THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING THE 40th ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM!
In Person Pre-Conference
November 15, 2021
We are excited to invite you back in person for our pre-conference on Monday, November 15th at the Saint Paul RiverCentre. Can’t make the pre-conference? No problem! Join us for the virtual conference November 16-18th.
As the host of the Symposium, safety of participants and staff is our number one priority. Fusion Learning Partners is continually monitoring the COVID19 situation and will follow direction from the CDC and local authorities to maintain a safe in-person event. All changes or requirements for onsite participation will be communicated to registrants via email. (View COVID Policy)
Virtual Government IT Symposium
November 16 – 18, 2021
Celebrating 40 years, the Government IT Symposium is one of the longest-running & largest government IT events in the nation. We know that government technology is no longer strictly technology-focused but incorporates a broader set of skills. The Government IT Symposium is designed to support your individual and organizational evolution – helping to position you and your agency to deliver on heightened expectations from citizens and policymakers. Join your fellow colleagues for engaging and innovative content that is bound to help you discover new strategies and tactics that Elevate Your Game!
2021 FEATURED SPEAKERS

Governor Tim Walz
Minnesota’s 41st Governor
Day 1 Special Message: Governor Tim Walz
Tuesday, November 16th
Day 1 Keynote:
Seeing From a Different Point of View
Tuesday, November 16th from 9:15 – 10:15am
Chess is often known as a thinking game. In order to beat your opponent, you must step into their shoes and think about how they would think. In Maurice’s session, he will show you how to transfer the chess move thought process and adapt that same way of thinking into your own business and life. This fascinating session will help get your brain thinking in ways you never expected to use.

Maurice Ashley
First African-American Chess Grandmaster, Analyst, Commentator and Emcee

George S. Hawkins, Esq.
Founder and CEO, Moonshot Missions
Day 2 Keynote:
Moonshot: Innovation in Government
Wednesday, November 17th from 9:15 – 10:15am
Public sector agencies are often known to be “conservative” -not in a political sense, but in a unwillingness to take risks and innovate. These agencies, conventional wisdom suggests, are hampered by rigid bureaucracies that are hostile to changing layers of standard procedures. George Hawkins, who transformed the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority into DC Water – from an organization resistant to change into an innovative powerhouse – believes that a resistance to change is almost always rooted in understandable principles and practices. He will suggest a simple and practical seven step process to encourage innovation that is founded on understanding the values of an organization, and using them as a motivator for change within a secure process and structure. George will lace his presentation with entertaining stories designed to illustrate key points.
Day 3 Featured Speaker:
Asking The Right Question: How Do We Deliver Value Through Minnesota’s Programs and Services
Thursday, November 18th from 12:00 – 1:00pm
MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes and State of Minnesota CIO will be interviewed by Representative Kristin Bahner. Rep. Bahner is a member of the Technology Advisory Committee, which provides advice on how to update and maintain the State of Minnesota’s IT systems. She and Commissioner Tomes will dive into the future of government technology, its ability to open doors and reduce barriers for Minnesotans to access services, and how we are getting there.

Tarek Tomes, CIO
MNIT Commissioner
SESSION SCHEDULE & RECORDINGS
Did you miss a session during the conference? Session recordings are now available for registered attendees!
Conference Agenda
All times are listed in Central Time Zone.
Join us in-person for the 2022 GOVIT Symposium Pre-Conference!
7:30am | Registration Opens (Upper Level Concourse) |
8:00am - 9:00am | Breakfast food & beverage available in the concourse |
9:00am – 12:00pm | 1/2 day Pre-Conference Training Sessions (or Part 1 of full day) |
12:00pm – 1:00pm | Break for Lunch |
1:00pm – 4:00pm | 1/2 day Pre-Conference Training Sessions (or Part 2 of full day) |
All times are listed in Central Time Zone.
7:30am | Registration & Exhibit Hall Opens (Lower Level Rotunda & Exhibit Hall A) Virtual Exhibit Hall Opens |
7:30am - 8:30am | Breakfast food & beverage available (Exhibit Hall A) |
8:15am - 8:30am | Welcome & Opening Comments (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual) |
8:30am - 9:15am | Keynote - Nancy Lyons (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual) |
9:15am - 10:00am |
New! GOVIT Hub (Exhibit Hall A) Grab some food & beverage in the Exhibit Hall and enjoy one or more of these opportunities to reunite, reimagine, & recharge!
Virtual roundtable discussions |
10:00am - 11:00am | 60-minute breakout sessions (Upper Level Concourse & 2-3 Virtual Sessions TBA) |
10:00am - 12:00pm | 120-minute workshops (Upper Level Concourse) |
11:00am - 11:15am | Break & Beverages (Upper Level Concourse) |
11:15am - 12:15pm | 60-minute breakout sessions (Upper Level Concourse & 2-3 Virtual Sessions TBA) |
12:15pm - 1:15pm | Lunch and Plenary Session (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual Plenary) |
1:15pm - 2:00pm | New! GOVIT Hub (Exhibit Hall A) Virtual roundtable discussions |
2:00pm - 2:45pm | Symposium Dessert Slam (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual) |
2:45pm - 3:00pm | Break |
3:00pm - 4:00pm | 60-minute breakout sessions (Upper Level Concourse & 2-3 Virtual Sessions TBA) |
All times are listed in Central Time Zone.
7:30am | Registration & Exhibit Hall Opens (Lower Level Rotunda & Exhibit Hall A) Virtual Exhibits Open |
7:30am - 8:30am | Breakfast food & beverage available (Exhibit Hall A) |
8:15am - 8:30am | Welcome & Opening Comments (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual) |
8:30am - 9:15am | Keynote - Verna Price (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual) |
9:15am - 10:00am |
New! GOVIT Hub (Exhibit Hall A) Grab some food & beverage in the Exhibit Hall and enjoy one or more of these opportunities to reunite, reimagine & recharge!
Virtual roundtable discussions |
10:00am - 11:00am | 60-minute breakout sessions (Upper Level Concourse & 2-3 Virtual Sessions TBA) |
10:00am - 12:00pm | 120-minute workshops (Upper Level Concourse) |
11:00am - 11:15am | Break & Beverages (Upper Level Concourse) |
11:15am - 12:15pm | 60-minute breakout sessions (Upper Level Concourse & 2-3 Virtual Sessions TBA) |
12:15pm - 1:15pm | Lunch (Exhibit Hall B) |
1:15pm - 2:00pm | New! GOVIT Hub (Exhibit Hall A) Virtual roundtable discussions |
2:00pm - 3:00pm | 60-minute breakout sessions (Upper Level Concourse & 2-3 Virtual Sessions TBA) |
3:00pm - 3:15pm | Break |
3:15pm - 3:45pm | Plenary/ Closing Session (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual) |
3:45pm - 5:00pm | Golden GOVIT Awards & Reception (Exhibit Hall B & Virtual) |
- Pre-Conference
- Government-As-A-Service/Service to Citizens
- Innovation, Insights & Trends
- Products or Processes
- Personal and Professional Development
- Security, Risk Management & Data Privacy
Session Time |
Session |
Morning Pre-Conference Session (9 AM – 12 PM) |
The Dark Arts of Project Management: Influence and Politics Presenter Joe Perzel |
Morning Pre-Conference Session (9 AM – 12 PM) |
Screen Reader Testing: How and Why Presenter Dave Andrews |
Afternoon Pre-Conference Session (1 PM – 4 PM) |
Project Stakeholders: Dealing with Sleeping Giants to Saboteurs Presenter Joe Perzel |
Afternoon Pre-Conference Session (1 PM – 4 PM) |
Purposeful Leadership: Be the Trusted Leader to Connect, Engage, Collaborate Presenter Patricia Neal |
Session Title |
Session Description |
Reimagining Community Policing through a Digital Platform |
Platforms like Google, Amazon, and Lyft have increasingly become an integral part of everyday life. As those platforms continue to grow, so will the expectation that the same level of accessibility and seamlessness be available across all aspects of life. Bringing the ease of consumer technology into law enforcement can power more comprehensive policing efforts that address problems at their source and help agencies nurture positive connections with their communities by providing residents with increased visibility and personalized interactions that fosters increased trust. Migrating processes from a traditional RMS to a robust platform, like Salesforce, can empower community police officers with a tool that allows them to go beyond cursory documentation and address & resolve root problems through case management. Moving towards a platform approach that supports effective problem solving can go a long way in boosting the relationships public safety agencies have with the communities they serve. Presented by: Sabih Khan, Industry Strategy & GTM Executive, Public Safety & Justice, Salesforce |
Everyone needs a little Automation |
Automation is an invaluable tool. We use it daily to do a variety of things from building our personal workstations, to setting up all matter of demos, to provisioning workshops for the public. Throughout this session, we will cover multiple examples of enterprise automation. Presented by: Jason Rist, Solutions Architect, Red Hat, Inc. |
Easily Utilize Hybrid Cloud |
During this session we will desmonstrate how simple and easy it is to move and scale up your application through multiple clouds using Open Source cloud software. Presented by: Jason Rist, Solutions Architect, Red Hat, Inc. |
Pandemic Response and Cloud Technologies |
MNIT partnering with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) created over 50+ IT systems and artifacts in support of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Most of these efforts extended various Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services for rapid development and implementation of modern, scalable, and robust solutions. An overview of this work will be followed by a facilitated panel discussion with people who developed and used the systems involved in the response. Discussions will focus on how cloud technology has matured and altered the business landscape at MDH; creating technology in an extremely high-pressure environment; and how MNIT & MDH overcame organizational inertia to implement effective solutions. Hear about successes such as: the deployment of 20+ call centers serving thousands of agents, the introduction of Data Lakes and a successful Salesforce implementation. Also hear cautions on: architecting on the fly, rapid system development, financial boom & bust, and how MNIT & MDH attempted to control the resulting chaos. Presented by: Joseph Pugh, Manager Development, Data and Initiatives, MNIT partnering with the Minnesota Department of Health |
Coordinate Care and Deliver Services to Citizens on an Enterprise Platform |
Health and human services (HHS), behavioral health and public health agencies are challenged to transform program operations and service delivery to meet the needs of the populations they serve. As agencies move up the human services value curve, they are looking for ways to improve engagement and service, care coordination, reduce costs, and take advantage of innovative solutions that future proof IT investments. Many are considering the benefits of cloud technology and an enterprise platform as they transition off aging legacy systems. Presented by: Roderick Bremby, Health and Human Services Industry Executive, Salesforce Global Public Sector Digital Transformation Team, Salesforce |
Automate Licensing, Permitting Inspections and Grants Management |
Complex licensing, permitting, and inspection (LPI) and Grants Management processes have plagued state and local governments for years. Manual workflows, siloed information and one-off solutions make the process time-consuming and cumbersome for public sector employees and residents alike. COVID-19 brought urgency to the need to modernize and virtualize LPI and Grants management, but the temporary fixes adopted during the pandemic need a permanent solution. As communities look to reopen and rebuild, it’s more important than ever to create a strong LPI foundation to maximize government revenue streams as well as build a strong Grants Management foundation to effectively manage increased funding sources and grantees. Presented by: Geo George, Senior Director – Digital Transformation, Salesforce |
Using Human-Centered Design to Elevate the Citizen Experience |
