PROGRAM INFORMATION

Accessibility Track — Level: Introductory — Limited to 50 participants
Colette Johnson, ITS3- Web Developer, MN Dept of Management and Budget
Create Word 2010 documents that are more accessible to people with disabilities. Learn how to format your document using Styles, add alternative text to images, and other tips to make your document easier for users and assistive technologies to navigate.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• The requirements for the Accessibility Standard from MN Office of Enterprise Technology.
• Basic to advanced principles in creating an accessible WORD document.
• Basic to advanced principles in creating an accessible PDF.
  

Application Development Track — Level: Intermediate — Limited to 30 participants
Brian Lockwood, .NET Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
The landscape of software development is ever changing and this holds true for Microsoft's .NET Framework. The BUILD conference in September this year, highlighted the direction of .NET development and how, as a software developer, we can continue to innovate using this robust framework. This session will focus on what platforms can be targeted using the .NET framework, how to build applications for each and how interconnected systems need to meld well with "on the go" solutions.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• How changes in software development have affected you and how they will continue to be affected in the upcoming months and years.
• Each of the platforms and how to get started including Azure, Windows 8, ASP.NET MVC and WCF.
• Best practices around software development with the .NET Framework.
• Hands on experience building applications of the future.

How You'll Learn: Through mini lectures, discussions, individual exercises and experiments, you'll learn proven techniques that will help you succeed in software development with the .NET Framework. Laptops with a working copy of Visual Studio 2010 will be required for those looking to participate in the exercises.

Business Analysis Track — Level: Intermediate - Advanced — Limited to 50 participants
David Hussman, Agile Coach/Trainer, DevJam
The beginning of the agile movement found many analysts challenged by new practices like user stories and customers sitting with teams. In a rush towards a new and better way of working, some analysts were made to feel unneeded or unwanted. In the smarter, more thoughtful shops, analysis techniques were thinned out and shared, allowing analysts time to take deeper dives into complex areas.

As someone who watched this unfold over the past ten years or so, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I have packed it up in a seminar focused on how analysis and analysts support agile deliver and promotes business agility. Please show up ready to think, question and learn. Bring your deepest skepticism, toughest challenges and glowing success stories so we can all learn from the greatest teacher, real world experience.

Topics Covered: 

• How do analysts meaningfully fit into an agile framework/project?
• Creating strong product backlogs with chartering, personas, user stories, and story maps.
• Long term documentation in relation to near term delivery tools (e.g. user stories).
• Using agile methods in context of high governance environments.
• How testing relates to user stories and doing better analysis.

Cloud Track — Level: Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Greg Moselle, Senior Cloud Architect/Engineer/Trainer, enStratus
Chad Boeckmann, Strategic Security Advisor, Secure Digital Solutions, LLC
Public and private clouds are gaining traction in organizations across the country. But is your cloud secure and reliable? Does it meet governance requirements? Can you provide self-provisioning without compromising IT policies/procedures? This seminar will present best-practices on access controls, encryption, financial controls and automation.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• How leading enterprises and government agencies are managing their cloud infrastructure.
• Best-practices to ensure your policies and procedures are extended into the cloud.
• How to incorporate a self-provisioning cloud infrastructure with governance and controls in place to protect you.

Emerging Technologies and Trends Track — Level: Intermediate— Limited to 50 participants
Mike Gresley, Senior Developer Technical Specialist/, Microsoft Corporation
Frank Lavigne, Microsoft Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
Dr. Zhiming Xue, Senior Microsoft Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft invites you to a seminar focusing on new and emerging technologies. From the ever-growing adoption of cloud technology (Azure), to emerging development accelerators (Lightswitch), to embracing new web technology (HTML5), to Windows Phone technology, the future of products and standards developed and supported by Microsoft is both bright and varied. As such, this seminar will spend time discussing how these new technologies work together.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• Interesting new technologies.
• Standards developed and supported by Microsoft.
• A high level overview of HTML 5.
  

