Tag Archives: Las Vegas

GSA Cancels This Year’s Training Conference and Expo

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Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on Government Executive

Citing tight budgets, the General Services Administration on Friday announced it is suspending its signature Training Conference and Expo, which had been scheduled for May 14-16 in Orlando, Fla.

The annual event, designed for federal, state and local government employees and military members who make or influence procurement decisions, was attracting fewer than usual agency participants, GSA noted.

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DoD moves meetings online, but IT systems can’t keep pace

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Originally posted by Jared Serbu on Federal News Radio

As budget cuts take their toll on in-person conferences within the Defense Department, more meetings are shifting online, specifically to DoD's in-house Web conferencing service, Defense Connect Online.

The system has seen so much traffic recently that usage is starting to outstrip the system's capacity. And DCO may be about to see even more users. The Defense Information Systems Agency and the contractor that runs DCO have just released an app that lets defense employees host or log into meetings from their iPhones and iPads.

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GSA Offers Online Training in Conference Etiquette

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Originally posted by Brittany Ballenstedt on GovExec

This year has not brought the most positive of headlines for the General Services Administration, particularly after revelations agency officials spent excessively at an over-the-top Las Vegas training conference that featured a mind reader, bicycle giveaways and extravagant receptions.

But now the agency is using that "mistake" as a catalyst for an effort to train other employees on conference etiquette, a topic that will serve as one of the first courses of its new virtual training program set to launch in January, Lauren Concklin, a marketing analyst with GSA, said Thursday during a webinar sponsored by GovLoop.

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DoD Conference Guidance – The Definition of Insanity

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Originally posted by on CTO Vision

When a handful of people from GSA became famous for waste and fraud  in a lavish conference in Las Vegas, DoD was forced to peer inside a can of worms.  As we grappled with providing support to two simultaneous war fronts, the increased budgets fueled an increase in Conferences by Government and other Industry/Government partnerships, such as AFCEA and NDIA.   The benefits from these events can be numerous:  many great minds can be gathered in one place (usually a really NICE place) to receive updates on DoD matters, to view the exhibits of existing and upcoming technologies, and to network and solve problems.  Now, however, as we face budget cuts associated with the ramp-down (and the threat of sequestration), these conferences are undergoing an exacting scrutiny.

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Convention industry in the post-GSA scandal world

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Originally posted by TIM MAK and LEIGH MUNSIL on Politico

This isn't your granddaddy's Army convention.

In the post-GSA-scandal environment in which the very industry of convention organizing is under siege, the annual U.S. Army association's exposition at the Washington Convention Center is aiming to be a "gold standard" for military trade shows -- without the emphasis on gold.

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