State, Federal, and Local government agencies are beginning to see the value of Human-Centered Design (HCD) and are putting it to use across many program areas. HCD brings end users into the room with public servants and other stakeholders to engage in rapid prototyping, testing, and iteration of solutions with the people for whom they are created. Not only can this deep collaboration speed the development and rollout of solutions, it can also mitigate risk and improve service design and delivery. Through this presentation attendees will better understand HCD, benefits us using it and ways it could be implemented at program or project level. Presented by: Scott Malm, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP |
Delivering a SaaS cloud-based application in the age of Information Warfare |
Through case study presentations, this session will explore SaaS cloud-based applications in the age of Information Warfare. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to assess cloud-based application vendors, how to incorporate security standards into project planning and the important roles and skillsets needed for cloud-based application projects. Presented by: Stefanie Horvath, Chief Business Technology Officer, MNIT |
Human-centered design for inclusive and empathetic resident services |
Residents are seeking a voice to transform how things like health and human services are deployed, American Recovery Plan dollars are applied, and education is upgraded to better mitigate the social and emotional impacts. Human centered design offers a powerful mechanism to bring an outside-in perspective that builds alignment while accelerating progress toward meaningful outcomes. Join IBM as we engage in an interactive discussion about how these practices can not only help envision a future state desirable to your residents, but how they can be used to build on successful practices and capabilities in place today that are essential for demonstrating rapid results. We will talk about the keys that make Enterprise Design Thinking successful, provide examples of the framework in action, and work with participants to develop their own ideas around key priorities for human-centered design. In addition, we will provide participants with the pathways to continue their journey applying this framework to solve complex problems that will provide the foundation for more equitable, inclusive, and empathetic government services. Presented by: Gorham Palmer, Distinguished Designer, IBM |
Effective Dashboard Visual Presentations for Maximum Impact |
Dashboarding tools place incredible power in the hands of the business users for dashboard creation. This working session will include a demonstration on how to model and present data for maximum impact and comprehension to internal and external users. This session will demonstrate (using Tableau) how agencies can transcend the typical duplication of excel spreadsheets in these new class of tools to taking advantage of some of their unique abilities that can bring together disparate data elements into rich visualizations that deliver true insights. Presented by: Michael Krouze, Chief Technology Officer, Charter Solutions Inc. |
The Power of “No Go”: Drawing a Line in the Accessibility Sand |
It’s important to consider accessibility throughout the entire design and development process for seamless integration into web projects. Join the MNIT@Education team as they share how accessibility was incorporated in a project, from beginning to end. Find out how they worked with an external vendor to make sure best practices were applied during accessibility testing and challenges they encountered. Presented by: Kim Wee, Webmaster and Digital Accessibility Coordinator, Minnesota IT Services partnering with Education |
Working Together: Deaf and Hearing People | This presentation is intended to raise awareness of deaf & hard-of-hearing individuals as qualified IT professionals and ease the sometimes awkwardness that arises around discussions about disabilities. It is designed to help attendees develop the sensitivity & skills to communicate effectively with deaf & hard-of-hearing co-workers, enable deaf & hearing colleagues to work together more productively, and assist in fostering a workplace culture of diversity & inclusion. Through interactive activities and specially designed materials, this presentation will create a fun, comfortable, and engaging atmosphere. |
Session Title |
Session Description |
Open Organizations: An Introduction |
How can we build government organizations that are more innovative, responsive, and accountable to both internal stakeholders and external constituencies? By making open principles like transparency, collaboration, inclusivity, adaptability, and community the foundation for change. Attendees will explore open organizational culture and design. More specifically, they will learn about the ways principles derived from open source projects and communities can guide successful transformations across the organization—not just in the IT shop. Presented by: Bryan Behrenshausen, Community Architect, Open Source Program Office, Red Hat |
Open Source in Business |
Find out how open source software is changing the game. In an industry that promotes the production of business-ready, cost effective software, leveraging open source can mean delivering quicker innovation, reduced time to market, freedom from lock-in, enhanced reliability, lower total cost of ownership, and a host of other benefits. This may require rethinking business models, procurement methods, project management methodologies, total cost of ownership, staffing, management of non-vendor & community relationships, risk assessment, and commercialization. Presented by: Jim Hall, CEO, Hallmentum |
Enabling Digital Transformation with API Led Connectivity |
Today government organizations across federal, state, and local face specific challenges and requirements, which uniquely sets them apart from other customers and industries. Many of the systems that they have in place today were built decades ago, before the prevalence of online and mobile applications. But while modernizing infrastructure is important, governments also have to respond to the greater set of expectations from citizens, who are able to consume services at their fingertips via mobile phone or online applications. This requires a more flexible architecture to meet these unique challenges. The session will focus on how API Led integration Strategy is the foundation of a successful Digital Transformation enabling, agility, speed and composable architecture for Public Sector customers. Presented by: Shad Imam, Director of Solutions Engineering, Public Sector, MuleSoft |
IBM i Directions – Hybrid Cloud and More |
IBM i is used by businesses everywhere in the world, including Minnesota government. Steve Will, the IBM i Chief Architect, will discuss the current state of the IBM i operating system, the underlying business, and the growing community of IBM i users. He’ll show the IBM i strategy that delivers value to IBM i clients and to IBM, highlight key enhancements which strengthen IBM i’s place in your IT plans, and talk about a roadmap for the platform’s future. Presented by: Steve Will, Chief Architect IBM i, IBM Corporation |
PK-20W (Preschool/Kindergarten through PhD and Workforce) Computer Science & Cybersecurity Initiative |
Learn how North Dakota is incorporating technology in education to address the shortage of professionals. Attendees will be able to see the benefit of advancing technology within the public school sector, why cyber curriculum is important and how it benefits industry and economy. Presented by: Shawn Riley, Chief Information Officer, ND IT Department |
Tech Trends 2021: A government perspective |
The technologies that enhance our organizations and our lives are more powerful—and more essential—than ever before. Forward-thinking organizations, including governments, understand the technological forces that surround them and look for ways to harness them for the benefit of customers and citizens alike. Through this presentation attendees will have a better understanding of: tech forces shaping how governments serve citizens, how governments are responding to those tech trends and impacts trends have at agency and program levels. Presented by: Scott Malm, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP |
Trends in Analytics and AI for Government |
Many agencies are looking to AI and analytics to help drive better service delivery. This session looks at leading practices for AI and analytics, and provides considerations for how organizations can align their people, processes, and technologies to get more value out of AI. Presented by: Scott Malm, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP |
IBM and the Quantum Decade |
For almost 40 years, quantum computing has intrigued and amazed scientists and non-scientists in its future possibility for solving problems that are intractable using classical computing. Over the last five years, IBM has made real quantum computers available on the cloud so that clients, students, and researchers can begin to learn and experiment with this new way of computing. We’ll see what potentials exist in various industries, the state of quantum computing today, and how you can get on the right path to make the earliest use of this rapidly evolving technology. Anyone who is interested in understanding what quantum computing can possibly do for their enterprise missions will not want to miss this session. Presented by: Gabe Chang, Client Technical Leader, Quantum Ambassador, Federal CTO Architect, IBM Global Business Services |
Avoiding AI Bias: How incorporating diversity makes AI better |
Artificial intelligence (AI) is based on aggregating data that has a tendency to operate in the realm of the “average.” People with disabilities and other traditionally marginalized groups tend to create rich outlier data sets that in turn can lead to AI that is better at identifying weak signals, arriving at novel approaches, managing the unexpected, and producing guidance that does not bias against outliers & small minorities. Presented by: Jutta Treviranus, Director and Professor at Inclusive Design Research Centre, Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) University |
Sherburne County’s Innovative HHS/SSIS Approach for Staff and Citizens with Google |
Sherburne County’s HHS Division initiative to modernize and focus on staff and citizen experience led them to switching solution providers to increase efficiency and streamline workflows. Sherburne partnered with Google to easily modernized their seven workflows in a cost-effective manner. Presented by: Denise Winkler, Strategic Business Executive Health and Human Services, Google Cloud |
Controlling building access via Microsoft Power Platform |
Hennepin County required additional building access control, for specific staff, during a sensitive trial. Find out how Hennepin IT used Microsoft Power Platform to create a building access app with temporary, increased access control with no additional licensing costs. Presented by: Jessie Robbins, Power Platform Product Owner, Hennepin County |
Session Title |
Session Description |
City of New Ulm Simplifies IT with Hyper-Converged Infrastructure |
HCI is bringing municipal institutions (governments, government agencies, and other public institutions) into a new era of computing and reshaping IT operations that simplifies management, protects sensitive government data, and helps deliver smart, digital services. In this session, learn how agile, reliable infrastructure can replace traditional networks across any agency, any department, or any system, while driving out the high costs of downtime and system administration. Presented by: Jared Pexa, Lead System Engineer, Scale Computing |
Digital Products – Transform with success |
Whether you code from space, an island or home, you have one mission and vision- to deliver the solution. In the digital world we live in, we need to go beyond the space of documents and spreadsheets. We have to look at reuse, efficiency and become driven agile. In this session we will discuss how to evolve and build digital products, how to become valued & successful and how to build the next super product. Presented by: Ram Krishnan, Sr.Principal, Trissential |
Product Ownership, Delivery Teams and the Product Roadmap |
The contemporary roadmap is designed around the evolution of a product based on prioritized initiatives. Product owners are often charged with conceptualizing the product roadmap for leadership communication and a stabilized delivery of value over time. This session will discuss the product ownership role and interactions on a team. It will clarify the use of a roadmap as a central artifact for product communications. Presented by: Jeremy Mann, Senior Business Analyst, LogiSolve, LLC |