Accessibility Track — Level: Introductory — Limited to 50 participants
Dr. John Honchell, Assistant Director of Technology/Trainer, Inver Hills College
“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.” This session is for current or future IT leaders who desire to learn how Sun Tzu would apply The Art of War in the technology field. This ancient philosophy and leadership style will provide guidance for meeting organizational mission; develop strategy, trust, future leaders, and insight into how to work toward peace during times of conflict. Get ready to interact, share, and learn “The Way” of IT Leadership.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• New approaches to IT Leadership.
• How to apply non-IT and non-leadership theory to your current employment.
• A new appreciation on how to approach problems in the IT workplace.

Topics Covered:

• The Art of War as a leadership philosophy: the Way, ethical leadership, external factors and taking risks, passion, discipline, authentic leadership, humility, respect, peace and tranquility
• Creating a shared vision through achievement: willingness to follow, allocating time and funding
• Results through high standards: creating urgency through personal high standards, user achievement, take the high ground, weighing the risks
• Empowerment and development of others: input from others. research and development, the right input from the right people

How You'll Learn: Through dialog, individual reflection exercises, and small group activities, participants will learn new approaches to IT leadership. Many of the activities are hands on, a laptop is recommended.

Project and Portfolio Management Track — Level: Advanced — Limited to 50 participants
Dr. Michael A. Sheppeck, Professor, Dept of Management, University of St. Thomas
Don Jones, Director, Administrative Services, Ramsey County Human Services
This seminar takes a focused approach to managing projects, and to dealing with troubled projects in particular. We begin by streamlining project management methodology and documentation down to 5 proven essentials. This simplified approach allows project managers and sponsors to spend more time attending to the people side — project team functioning and leadership.    

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• The 5 essentials for successfully planning and monitoring any project. Both traditional "waterfall" and more recent agile approaches are covered.
• How to recognize project risks at the beginning of your project – and how to manage them.
• 15 characteristics of high performance teams.
• The best practices for effective project leadership, group decision-making, and handling conflict.
• The signs and symptoms of project troubles, and how to spot them early.
• When to go into rescue mode on a project, with tools for accurately assessing root causes, and planning a project recovery.

How You’ll Learn: This seminar will be highly interactive, beginning with a brief advance survey of registered participants to discover their interests and issues in project management. There will be plenty of discussion and small group activity. Participants will leave with the tools and resources they need to help them run, or rescue, their projects

Personal and Professional Development Track — Level: Introductory - Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Kit Welchlin, Professional Speaker/Trainer, Welchlin Communication Strategies
The career of an IT professional can be stressful at times. Our coworkers are often frustrated and anxious when they contact us and they need us to patient and kind. Managing the stress is critical for career success for ourselves and the people we serve. It is important to measure how much stress we put on ourselves and how best to manage it.

In this rapidly changing world it is critical for IT professionals to maintain their professionalism.  When systems are in flux and coworkers are stressed, IT professionals need to remain calm and composed.  Stress management is crucial for career success, satisfaction and maximizing performance.  

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• What stress is and isn’t
• The three stages of stress
• How to recognize the three stages of burnout
• The three questions you need to ask yourself about stress.
• The three causes of on the job stress
• How your personality increases or decreases the stress you experience
• 15 physical remedies to reduce stress
• 15 psychological strategies to manage stress

How You’ll Learn: Attendees will learn through mini lectures, facilitated discussion, two self tests, and ongoing Q & A.

Project and Portfolio Management Track — Level: Introductory — Limited to 50 participants
Mark Strange, CSM, PMP, MBA, Principal IT Management Consultant/Trainer, Wood Cliff Consulting, Inc.
Are you curious whether Agile software development will work for your organization? Have you tried to implement Agile with disappointing results? Agile software development, if implemented correctly, will revolutionize your team’s productivity and quality (and it’s fun!).  Many organizations are jumping on the bandwagon, but most are struggling to make Agile work.  Why?

