing. MacWorld and others are going away. Some tech trade pubs are folding. VAR Business just put out its last issue and will now be part of CRN.

If companies have marketing dollars, apparently they are looking for other places to spend them.

FOSE must reinvent itself if it is to survive. It would be great to have one big event that attracted the IT community (other than the Input holiday party), but it is going to take some radically new thinking.

Ted Stevens and the ANC Legacy

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:48:00 +0000

Robert Brodsky at Government Executive has a good story out on the probable future of ANCs. Go here
http://www.govexec.com/features/0309-01/0309-01s3.htm
The ANC issue has to be dealt with and the SBA best get on its monitoring hat with similar programs.

And there it wasn't

noreply@blogger.com (Federal Direct) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:56:00 +0000

I opened my Sunday paper this morning and started arranging, by section, the paper for my breakfast. I knew this was coming but did not know when.

Today was the day.

I usually get up before everyone else so I can have some quiet time with the paper. For the last three decades I began my Sunday reading with Book World. And today it was not there. It has been the only section of the Washington Post that I would thumb through page by page every time I saw it. It was always filled with great reviews and it was a great way to start Sunday.

If Mrs Graham was correct, that the mark of a great paper was the book section, the Post has migrated down the food chain.