Flexibility in strategic planning to align work to priorities |
We’ve learned many things over the last year, including that technology will continue to change at a rapid pace. Linear strategic planning processes that take years to complete and implement no longer match the speed of technology and organization changes. Find out how Hennepin County IT Strategic Planning modified its planning process to be more nimble by utilizing a priority list and strategy backlog to help IT leaders manage resources and strategy progress, while ensuring IT has the flexibility to shift work to the county’s top priorities. Presented by: Julie Baker, IT Strategic Analyst, Hennepin County |
AI powered Automation – start with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) |
Robotic process automation (RPA) is often a gateway to introducing automation and gain business benefits at low cost with near-zero risk. RPA is particularly appealing where IT resources and budgets are limited, or for working with back-end applications that lack good APIs and would be difficult to automate without significant change to your systems. But to deploy RPA wisely, it helps to understand the technology’s benefits and limitations, how to expand its evolving capabilities and the value it brings. This discussion will focus on education on how to get started, what process or task are best suited for RPA, common pitfalls and additional capabilities that can be added to RPA to improve efficiency. Presented by: Rene Brito, Business Automation Public Sector, IBM |
Ensuring Employee and Visitor Emergency Communications Through DAS |
In this presentation, we’ll explore strategies for using distributed antenna systems (DAS) to ensure adequate connectivity for operations and safety. Specifically, we’ll discuss how DAS can be used to bridge WiFi and cellular macro (outdoor) coverage as well as how institutions are justifying the capital investment from both a safety and employee/visitor/student satisfaction. Using examples, we’ll also dive into specifics associated with quantifying cellular and code-mandated public safety coverage, navigate carrier negotiations, recognize how high-efficiency construction materials impact coverage and what you need to know about 5G. Presented by: Phil Leaf, Distributed Antenna Solutions Architect, Parallel Technologies |
Building Digital Products: Agile Basics |
This presentation will share some basic Agile and Scrum context, but will primarily focus on how Agile is often implemented at the management level incorrectly. It will cover specific scenarios that showcase the incorrect Agile mindset and how leadership should address those situations in order to foster better team collaboration, innovation and trust. Building a culture of agility and collaboration is difficult and learning from anti-patterns is a great way to help those that don’t have the Agile mindset understand the right outcomes. Presented by: Michael Roberts, Director of Customer Engagement, Cprime, Inc. |
Screen Reader Testing: How and Why |
Through a demonstration of two major Windows screen readers, JAWS and NVDA, we will cover the basics on how to use each one. You will learn the basics of testing a web page or site and the strengths and weaknesses of screen reader testing. Presented by: David Andrews, Chief Technology Officer, State Services for the Blind |
Advancing IT Modernization through Road Mapping |
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has begun an initiative to improve processes used to serve customers and constituents to increase effectiveness. Focused on service delivery and user experience, how has MDA positioned itself to deliver a better experience for its stakeholders? Join this session to engage in a conversation about using Business and Technical architecture principles to bring strategic plans alive with an actionable Capabilities RoadMap. Presented by: TyroneSpratt, Cheif Business Technology Officer, Minnesota It Services |
Session Title |
Session Description |
Lasting Foundations in Empathy & Critical Thinking |
After an introduction on how critical thinking and empathy skills work, participants are assigned a character to follow and apply their new knowledge to. In character discussions they examine various perspectives of their character. This is followed by an open discussion of all characters and considerations on how to solve the problem presented in the film. Presented by: Susan Frost, Owner, Frost Marketing Communications |
Leading Through Change |
The world changed in 2020. IT leaders stepped up to transition their organizations from in-person to remote. And now as organizations return to an in-person mode, we still experience change. This panel discussion explores the challenges faced by different organizations, and the strategies these IT leaders used to not just address that change, but to lead through it. Presented by: Jim Hall, CEO, Hallmentum |
Recruiting & Retention in a Post-Pandemic World |
Employee expectations are changing. LinkedIn studies show that top drivers of employee happiness are learning & growth opportunities, a sense of belonging, and strong organizational values. In a tight labor market, it’s more important than ever for government organizations to create thriving workplace cultures and effectively communicate their employer brand. All while managing new challenges of a hybrid work environment. Learn best practices from LinkedIn on how to attract, engage, and retain top talent in a post-pandemic world. Presented by: Deanna Grady, Director & Head of North America, Government Sales, LinkedIn |
How LinkedIn Learning Can Help Futureproof Your Agency |
Find out how LinkedIn Learning and its blend of unique insights, in-demand courses and an engaging platform can help your agency stay current in a rapidly changing world. LinkedIn Learning provides opportunities for all levels of skill and experience at a self-managed pace. Presented by: Latia Youngfountain, Government Sales Leader – Central Region, LinkedIn |
Rock Your Profile |
Explore how to create a LinkedIn profile that brings your personal career story to life, whether you’re just starting out, seeking to advance, or making a career change. A LinkedIn profile is unique and shouldn’t be approached exactly like a resume. We’ll cover ways to add media to a profile, methods for showcasing your career accomplishments & aspirations, and specific examples of profile phrases & language that can help inspire your personal story. Presented by: Sam Steele, Account Director, Talent Solutions, LinkedIn |
Managing a Thriving Hybrid Team | The pandemic has forever changed how we work. There are now more options to consider, more complexities, and more ambiguity as we navigate supervising employees. As some staff go back to the office full-time, some remain working from home full-time, and many whose work assignments will cross over the two environments, one thing remains certain: you need an engaged and motivated workforce. This session offers techniques to help you transition into a hybrid environment that will set you and your team members up for success. Whatever the exact circumstances may be in your department or agency, you will leave this session better prepared to lead your team in these unprecedented times.Presented by: Janel Anderson, Speaker / Trainer, Working Conversations, LLC |
Mentoring and Inspiring Others |
This, practical, hands-on session will inspire those interested in mentoring or being a mentee by providing insight on the various types of mentoring. Attendees will gain skills to conduct their own mentoring initiative and find out about three different mentoring options. Presented by: Sue Wallace, VP, Alumni Services and Community Engagement, CompTIA |
Power at Work |
Human relationships are negotiations of power. Everyone has the capacity to improve their relationships by improving their ability to negotiate power effectively. This workshop will examine different types of power, understand their impacts, and learn how to leverage each to improve relationships both personally and professionally. Presented by: Denise Moreland, Consultant, author, speaker, LifeGuides, LLC |
Working Together: Deaf and Hearing People |
This presentation is intended to raise awareness of deaf & hard-of-hearing individuals as qualified IT professionals and ease the sometimes awkwardness that arises around discussions about disabilities. It is designed to help attendees develop the sensitivity & skills to communicate effectively with deaf & hard-of-hearing co-workers, enable deaf & hearing colleagues to work together more productively, and assist in fostering a workplace culture of diversity & inclusion. Through interactive activities and specially designed materials, this presentation will create a fun, comfortable, and engaging atmosphere. Presented by: Donna Lange, Center Director, DeafTEC, Rochester Institute of Technology |
Purposeful Leadership: Be the Trusted Leader to Connect, Engage, Collaborate |
Explore challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world through: 1. Purposeful Leadership: Connect with purpose as a stabilizing force to focus on what matters: your purpose and intent for yourself and those you lead. Presented by: Patricia Neal, President, Center for Purposeful Leadership |
Project Stakeholders: Dealing with Sleeping Giants to Saboteurs |
All projects have their promoters and their detractors, people that can either make or break your project or your team. This presentation will give you practical advice on who you need to focus on, show you how to classify where each person sits on the “Interest, Attitude, and Power” axis of your Stakeholder chart and how to improve the attitude and interest of the power players in your world. This presentation will cover the basics & advanced topics through exercises & situational case studies to emphasize key points and help you achieve the best win-win outcome for you, your team & your project. Presented by: Joe Perzel, Program Manager, Surescripts LLC adn JPerzel Inc. |
The Dark Arts of Project Management: Influence and Politics |
The successful journey of a project from start to finish is not linear, clean, forecastable or easy. Your interest is to deliver the project on time, on budget with a smile on everyone’s face, but others have conflicting interests. How do you minimize these occurrences and provide the best chance to survive the project intact? This fun presentation will focus on the soft-side of project management, using audience participation and exercises to share the community’s intelligence. Presented by: Joe Perzel, Program Manager, Surescripts LLC adn JPerzel Inc. |
Session Title |
Session Description |
Techniques to Secure Public Cloud Deployments |
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud deployments implement new technical security requirements which must be addressed to provide a secure environment. This session will review open-source tools and native cloud services that can be used to assess cloud infrastructure technical risk. It will also present techniques that can be applied to mitigate common cloud vulnerabilities and optimize cloud security. Key cloud providers that will be covered include Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Examples and lessons learned from the ConvergeOne security practice will be presented. Presented by: Mike Mahurin, Sr. Solutions Architect, ConvergeOne |
Signal Overload and Tool Fatigue |
Ever struggle with being short staffed, alert fatigue, dealing with complex configurations and implementations of security solutions to gain the right insights into your environment? At Microsoft, we were operating out of a traditional SOC and felt those pain points too. That’s where we created a unified approach with XDR and SIEM to address our SOC challenges. In this session, come learn about Microsoft’s unified approach to stopping advanced attacks with our XDR and SIEM solutions. Presented by: Rod Trent, Security CSA, Microsoft |
PCI Compliance – Yes, That Includes Governments |
The PCI DSS has been around for over 15 years, yet government entities still question how it applies to them and why. During this interactive session we will cover the basics of PCI and walk you through how it applies and what are the potential traps that could effect your compliance. Presented by: Jeff Hall, senior consultant, wesbey associates llc |
Reimagining Access to Services with a Government-to-Citizen Identity Cloud |
