Past

• Spending the Stimulus: Are Taxpayers Getting Their Money's Worth?
• Sponsor: SAP
• State and local governments must make their first report of how they are spending federal stimulus dollars by October 10. The reports will provide the most comprehensive look yet at how much money has been spent, what types of projects the money is funding and how many jobs have been created or saved as a result. Listen in as GOVERNING and state and local experts probe these questions and more: What will the numbers say about the prospects for economic recovery?, Will wounded state budgets heal before the stimulus money dries up?, Has the stimulus spending transformed government in any lasting ways?

• Building a Strategic Roadmap For a More Agile and Cost-Effective Future
• Sponsor: IBM
• The current economic climate is making it more difficult for government agencies to provide services to citizens with less resources and funding. In longer terms, government agencies must address the need for greater oversight and transparency of government spending and service delivery. To stay ahead of needs, changes in legislation and regulations and to implement new services and transform old ones, every agency should have an Information Agenda that will allow them to gain insights from new intelligence.

• The Next Generation of Government Leadership
• Government leaders need to create a new workplace, one that offers untraditional benefits and scheduling options, different career paths and training opportunities, and access to new tools and technologies for communicating and getting work done.

• Road to Recovery: Realizing the Vision of Broadband and Stimulus
• The ARRA has established a once in a lifetime opportunity for public and private entities to accelerate the deployment of broadband technology that improve access, sustainability and provide economic development in our communities. Governing.com invites you to a one hour web event featuring senior executives from state and local agencies who will share their experiences and expected outcomes from Broadband Stimulus.

• Emergency Communications: Cutting Through the Static
• Sponsor: Qwest
• Four years after Hurricane Katrina once again showcased the need for interoperable communications among first responders at all levels of government, plans for a nationwide broadband network for emergency agencies are still garbled by institutional static. Join GOVERNING and senior executives in state and local government as they explore plans and possibilities for emergency communications that work.

• Connecting the Dots: Broadband and Stimulus
• Experts from state and municipal government organizations explain the new federal broadband programs and discuss whether $7 billion is enough to significantly change the United States' status as a digital "slow-poke" compared to other countries.

• Managing Through Tough Fiscal Times: The Role of Shared and Managed Services
• Sponsor: CGI
• As state and local governments seek ways to manage through today’s tough economic times, many government leaders are looking for ways to modernize and rapidly implement new systems to comply with the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) transparency and accountability requirements. From legacy ERP systems to Tax and Revenue collections, Health and Human Services and transportation, an assortment of staffing issues that predated the economic downturn: an ongoing shortage of qualified staff, the high cost of skilled labor, a dearth of legacy application and system expertise and eroding trust in vendor stability. As a result, governments struggle to allocate financial and human resources utilizing traditional IT delivery models.

• Managing a Shrinking Public Workforce
• Layoffs, unfilled positions and furloughs are among the most difficult management challenges for government leaders. Fear and worry among employees make maintaining morale, increasing productivity and attracting talent much more complicated. Frank, open communication with staff is both more critical and more perilous, even for managers who have led the way through hard times in the past. Join GOVERNING and senior executives in state and local government as they share experiences and best practices for top management tactics that work.

• Maximizing Web 2.0 Technology for Increased Citizen Engagement
• Government agencies are not dipping their toe into the Web 2.0 pool. Instead, they have decided that this is the future, and they are jumping in. Blogs are popping up everywhere. Twitter and YouTube have become official channels. Buzzwords like engagement, transparency, participation, and collaboration dominate President Obama's Open Government Initiative and public discussions. Unfortunately, government efforts are not getting the value they could from their Web 2.0. technology investments. This could result from the lack of a solid engagement base or the lack of knowledge about technology pros and cons -- or how to map it to their strategic vision.

• Discover and Collect What Taxes Are Owed
• At a time when economic situations are rapidly changing, governments are searching for new and better ways to streamline revenue recovery efforts that will result in increased collections. Through automation, new technologies and improved business processes, tax and revenue agencies are able to accurately locate hard-to-find debtors in less time, refine their collection processes and ultimately achieve better results.