Greetings to NASTD members and corporate affiliates from and the 2010 Midwest Region Seminar. Time has flown so fast it is hard to believe that it has been almost a month since many of us were together at the Eastern Region event in Charleston, WV
After that excellent event I had hoped to post a blog about the great job done by the host committee and program chair Ruthann Sullivan of the State of Vermont. Time has slipped by and here I am in another fantastic event.
Back in a dozen affiliates and sponsors had a chance in general sessions to educate and inform. We were greeted to by cabinet secretary Robert Ferguson Jr. We heard from Kyle Schafer, Chief Technology Officer of and we learned about the latest projects and upcoming procurements in 14 state member reports.
We also experienced the further broadening of the value of these great events when the monthly Special Interest Group conference calls were originated from linking seminar participants with the SIG participants across the country.
On the lighter side at lunch we enjoyed a trip into the altered reality of five time West Virginia State Liar’s Champion, Bill Lepp and his spellbinding stories. We had hours of high quality peer to peer networking and a great share of local hospitality. .
Here in we are half way through another great agenda. Program chair Greg Gicale has continued the momentum set by his peers in the South and East by putting together an information packed agenda.
This week there has been a nice balance between corporate affiliate and sponsor presentations, state reports and other engaging content. We heard Sam Orth, CIO of the State of talk about government cloud computing. Gary Cavin CIO of the City of talked about the digital community project that aims to make one of the most technology affluent municipalities in the country.
Last night were treated to a guided tour the statehouse and had dinner under the capital dome.
There are lots more things ahead before heading home. I hope to have the time to drop you a note on my way home with a wrap up.
In the meantime, I hope you are all having a productive week. I am looking forward to the West Region seminar Deadwood, SD and seeing many of you at the annual conference that will take place in Portland, OR in August.