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a massive increase in the number of online citizen identities, credentials, and access points. But even as the pandemic subsides, the immense need for digital identity and secure citizens’ identities shows no signs of subsiding, and securing this “new” digital world becomes exponentially more complex. The ability to meet the ever-growing user expectations for security, privacy, and convenience is an organization’s opportunity to accelerate growth. And because every government organization and agency is unique, they will need an identity cloud that adapts to their needs for today and in the future. In this session, you will learn how to reimagine access to services with a government-to-citizen identity cloud and why it is mission-critical. Presented by: Dean Scontras, Senior Director of Public Sector Sales, Auth0 |
NIST Zero Trust – understanding and navigating NIST Zero Trust under the current threat landscape |
This session will discuss NIST Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) Guidelines and review the pros & cons of the 3 ZTA methodologies discussed in the NIST Guidelines. We will discuss an agnostic POV on the most efficient Zero Trust controls; examine both the technology & business impact of ZTA in the era of remote workforce; multi-cloud; review recent security breaches; discuss lessons learned from current Cyber Trends; explain how Zero Trust controls provide a strong defense against breaches; and recommendations for evaluating ZTA initiatives within your organization. Presented by: Chip Wagner, Executive Security Advisor, IBM |
Cross Agency Collaboration – Incident Planning and Disaster Recovery |
Are you responsible for the cybersecurity of your organization? How do you educate and communicate with the larger community of users across the state that are impacted when there is an incident? Join us to learn how a cross agency group of leaders from Wisconsin have joined together around cybersecurity to provide incident response training for school districts, respond to cyber incidents, and to implement standards across the state. Presented by: Annette Smith, Director of Instructional Technology Services, WI Department of Public Instruction |
The Future of Video Surveillance |
As surveillance technologies have continued to evolve, the uses and applications for these technologies continues to grow. This presentation will highlight the current security market, specific technology advances, camera and video system vulnerabilities, and provide examples of how organizations are utilizing surveillance video to strengthen security & provide added visibility across their buildings. Presented by: Mark Bonde, Director of Business Development, Parallel Technologies |
Strengthening Minnesota Counties Cyber Security Posture |
Ransomware. Phishing. Hacktivism. Solarwinds. Kaseya. Cyber threats are evolving rapidly and we need to work together and share resources to successfully tackle them. Through a new grant-funded service, available to participating Minnesota counties, port cities and tribes, MNIT Security Operations Center (SOC) team and the Threat and Vulnerability Management Unit (TVMU) are collaborating to offer help in detecting, responding, and remediating new & emerging cyber threats. Utilizing the SOC Cyber Navigator and the Vulnerability Management Analyst, these MNIT security professionals will offer training, and communication support while they work with counties to elevate their cyber security program. Features of this Statewide Security Monitoring Initiative (SSMI) funded program include: Endpoint Detection & Response, Threat & Vulnerability Management, Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) support. Presented by: Stacy Kaiser, MNIT SOC Supervisor, MNIT |
November 15th 2021
9:00 am
AI For Citizens: Design Customer Service that Delights (IBM Sponsored Session)
Joan Redwing
Meet the innovative State of Minnesota team that partnered with IBM to create a seamless citizen experience utilizing advanced analytics and AI. Learn how to build an IBM Watson Assistant virtual agent that understands natural-language input and uses machine learning to respond to users in a way that simulates a conversation between humans. Watson Assistant lets you build conversational interfaces into any application, device, or channel that can interact with your back-end systems based on the user's intent and additional information. For example, answer questions, open tickets, update account information, or submit applications.
Demystifying Containers at Scale with Red Hat
Dave Cohn
Join the Red Hat Public Sector team for an overview of all things containers, Kubernetes, DevSecOps, cloud, modern application development and security. Learn the tricks of the trade to simplify your secure application delivery strategy with Managed OpenShift, the Enterprise Kubernetes Platform for the cloud and your data center. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how containers and Enterprise Kubernetes benefit Operations, Application Development, and Security/Governance.
MN Cyber Range: The Ultimate Platform to Learn Incident Response and Handling
Faisal Kaleem & Corey Blommel
MN Cyber Range is an advanced military grade hyper-realistic simulation platform for training information security professionals, assessing incident response processes, and testing new technologies. A cyber range recreates the experience of responding to a cyber-attack by replicating the security operations center (SOC) environment, the organizational network and the attack itself. As a result, it enables hands-on training in a controlled and secure environment. Attendees will learn the fundamental skills to handle and respond to realistic computer security incidents in an enterprise network environment. They will understand various underlying principles and techniques for detecting and responding to current and emerging computer security threats through hands-on experience (Blue team vs. Automated Red team). After attending the workshop, the participants will enhance their understanding regarding how to effectively function as a member of an incident response team, communicate and report incidents, and much more.
Project Stakeholders: Dealing with Sleeping Giants to Saboteurs
Joe Perzel, Program Manager
All projects have their promoters and their detractors, people that can either make or break your project or your team. This presentation will give you practical advice on who you need to focus on, show you how to classify where each person sits on the “Interest, Attitude, and Power” axis of your Stakeholder chart and how to improve the attitude and interest of the power players in your world. Through exercises and situational case studies we will cover: What the Stakeholder Identification chart is and how it will help you., Use of personality profiling to help understand what makes people “tick” and where to place them on the chart., Techniques and tools to help move people from “disinterested to involved” and “poor attitude to a champion”., Key tactics of “Include, Influence, Ignore, Isolate”.
Screen Reader Testing: How and Why
Dave Andrews, CTO
Through a demonstration of two major Windows screen readers, JAWS and NVDA, we will cover the basics on how to use each one. You will learn the fundamentals of testing a web page or site and the strengths and weaknesses of screen reader testing.
1:00 pm
Cloud Scale Analytics in Three Hours
Amanda Howard & Daren Child
This hands-on workshop dives into how Azure empowers organizations and supports Modern Data Estates. Participants will ingest data into Azure Data Lake and map it to Azure Synapse Analytics through Azure Synapse Pipelines. We will show how Azure Purview provides the data governance layer throughout your estate and how all your work can be served through Power BI. Learn tips and tricks for using Azure to start building your end-to-end analytics solution that will make analytics more accessible and foster data-drive culture in your organization! This workshop focuses on the newest Azure Synapse Analytics features, which are now generally available. No preparation is required to attend this analytics workshop.
Problem Hacking with Design Thinking and Power Platform
Doug Furney
Purposeful Leadership: Be the Trusted Leader to Connect, Engage, Collaborate
Patricia Neal & Vivian Jenkins Nelsen
Explore challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world through Purposeful Leadership: Connect with purpose as a stabilizing force to focus on what matters – your purpose and intent for yourself and those you lead.; Trust Leadership Behaviors: Engage with authenticity and heart to be a trusted leader creating positive change.; Hybrid Leadership Skills: Collaborate with confidence for committed, aligned action – whether in-person, hybrid or virtually.
The Dark Arts of Project Management: Influence and Politics
Joe Perzel, Program Manager
The successful journey of a project from start to finish is not linear, clean, forecastable or easy. Your interest is to deliver the project on time, on budget and with a smile on everyone’s face, but others have conflicting interests. How do you minimize these occurrences and provide the best chance to survive the project intact? This presentation will focus on the soft-side of project management, using audience participation and exercises to share the community’s intelligence.
November 16th 2021
9:00 am
Welcome & Keynote Featuring Maurice Ashley
Maurice Ashley
Chess is often known as a thinking game. In order to beat your opponent, you must step into their shoes and think about how they would think. In Maurice’s session, he will show you how to transfer the chess move thought process and adapt that same way of thinking into your own business and life. This fascinating session will help get your brain thinking in ways you never expected to use.
10:30 am
Ask an Expert About Website Accessibility
Jay Wyant, Emily Lu, Colette Johnson & Becky Bernauer
Got a burning question on web accessibility? Are you wondering if Bootstrap will take care of everything for you or if you can solve everything with ARIA? Wondering why a link shouldn’t look like a button and why it matters? Don’t know how to use WAVE, Axe, or ANDI to test your product? Get answers to your questions at Tuesday morning’s “Ask the Expert” session!
Golden GOVIT Interview – Collaboration
LinkedIn Hiring Solutions
Sam Steele
Access the power of the world's largest professional network to attract top talent for your organization. We have tools to help you get your job posts in front of the right candidates at the right time, proactively source from new talent pools, share your employer value proposition, and build an active pipeline of candidates to reduce time to hire.
MNCITLA - Counties Adapting to the Pandemic
Susan Vreeland & Chris Gunderson
How Anoka and Itasca counties have adapted in light of the last 18 months/post-pandemic.
11:15 am
Cloud Networking Made Easy (PDS/Aruba Sponsored Session)
Eric Thrawl, Terry Yackel, Jason Ligday
Not all Cloud networking solutions are equal. Want to see why the top analyst have ranked one manufacture superior when it comes to supporting Unified wired and wireless access, Remote branch offices, Performance stringent applications? Come see what one State Agency is doing with this technology and where they can take it in the future.
Digital Transformation for Government
Shad Imam
Today government organizations across federal, state, and local face specific challenges and requirements, which set them apart from other industries. Many systems in place today, were built decades ago, and while modernizing infrastructure is important, governments also must respond to greater expectations from citizens, who are able to consume services via mobile phone or online applications. This requires a more flexible architecture to meet these unique challenges. Find out how self-service, API sharing, Microservices and new integration strategy can bridge gaps in capacity & business demands and increase speed & agility.
Flexibility in Strategic Planning to Respond to Changing Organizational Needs
Julie Baker, Hennepin County
We’ve learned many things over the last year, including that change will continue at a rapid pace. Linear strategic planning processes that take years to complete and implement no longer match the speed of technology and organization changes. The Hennepin County IT Strategy Management team modified its planning process to be more nimble by utilizing short-term, mid-term and long-term planning activities to help IT leaders manage resources and strategy progress, while ensuring IT has the flexibility to shift work to the county’s top priorities. We’ve incorporated agile techniques into our process to help us adapt through each year, in response to changing needs in the organization. This session will cover our strategy management playbook and the activities we use to manage short, mid and long-term planning needs.
Global Stories of how Agencies are Engaging Citizens to Accelerate Digital Service Delivery (IBM/Red Hat Sponsored Session)
Drake Broussard
Citizens increasingly expect a modern and intuitive digital experience when accessing government services. Learn about how agencies are using human centered design and modern technologies to meet these expectations and allow citizens to apply for and manage benefits seamlessly from any device.
Incremental Modernization of Legacy Applications (Software AG Government Solutions Sponsored Session)
Demos Economacos
Discover how to incrementally modernize your legacy applications into a modern enterprise landscape through integration. This will make your IT enterprise more agile and able to quickly respond to new business requirements. Join this presentation to learn: How to quickly and easily turnkey application business functions into callable APIs. How to incorporate existing capabilities into an agile development landscape. And how to leverage new technologies to modernize and expand your legacy applications.
Maximize Your Cloud Investment through Skilling (Microsoft Sponsored Session)
Chris Cooley & Lisa Johnson
With more than a decade consulting and leading large scale technical training programs across the US, Chris Cooley has now shifted her focus exclusively to Cloud Computing (Azure) at Microsoft, ensuring Azure customers have the skills necessary to thrive in a Cloud world. Chris has a strong background in adult learning, technical skilling, project management and implementation. In her free time, Chris enjoys roller skating, coaching roller derby and traveling with her family.
NIST Zero Trust - Understanding and Navigating NIST Zero Trust Under the Current Threat Landscape
Chip Wagner
This session will discuss NIST Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) Guidelines and review the pros & cons of the 3 ZTA methodologies discussed in the NIST Guidelines. We will discuss, from an agnostic point-of-view, the most efficient Zero Trust controls; examine both the technology & business impact of ZTA in the era of remote workforce; multi-cloud; review recent security breaches; discuss lessons learned from current Cyber Trends; explain how Zero Trust controls provide a strong defense against breaches; and recommendations for evaluating ZTA initiatives within your organization.
Open Source in Business
Jim Hall, Founder, Hallmentum
Find out what open-source software is and how it is changing the game. Leveraging open-source software can lead to quicker innovation, reduced time to market, freedom from lock-in, enhanced reliability, lower total cost of ownership, and a host of other benefits. Explore how moving to open-source may require rethinking business models, procurement methods, project management methodologies, cost of ownership, staffing, management of non-vendor & community relationships, risk assessment, and commercialization.
Pandemic Response and Cloud Technologies
Joseph Pugh, Development, Data and Initiatives Manger, MNIT
MNIT partnering with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) created over 50+ IT systems and artifacts in support of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Most of these efforts extended various cloud services for rapid development and implementation of modern, scalable, and robust solutions. Find out how cloud technology has matured and altered the business landscape at MDH; creating technology in an extremely high-pressure environment; and how MNIT & MDH overcame organizational inertia to implement effective solutions. Hear about successes such as: the deployment of 20+ call centers serving thousands of agents, the introduction of Data Lakes and a successful Salesforce implementation. Also hear cautions on architecting on the fly, rapid system development, financial boom & bust, and how MNIT & MDH attempted to control the resulting chaos.
Recruiting & Retention in a Post-Pandemic World
Deanna Grady, LinkedIn
Employee expectations are changing. LinkedIn studies show that top drivers of employee happiness are learning & growth opportunities, a sense of belonging, and strong organizational values. In a tight labor market, it’s more important than ever for government organizations to create thriving, inclusive workplace cultures and effectively communicate their employer brand – all while managing the new challenges of a hybrid work environment. Learn to identify trends that influence recruiting and best practices on how to attract, engage, and retain top talent in a post-pandemic world.
Reimagining Community Policing through a Digital Platform
Sabih Khan, Salesforce
Bringing the ease of consumer technology into law enforcement can power more comprehensive policing efforts that address problems at their source and help agencies nurture positive connections with their communities by providing residents with increased visibility and personalized interactions that fosters increased trust. Find out how agencies are migrating processes from a traditional RMS to a robust platform, like Salesforce, to empower community police officers with a tool that allows them to go beyond cursory documentation and address & resolve root problems through case management. Moving to a platform approach that supports effective problem solving can go a long way in boosting the relationships public safety agencies have with the communities they serve.
SASE? - So, Ahhh...Secure Everything? (Cisco Sponsored Session)
Sean Reagan
Join Sean for a whiteboard focused discussion on Cisco's SASE vision and journey. Let's break down the silly acronyms, filter out some marketing and have a real discussion about what this trend can really mean for us.
Strengthening Minnesota Counties Cyber Security Posture
Stacy Kaiser
Ransomware. Phishing. Hacktivism. Solarwinds. Kaseya. Cyber threats are evolving rapidly, and we need to work together and share resources to successfully tackle them. Through a new grant-funded service, available to participating Minnesota counties, port cities and tribes, MNIT Security Operations Center (SOC) team and the Threat and Vulnerability Management Unit (TVMU) are collaborating to offer help in detecting, responding, and remediating new & emerging cyber threats. Learn how to help build a collaboration network throughout the state to quickly detect, prevent, and respond to cyber threats with limited resources. Find out more about the Statewide Security Monitoring Initiative (SSMI) and how to enroll in the program.
1:00 pm
MN DOT – Transforming Inspections (Collins/Bentley/Microsoft)
Barritt Lovelace, P.E. & Jennifer L. Wells, P.E.
Bridge Inspections come with inherent challenges in terms of safety, costs, and impact to the traveling public. With advancements in technologies, such as UAS, Reality Modeling, Mixed Reality, and AI & Machine Learning there is a significant opportunity for Bridge Owners to drastically improve the Maintenance & Operations of Bridges through the use of Digital Twins. A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical asset, process or system, which allows us to understand and model its performance. In this presentation, we will highlight the process of acquiring a digital twin based on a high-fidelity reality model, connecting the model with its condition and maintenance data to augment the digital twin, and then using Mixed Reality technology to conduct remote inspections. We believe this process can greatly increase the quality of inspections while minimizing safety risks and reducing overall costs. Furthermore, the increase in the quality of data collected can greatly improve rehab/replace decisions, which can have significant cost savings for Bridge Operators and the public. Case studies from Minnesota DOT and Collins Engineers will be presented to illustrate the application of Digital Twins for bridge inspections and maintenance, and we will also explore opportunities on connecting Operations with Design to support the entire lifecycle of Bridges.
1:45 pm
Centering BIPOC Women in Government Technology: What it Means & Why it Matters
Melissa Kraft & Kathy Fraser
Women of color, positioned to be U.S. workforce majority by 2060, are severely underrepresented in the government IT sector. Advancing BIPOC women in government technology is not just an important step toward inclusion, it is a workforce and economic imperative. Centering BIPOC women means creating and investing in solutions that account for barriers women of color face due to their race and gender. One of the first steps is being humble and willing to learn from each other. We invite you to listen and learn from successful BIPOC government IT leaders who will graciously share their stories and ideas for how we can increase representation and share in the benefits of doing so.
City of New Ulm Simplifies IT with Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
Jared Pexa
HCI is bringing municipal institutions (governments, government agencies, and other public institutions) into a new era of computing and reshaping IT operations that simplifies management, protects sensitive government data, and helps deliver smart, digital services. In this session, learn how agile, reliable infrastructure can replace traditional networks across any agency, any department, or any system, while driving out the high costs of downtime and system administration.
Create a Seamless Citizen Experience with Trusted AI (IBM/Red Hat Sponsored Session)
Walter Szyperski, Christina Churchill & Brian_Dragunas
Join us to hear how State and Local governments across the US are leveraging IBM’s Data Fabric and Watson AI capabilities to deliver personalized citizen-centric services. From operationalizing water bill payments to transforming services provided to vulnerable communities, the applications are endless!
Cyber Resiliency in an Era of Ransomware (Rubrik Sponsored Session)
Jeffrey Phelan
As organizations continue to do battle with cyber adversaries on a daily basis, building resilience into their systems is becoming more critical each day. In this session we cover a best practices overview for cyber resiliency, discuss modernization approaches being used across government, and walk thru Zero Trust principles that extend from the enterprise security perimeter down thru to their mission critical systems and crown jewels infrastructure.
Effective Dashboard Visual Presentations for Maximum Impact
Michael Krouze, CTO
Dashboarding tools place incredible power in the hands of the business users to create dashboards. This working session will include a demonstration on how to model & present data for maximum impact & comprehension to internal & external users. Explore how agencies can transcend the typical duplication of excel spreadsheets through this new class of tools and take advantage of some of the unique abilities that can bring together disparate data elements into rich visualizations that deliver true insights.
Everyone Needs a Little Automation
Cole Townsley
Automation is an invaluable tool. We use it daily to do a variety of things from building our personal workstations, to setting up all matter of demos, to provisioning workshops for the public. Throughout this session, we will explore how to set up and learn basic ansible, while covering multiple examples of enterprise automation.
Leading Through Change
Jim Hall, Founder, Hallmentum
The world changed in 2020. IT leaders stepped up to transition their organizations from in-person to remote. And now as organizations return to an in-person mode, we still experience change. This panel discussion will explore the challenges faced by different organizations, how to respond to and communicate change effectively, and strategies used to address and lead through change.
Microsoft 365 Records Management for State and Local Governments (Microsoft Sponsored Session)
Erica Toelle
Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams have emerged as one of the most secure and widely adopted collaboration platforms for state and local governments. But this presents some interesting challenges for records managers as they try to compliantly manage records in Microsoft 365. In this session, we will review real life success stories and best practices for how government agencies use Microsoft 365 records management for email, Teams, SharePoint, and emerging content types such as text messages. Will also review the government records management roadmap. Attendees will walk away with records management recipes they can use for their Microsoft 365 deployments.
Next Generation Translation from Google Cloud (Sponsored Session)
Joel Pingel
Governments need to provide equal access to all, including Limited English Proficient (LEP) constituents and has historically struggled with this mandate. Our Next Generation Enterprise Google Solutions provide this. We will three Enterprise Level solutions Google offers to Government customers. First, Google Enterprise Translation Hub which allows customers to easier translate PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint with original formats preserved. Second, Google Contact Center Artificial Intelligence which integrates on your webpage for a smart ChatBot and with your telephony provider to super power your existing IVR with Google Machine Learning. Third, we will cover the Google Translate API and how your teams can develop libraries and glossaries that constantly learn and update.
PCI Compliance - Yes, That Includes Governments
Jeff Hall
The PCI DSS has been around for over 15 years, yet government entities still question how it applies to them and why. During this interactive session we will cover the basics of PCI, walk through how it applies and what potential traps could affect your compliance.
PK-20W (Preschool/Kindergarten through PhD and Workforce) Computer Science & Cybersecurity Initiative
Shawn Riley, CIO, State of North Dakota
Learn how North Dakota is incorporating technology in education to address the shortage of professionals. Attendees will be able to see the benefit of advancing technology within the public-school sector, why cyber curriculum is important and how it benefits industry and economy.
Reimagining Access to Services with a Government-to-Citizen Identity Cloud
Steve Caimi
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a massive increase in the number of online citizen identities, credentials, and access points. But as the pandemic subsides, the need for digital identity and secure citizens’ identities shows no signs of subsiding - and securing this “new” digital world becomes exponentially more complex. The ability to meet the ever-growing user expectations for security, privacy, and convenience is an organization’s opportunity to accelerate growth. And because every government organization and agency are unique, they will need an identity cloud that adapts to their needs. In this session, you will learn how to protect your organization, reimagine access to services with a government-to-citizen identity cloud and why it is mission-critical.
3:00 pm
Golden GOVIT Interview – Innovation
LinkedIn Learning Solutions
Sam Steele
LinkedIn Learning is an online learning platform that combines an unmatched library of more than 16,000 courses taught by real-world experts, with LinkedIn data and insights drawn from 774M+ members. We help governments implement learning that delivers results. Upskill your employees and close job-related skill gaps. Develop new and experienced managers and leaders. Engage and retain employees by investing in their development. Keep employees current on the latest technologies.
MN DHS Leads with Text Messaging to Improve Citizen Engagement and Program Impact
Jake Koepp & Norman Owens
Many families with children in Minnesota faced food insecurity during the pandemic which prompted the creation of the Cares Act Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program to provide food benefits. To mitigate low benefit usage due to closed school buildings, Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) created a P-EBT texting campaign in less than 10 days which alerted qualified Minnesotans that benefits had been issued. By the end of May 2021, approximately 1.3M residents received text messages and surveys indicated that 98% of benefit recipients preferred receiving their information via text. Join this showcase session to hear Minnesota DHS share their experience building a mass text communication program to improve citizen engagement and increase program impact.
November 17th 2021
9:15 am
Welcome & Keynote Featuring George Hawkins
George Hawkins
Public sector agencies are often known to be “conservative” -not in a political sense, but in an unwillingness to take risks and innovate. These agencies, conventional wisdom suggests, are hampered by rigid bureaucracies that are hostile to changing layers of standard procedures. George Hawkins, who transformed the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority into DC Water – from an organization resistant to change into an innovative powerhouse – believes that a resistance to change is almost always rooted in understandable principles and practices. He will suggest a simple and practical seven step process to encourage innovation that is founded on understanding the values of an organization, and using them as a motivator for change within a secure process and structure. George will lace his presentation with entertaining stories designed to illustrate key points.
10:30 am
Glint People Success Platform by LinkedIn
Sam Steele
LinkedIn's People Success Platform, Glint, provides multiple feedback touchpoints and state-of-the-art analytics to help you uncover key opportunities that impact employee engagement, performance, and retention. This powerful combination gives you deeper insights into the end-to-end employee experience, so you can truly understand what your people need to succeed. Glint's personalized management empowerment dashboard helps enable your people to develop core behaviors we call People Success habits - seeking and reflecting on feedback, prioritizing time to listen and learn, setting focus areas, and exploring learning opportunities.
Golden GOVIT Interview – Service
11:15 am
A Playbook to Transforming your Organization with the Cloud (Amazon Web Services Sponsored Session)
Andrew Will-Holmberg & Jason Moldan
Digital transformation is vital to keep services accessible to those who need them. The pandemic challenged state and local organizations to do just that. Those who adopted or were in the process of adopting the cloud were prime to meet this challenge. Join this fireside chat to hear Andrew Will-Holmberg, Cloud Leader at Minnesota IT Services, discuss their approach to modernizing with the cloud and how its enabling them to be more agile, elastic, and innovative.
Cloud Email and Collaboration Vulnerabilities
Michael Hansen
Cloud Email and Collaboration tool has quickly become the go-to applications for remote work, accelerating dramatically in usage over the last year. Millions of users turned to Cloud Email and Collaboration Tools to help keep businesses going since the start of the pandemic —and hackers have noticed. As these tools are still relatively new, much is unknown about how it operates and how hackers will approach it. While the increased usage has been well-documented, what’s not been documented is whether the app is vulnerable to hacking. We will talk about discoveries that have already been made, potential risks that we see in the future, and how to best secure this relatively new communication vector. This session will walk attendees through: The many inherent vulnerabilities in the platforms. The popular attack types. How hackers act differently within Teams than they do on email.
Coordinated Care & Citizen Service Delivery on an Enterprise Platform
Roderick Bremby
Health and human services (HHS), behavioral health and public health agencies are challenged to transform program operations and service delivery to meet the needs of the populations they serve. As agencies move up the human services value curve, they are looking for ways to improve engagement and service, care coordination, reduce costs, and take advantage of innovative solutions that future proof IT investments. Many are considering the benefits of cloud technology and an enterprise platform as they transition off aging legacy systems. Learn how to improve engagement, service, care coordination and reduce costs.
Cross Agency Collaboration - Incident Planning and Disaster Recovery
Dr. Annette Smith
Are you responsible for the cybersecurity of your organization? How do you educate and communicate with the larger community of users across the state that are impacted when there is an incident? Join us to learn how a cross agency group of leaders from Wisconsin have joined together around cybersecurity to provide incident response training for school districts, response to cyber incidents, and ways to implement standards across the state.
Digital Products - Transform with Success
Krish Krishnan
Whether you code from space, an island or home, you have one mission and vision – to deliver a solution. In the digital world we live in, we must go beyond the space of documents and spreadsheets. We must look at reuse, efficiency and become driven agile. In this session we will discuss how to evolve and build digital products, how to become valued & successful and how to build the next super product.
Driving Positive Public Safety and Justice Outcome – The Microsoft Approach (Sponsored Session)
Kirk Lonbom, David Williams & Amar Patel
Police, fire, emergency medical services and social service personnel must work together to best protect our communities, and technology is making that happen. Those who are involved in the criminal justice system deserve fair and equitable justice. Access to criminal justice and the judicial process must be provided in a consistent and transparent manner. The pandemic has shown us that we are capable of rapidly adjusting our approach and has forever changed the way the courts work. What was initially an emergency has now given way to a deliberate path toward citizen-centric, efficient, secure, and remote justice. During this panel presentation, we will cover Microsoft’s overall approach to public safety and justice, and provide examples of how Minnesota state, county and city information technology professionals can use the tools they own to drive improvement of public safety and justice outcomes.
Easily Utilize Hybrid Cloud
Jason Rist
During this session we will demonstrate how simple and easy it is to move and scale up your application through multiple clouds using open-source cloud software. Attendees will learn first-hand how to fire up a container for a simple app and how to utilize hybrid clouds to migrate containers.
Eliminate Paper-Based Processes Forever with Nintex Workflow Cloud
Steve Witt & Raymond_Cabral
In today’s evolving landscape, digital transformation initiatives are proven to drive a range of benefits – everything from improved employee productivity to better citizen experience. However, despite the obvious benefits, many government agencies struggle to get started on their transformation journey, often running into roadblocks that make it difficult to move away from inefficient, paper-based forms and processes. With Nintex Workflow Cloud, Nintex delivers the tools you need to remove those transformation roadblocks, empowering you to ditch the paper and quickly digitize your agency so you can work more efficiently to drive better outcomes. Join us to learn about a proven approach to making your digitization and transformation initiatives a success. We’ll share more information about: The benefits of digitizing and automating your forms and processes. Common challenges and roadblocks to watch out for. How to get started with your own digitization projects. Nintex’s new AI-based capabilities to speed the digitization of paper-based forms.
How LinkedIn Learning Can Help Futureproof Your Agency
Latia Youngfountain, Sales Leader, LinkedIn
Find out how LinkedIn Learning and its blend of unique insights, in-demand courses and an engaging platform can help your agency stay current in a rapidly changing world. LinkedIn Learning provides opportunities for all levels of skill and experience at a self-managed pace.
How to Prepare Cloud-Ready Environments (Amazon Web Services Sponsored Session)
Benjamin Andrew
Modernization & Zero Trust for Legacy Infrastructures (Rubrik Sponsored Session)
Jeffrey Phelan
In this session we discuss practical approaches to eliminating complexity, avoiding costs, and improving security using software-defined Data Management. We will discuss emerging approaches to integrating Zero Trust principles at the Infrastructure level, building active defense capabilities for crown jewels and mission critical systems, and integrating EDR, Logging, and Orchestration tools to drive higher resilience across the enterprise.
Open Organizations: An Introduction
Dr. Bryan Behrenshausen, Community Architect, Red Hat
How can we build government organizations that are more innovative, responsive, and accountable to both internal stakeholders and external constituencies? By making open principles like transparency, collaboration, inclusivity, adaptability, and community the foundation for change. Attendees will explore open organizational culture and design, learn about the ways principles derived from open-source projects, and how communities can guide successful transformations across the organization—not just in the IT shop.
Project Implementation: Making Accessibility a Priority from Start to Finish
Kim Wee, Accessibility Coordinator and Webmaster for MNIT
It’s important to consider accessibility throughout the entire design and development process for seamless integration into web projects. Join the MNIT@Education team as they share how accessibility was incorporated in a project, from beginning to end. Find out how they worked with an external vendor to make sure best practices were applied during accessibility testing and challenges they encountered.
1:00 pm
Preparing for the new normal, which is Hybrid
Thalia Hooker, Ph.D.
The pandemic created an unplanned Proof-of-Concept and a test of governments’ emergency preparedness and highlighted many technological weaknesses. In this session, Dr. Hooker will discuss the top ten lessons learned during the pandemic for governmental organizations and their future implications. She will then discuss the five imperatives for government organizations for the new normal, which is hybrid, and how it will prepare them for future pandemics.
1:45 pm
Best Practices in Building out a PMO - Tips on Right-Sizing for your Enterprise
Joe Perzel, Dean Boorman, Rick Rietow, Judy Juhl & Lisa Brown
Industry expert panelists discuss project management start up, future readiness, resource & stakeholder management, agile, organizational change management, leadership, strategy, project portfolio management and resource management. The session will cover key themes, moderator questions and audience Q&A.
Delivering a SaaS Cloud-based Application in the Age of Information Warfare
Stefanie Horvath, CBTO, MBCC
Through case study presentations, this session will explore SaaS cloud-based applications in the age of Information Warfare. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to assess cloud-based application vendors, how to incorporate security standards into project planning and the important roles and skillsets needed for cloud-based application projects.
Digital First Approach to Licensing, Permitting, and Inspections
Geo George, Salesforce
State and local government agencies sit at the intersection of a community’s economic vitality and safety of its residents. It is imperative, now more than ever before, for regulatory agencies to modernize business and community development through a citizen-centric digital first approach. Join our session to hear how State and Local government leaders are leveraging a cloud platform solution to enable effective citizen self-service, streamline back-end processes, and increase efficiencies of the end-to-end licensing, permitting and inspections (LPI) process.
Ensuring Employee and Visitor Emergency Communications Through DAS
Phil Leaf, Distributed Antenna Solutions Architect, Parallel
In this presentation, we'll explore strategies for using distributed antenna systems (DAS) to ensure adequate connectivity for operations and safety. Specifically, we’ll discuss how DAS can be used to bridge WiFi and cellular macro (outdoor) coverage as well as how institutions are justifying the capital investment from both a safety and employee/visitor/student satisfaction. Using examples, we'll also dive into specifics associated with quantifying cellular and code-mandated public safety coverage, navigate carrier negotiations, recognize how high-efficiency construction materials impact coverage and what you need to know about 5G.
IBM and the Quantum Decade
Gabe Chang
For almost 40 years, quantum computing has intrigued and amazed scientists and non-scientists in its future possibility for solving problems that are intractable using classical computing. Over the last five years, IBM has made real quantum computers available on the cloud so that clients, students, and researchers can begin to learn and experiment with this new way of computing. We’ll see what potential exists in various industries, the state of quantum computing today, and how you can get on the right path to make the earliest use of this rapidly evolving technology. Anyone who is interested in understanding what quantum computing can possibly do for their enterprise missions will not want to miss this session.
IBM i Anywhere, IBM i Everywhere – IBM i Strategy, Roadmap & Innovation
Steve Will
IBM i is used by businesses and governmental agencies everywhere in the world, including many in Minnesota, who want to conduct that business anywhere at any time. In this presentation, Steve Will, the IBM i CTO will discuss the current state of the IBM i operating system, the underlying business, and the growing community of IBM i users. He’ll show the IBM i strategy that delivers value to IBM i clients and to IBM, he’ll highlight key enhancements which strengthen IBM i’s place in your IT plans, and he’ll discuss the future roadmaps for the platform.
Insight’s Cloud Journey & XaaS offerings (Insight Sponsored Session)
Kent Christensen
Insight will be discussing how we go to market with clients who are investigating the public/private cloud and providing an overview of our Discovery, Application Dependency Mapping, Workload Alignment and Cloud Migration services. We also will be showcasing our offerings in the XaaS space and how we can manage your environment.
Leveraging Machine Learning to Protect Constituent Identity (Microsoft Sponsored Session)
Will Blay, Senior Program Manager. Microsoft
Learn how Microsoft provides government agencies with Machine Learning based solutions aimed at preventing fraudulent account creation, account takeover and overall account activity.
Managing a Thriving Hybrid Team
Dr. Janel Anderson, Founder, Working Conversations, LLC
The pandemic has forever changed how we work. There are now more options to consider, more complexities, and more ambiguity as we navigate supervising employees. As some staff go back to the office full-time, some remain working from home full-time, and many whose work assignments will cross over the two environments, one thing remains certain: you need an engaged and motivated workforce. This session offers techniques to help you transition into a hybrid environment that will set you and your team members up for success. Whatever the exact circumstances may be in your department or agency, you will leave this session better prepared to lead your team in these unprecedented times.
Product Ownership, Delivery Teams and the Product Roadmap
Jeremy Mann
The contemporary roadmap is designed around the evolution of a product based on prioritized initiatives. Product owners are often charged with conceptualizing the product roadmap for leadership communication and a stabilized delivery of value over time. This session will discuss the product ownership role & interactions on a team and will clarify the use of a roadmap as a central artifact for product communications.
Tales from the Trenches: City and County IT Leaders Take On a Challenging Year
Melissa Kraft, Elizabeth Lo, Kathy Fraser & Melissa Reeder
All politics (and disasters) are local. From a global pandemic to cyber-attacks to increased public demand for digital government services and everything in between, local government IT is on the front lines and in the spotlight. Hear how leaders from both big and small cities and counties stepped into that spotlight and used innovation, collaboration, and a dedication to service to shine. You will leave this session better informed and inspired to take on your next challenge!
Tech Trends 2021: A Government Perspective
Scott Buchholz
The technologies that enhance our organizations and our lives are more powerful—and more essential—than ever. Forward-thinking organizations, including governments, understand the technological forces that surround them and look for ways to harness them for the benefit of customers and citizens alike. Attendees will gain a better understanding of tech trends shaping how governments serve citizens, how governments are responding to those trends and impacts trends have at agency & program levels.
The Art of Persuasion: How to Persuade Your Audience – Part One
George Hawkins
In part one of this two-part session, George Hawkins will present concepts from his “Persuasion Curriculum” on how to gain the support of an audience. He will demonstrate how diligent preparation can help you overcome challenges associated with persuading an audience – no matter how big or small, friendly or hostile, informed or not. Through entertaining stories, he will illustrate key points, and participants will leave with a copy of the curriculum to practice from on their own time.
3:00 pm
Ask an Expert About Documents (Word, PDF, PPT)
Jay Wyant, Tamara Sawyer, Elaine Settergren, Rebecca Oestreich & Becky Bernauer
Have a burning question about accessible documents? Ever wonder how to write alt text, especially for a chart or graph? Don’t know how to ensure a PowerPoint deck is accessible? Have questions about how to present a complex table? Wonder why using the “Create PDF” in the Acrobat tab is the recommended way to create a PDF from Microsoft Word?
Rubrik Showcase
3:45 pm
Plenary Session #4
TBD
More information coming soon.
November 18th 2021
9:00 am
Welcome & Opening Comments
Kick-off the day
9:15 am
Advancing How We Protect and Connect our Citizens using Microsoft Technology (Microsoft Sponsored Session)
Samir Saini & Ben Hammel
Government transportation agencies and transit authorities across the country share a universal commitment to protect and connect people as they drive on roads, highways and bridges or travel aboard buses, subways, streetcars, and light- and commuter-rail systems. Managing transportation systems that people rely on every day comes with great responsibilities, especially as agencies work to improve services and transform the traveler experience. We'll discuss critical challenges facing state and local government departments of transportation, transit and tolling – and how Microsoft is stepping up with no- and low-code solutions as well as modern workforce collaboration tools that help people and teams do their best work. We'll also cover access to resources, tools and technology agency application operation teams may already have access, but to that they may not be leveraging. In addition to how they can improve operations, increase resilience, scalability and security.
AI Powered Automation - Start with Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Gregory R Pollack
Robotic process automation (RPA) is often a gateway to introducing automation and gain business benefits at low cost with near-zero risk. RPA is particularly appealing where IT resources and budgets are limited, or for working with back-end applications that lack good APIs and would be difficult to automate without significant change to your systems. But to deploy RPA wisely, it helps to understand the technology’s benefits and limitations, how to expand its evolving capabilities and the value it brings. This discussion will focus on education on how to get started, what process or task are best suited for RPA, common pitfalls and additional capabilities that can be added to RPA to improve efficiency.
Controlling building access via Microsoft Power Platform
Jessie Robbins, Hennepin County
Hennepin County required additional building access control, for specific staff, during a sensitive trial. Find out how Hennepin IT used Microsoft Power Platform to create a building access app with temporary, increased access control with no additional licensing costs.
Delegating Administration in Office 365 GCC (AvePoint Sponsored Session)
Antoine Snow
Learn strategies for combatting Teams sprawl and how to implement an integrated approach to information governance. Learn how to give departments in the same O365 tenant different policies for provisioning, external sharing, retention and more, allowing your users to collaborate securely and efficiently across departments and with external vendors or contractors as needed.
How to Facilitate a Retrospective
Stephanie Ahles
Have you been asked to conduct a project retrospective and are unsure of where to start? Or are you a new Scrum Master and unsure of what goes into facilitating sprint retrospectives? If you answered yes, this workshop is for you. This interactive workshop will provide you with a proven approach to preparing productive project retrospectives – especially in a virtual environment.
Human Centered Design – Co-creating with users to build better products to ensure citizens receive the support they require
Walt Sedlazek
At IBM we believe that the systems of the world should work in service of people. At the heart of our human-centered mission is Enterprise Design Thinking: a framework to solve our users’ problems at the speed and scale of the modern enterprise. During this session we will introduce what Design Thinking is: the mindset that aims to improve the situation of people through the experiences they have. We will describe how the GHHS team has adopted the Design Thinking approach to build and improve our products, working directly with our customers and end users to ensure we are constantly delivering value and ultimately achieving our goal of helping people receive the support they require. Our Sponsor User program is a fundamental key to achieving the principles of our Design Thinking approach. Sponsor Users are real end-users, who bring their experience and expertise to the team. As part of this session, we will describe how our Sponsor User program is designed and share an example of the significant results achieved through our engagement with NYC HRA through this program. We will also describe another process used to deliver human-centered co-creation which is the IBM Garage method. IBM Garage is an end-to-end model for accelerating digital transformation. It helps you generate innovative ideas and equips you with the practices, technologies, and expertise to rapidly turn those ideas into business value. Please join us and learn how to co-create with us!
Human-centered Design for Inclusive and Empathetic Resident Services
Gorham Palmer, IBM & Sarah Preputnik
Human centered design offers a powerful mechanism to bring an outside-in perspective that builds alignment while accelerating progress toward meaningful outcomes. Engage in an interactive discussion about how these practices can not only help envision a future state desirable to your residents, but how they can be used to build on successful practices and capabilities in place today that are essential for demonstrating rapid results. We explore keys that make Enterprise Design Thinking successful, provide examples of the framework in action, and work with participants to develop their own ideas around key priorities for human-centered design. Participants will leave with pathways to continue their journey applying this framework to solve complex problems that will provide the foundation for more equitable, inclusive, and empathetic government services.
Mentoring and Inspiring Others
Sue Wallace
This, practical, hands-on session will inspire those interested in mentoring or being a mentee by providing insight on the various types of mentoring. Attendees will gain skills to conduct their own mentoring initiative and find out about three different mentoring options.
Sherburne County's Innovative HHS/SSIS Approach for Staff and Citizens with Google
Denise Winkler, Strategic Business Executive, Health and Human Services, Google Cloud
Sherburne County’s HHS Division initiative to modernize and focus on staff & citizen experience led them to switching solution providers to increase efficiency and streamline workflows. Sherburne partnered with Google to easily modernized their seven workflows in a cost-effective manner. Explore citizen & staff experience tools which make Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning tools usable in daily activities and learn how Sherburne County's innovative approached provided them a staff friendly and citizen centric solution.
The Future of Video Surveillance
Mark Bonde
As surveillance technologies have continued to evolve, the uses and applications for these technologies continues to grow. This presentation will highlight the current security market, specific technology advances, camera, and video system vulnerabilities, and provide examples of how organizations are utilizing surveillance video to strengthen security & provide added visibility across their buildings.
Working Together: Deaf and Hearing People
Donna Lange, Center Director and PI, DeafTEC
This presentation is intended to raise awareness of deaf & hard-of-hearing individuals as qualified IT professionals and ease the sometimes awkwardness that arises around discussions about disabilities. It is designed to help attendees develop the sensitivity & skills to communicate effectively with deaf & hard-of-hearing co-workers, enable deaf & hearing colleagues to work together more productively, and assist in fostering a workplace culture of diversity & inclusion. Through interactive activities and specially designed materials, this presentation will create a fun, comfortable, and engaging atmosphere.
10:30 am
Advancing IT Modernization through Road Mapping
Tyrone Spratt, CBTO, MN Dept. of Agriculture, Labor and Industry & Stephen Clark
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has begun an initiative to improve processes used to serve customers and constituents to increase effectiveness. Focused on service delivery and user experience, how has MDA positioned itself to deliver a better experience for its stakeholders? Engage in a conversation about using Business and Technical architecture principles to bring strategic plans alive with an actionable Capabilities RoadMap.
Advancing Observability at DEED While Driving Cross-Team Collaboration (Dynatrace Sponsored Session)
Jeffrey Neau & Kailey Smith
Covid-19 pushed digital transformation into overdrive as state and local governments shifted to provide resiliency for their products and services, especially when it came to unemployment services. In March 2019, when DEED saw the most traffic in over a decade, they were ready for the challenge. In this webinar Kailey Smith, Application Architect at State of MN and Jeffrey Neau, Sales Engineer at Dynatrace discuss: The digital platform that has enabled State of MN – MNIT to enhance cross-team collaboration and avoid war rooms. How they were able to handle an insane load when COVID hit in March. And how Dynatrace gave them a single view across apps and infrastructure with precise answers
Avoiding AI Bias: How Incorporating Diversity Makes AI Better
Tarek Tomes, Dr. Jutta Treviranus & Dr. Sarah Thornton
Artificial intelligence (AI) is based on aggregating data that tends to operate in the realm of the “average.” People with disabilities and other traditionally marginalized groups tend to create rich outlier data sets that in turn can lead to AI that is better at identifying weak signals, arriving at novel approaches, managing the unexpected, and producing guidance that does not bias against outliers & small minorities. Join MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes, Dr. Jutta Treviranus, and Dr. Sarah Thornton in exploring how government IT organizations can use their positions to advocate for the design, development, and implementation of better AI to serve its citizens.
Ban the Bots: Lessons Learned in Protecting Applications with Cloud-based Web Application Firewalls
Tim McGuire
Creating Safe Spaces for Us
Marsha Smith, President, Creating Safe Spaces
Evolution of Vulnerability Management at the State of Minnesota
Neal Dawson & Nancy Skuta
The Enterprise Security Office (ESO) has provided vulnerability management for the State of Minnesota for nearly 15 years. This presentation will walk through the journey of delivering vulnerability management, highlighting trends, changes, what works, and didn’t work. The presentation will also touch on the key components and history of vulnerability management.
How XDR and CTI Converge for Stronger Security Risk Mitigation (IntSights Sponsored Session)
Alon Arvatz & Jeff Gardner
In this session Jeff Gardner and Alon Arvatz will explore the intersection of extended detection and response (XDR) and cyber threat intelligence (CTI) to uncover its many benefits for security risk mitigation: How CTI extends your company’s monitored environment, Ways to improve signal-to-noise ratio & understand your real risk, and The latest technologies for driving a proactive and automated response.
Power at Work
Denise Moreland, Consultant, Lifeguidesllc.com
Human relationships are negotiations of power. Everyone has the capacity to improve their relationships by improving their ability to negotiate power effectively. This workshop will examine different types of power, understand their impacts, and learn how to leverage each to improve relationships both personally and professionally.
Techniques to Secure Public Cloud Deployments
Mike Mahurin, Senior Security Solutions Architect, ConvergeOne
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud deployments implement new technical security requirements which must be addressed to provide a secure environment. This session will review open-source tools and native cloud services that can be used to assess cloud infrastructure technical risk. It will also present techniques that can be applied to mitigate common cloud vulnerabilities, optimize cloud security and cover key cloud providers. Examples and lessons learned from the ConvergeOne security practice will be presented.
The Art of Persuasion: How to Persuade Your Audience – Part Two
In this second part of George’s two-part session on public persuasion, we will walk through specific scenarios using the concepts outlined in Part One. George will share some scenarios to discuss, but you are invited to bring examples from your work or situation! This is a great opportunity in a safe and supportive environment to get feedback and learn from your peers. Join George for this interactive session and learn how you can be more persuasive.
12:00 pm
MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes, CIO - MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes, CIO - Asking The Right Question
Asking The Right Question: How Do We Deliver Value Through Minnesota’s Programs and Services
MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes and State of Minnesota CIO will be interviewed by Representative Kristin Bahner. Rep. Bahner is a member of the Technology Advisory Committee, which provides advice on how to update and maintain the State of Minnesota’s IT systems. She and Commissioner Tomes will dive into the future of government technology, its ability to open doors and reduce barriers for Minnesotans to access services, and how we are getting there.
1:00 pm
Golden GOVIT / Prizes / Closing
REGISTRATION
Why Attend?
- We have been in the game with you for 40 years – the Government IT Symposium is one of the nation’s longest-running, well-respected government IT events.
- Connect with like-minded government IT professionals from a wide variety of settings and locations to gain insights and new ideas.
- Elevate Your Game with carefully curated content, developed and presented by government IT professionals and their solution partners.
- Over 60 hours of content – both in-person and virtual experiences.
- On-demand access to recorded sessions, for months after the event.
- Multiple, thought-provoking keynote and plenary speakers.
- Formal and informal opportunities to interact with presenters, solution partners and your peers.
COST:
$200/pp
In-Person Pre-Conference
$300/pp
Three-Day Virtual
$400/pp
Pre-Con + Three-Day Virtual
Need Help Asking for Training $
Check out this great resource from Indeed.com.
HELP US PROMOTE
Help make the Symposium more successful. If you are a speaker, presenter, sponsor / exhibitor or already registered, download our toolkits and help promote it to your network!
BECOME A SPONSOR
As technology partners, we know you’ll appreciate that we’re using innovation and technology to continue to convene and connect people in meaningful ways via a high-tech, interactive virtual environment!
We’ve taken time to curate innovative benefits, as well as state-of-the-art virtual conference technology which will bring more visibility, engagement opportunities and overall value for your investment. Check out the opportunities below!
To learn more and discuss the best opportunities for you, contact Christopher Kohn, ckohn@fusionlp.org.
Speed Networking Is Back!
Speed Networking is a great opportunity for your company to connect with several influential and knowledgeable government IT leaders/decision-makers. Each sponsoring company is invited to send up to two representatives to this event, and will have time with government IT representatives to introduce themselves, ask questions and gather information. Speed Networking will take place during the in-person Pre-conference on Monday, November 15 from 3:00 – 4:30pm at the RiverCentre.

Matthew Zaruba
Enterprise IT Specialist, City of Rochester, MN

Jeff Nyberg
CTO, MNIT

Glen Gilbertson
CIO, Hennepin County

Bernie Gulachek
CIO, University of Minnesota

Tyrone Spratt
CBTO, MNIT - MN Dept. of Agriculture
2021 SPONSORS
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
Check out our other events for government IT professionals.
About Fusion Learning Partners
From learning opportunities and events to organizational development and collaborative initiatives, Fusion exists to strengthen and transform the communities where we work, live, and thrive.
Because Innovation Begins with Learning.
2021 Steering Committee
Alex Hepp, City of Hopkins
Chad Kummerow, Microsoft
Corey Tramm, Sourcewell Tech
Dave Andrews, Minnesota State Services for the Blind – DEED
David Berthiaume, Minnesota IT Services
Glen Gilbertson, Hennepin County
Jason Greninger, City of Rogers
Jay Wyant, Minnesota IT Services
Joel Pingel, Google
Lisa Meredith, Minnesota Counties Computer Cooperative
Matt Bailey, IBM
Melissa Reeder, League of Minnesota Cities
Renee Heinbuch, Washington County/MNCITLA
Sue Wallace, CompTIA Tech