Agile Boot Camp will teach you the fundamentals of agile in a fun and interactive workshop.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• How Agile differs from traditional software development.
• The core principles of agile software development, and why they are important.
• The basics of agile:
• Write effective user stories and create a product backlog
• Estimate using story points
• Plan and manage development and testing
• Chart your progress
• Conduct retrospectives
• How to avoid common pitfalls and traps of agile.

How You’ll Learn: You will learn through a series of mini-lectures, discussions, and group exercises.  We will also set up a "mock" Agile project which will clarify the principles and prepare you to begin your own Agile projects.

Security Track— Session cancelled

SharePoint Track — Level: Introductory - Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Greg Moser, Director of Software Development, Computer Integration Technologies
The wave of SharePoint popularity continued to rise with the release of SharePoint Server 2010 last year. Adoption has been swift with many organizations jumping on the SharePoint bandwagon. However, SharePoint is a big product with many uses and workloads. Come get a real world understanding of how SharePoint 2010 is being used across the platform to help you plan for your SharePoint deployment.  

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• The workloads of SharePoint including content, search, communities, insights, sites and composites.
• Real world best practices of planning for and deploying SharePoint solutions.
• Common real world mistakes and pitfalls of deploying and supporting SharePoint

How You’ll Learn: The seminar will feature a variety of learning activities, including mini lectures, facilitated group discussions, small group discussions of SharePoint rollout objectives, and ongoing Q & A.

Testing Track — Level: Intermediate — Limited to 30 participants
Sheila Conway, Senior Consultant/Instructor, BenchmarkQA
With tight budgets and short timelines, government organizations can't test everything in the software they're developing. How do you make sure you're testing the right things? During this half day of high-energy, hands-on learning, your instructor will coach you on how to ensure your test cases lead to a high quality software product.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• Why good test case design is so critical and how to distinguish between good and bad test case design.
• To identify the inputs required for good test case design and how to get them (even with no documentation).
• To effectively analyze inputs to determine what you will be testing, how to prioritize the testing and where the risks might lie.

How You’ll Learn: This half-day session is taught in a very participatory format using a combination of presentation, group discussion, team exercises and learning checks.  You’ll leave the session with a valuable Participant Manual – a great reference tool! – as well as templates you can use immediately to improve your test case design process.  Come prepared to share your experiences and to work with your peers to uncover the benefits of intelligent test case design!

Virtualization Track — Level: Introductory - Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Kent Huelman, Virtualization Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
Many of you have already virtualizaed applications and most of you are using virtual servers, so let's take it the next step and find out if it makes sense to virtualizae the desktop. This session will go through the process of creating a virtual desktop environment.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• The benefits and challenges of virtualizing your desktop.
• How to navigate a virtual desktop environment.
• How to determine whether or not a virtual desktop environment is within your scope.

Social Media Track — Level: Introductory — Limited to 50 participants
Brandy Favilla, Community Manager, Social Media Strategist and Public Speaker, Computer Rangers, LLC
The social media rocket has launched. Facebook, Twitter, Flicker, LinkedIn, RSS Feeds, YouTube, and more - are these time distractions or actual tools your team can use to be more productive? This seminar will take a look at some of the most used social media tools & how best to use them to create stronger hires, build more effective teams, build awareness and engagement. In addition to time spent viewing and a brief overview on how to use some of the tools, the seminar will also touch on the importance of having a clearly defined social media policy and strategy.

By attending this session, attendees will:

• Gain awareness of social media tools for most offices.
• Learn key principles and expectations of participation in social media.
• Learn the why and how to integrate some aspects of social media for hiring and team building; and if important for your organization: building brand awareness and community engagement.
• Identify language for social media policy and strategy.

How You’ll Learn: This seminar will be highly interactive. There will be paired sharing, large group discussion, plenty of time for Q&A interspersed with the lecture/workshop aspect. This is a hands-on session. A laptop is recommended to fully participate in this half-day workshop.

Application Development Track — Level: Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Saeed Rahimi, Database Professor, Graduate Programs in Software, University of St. Thomas
Relational database management systems and Structured Query Processing (SQL) have been in use for On-line Transaction Processing (OLTP) since early 1980’s. Recently, On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP) applications have become necessary tools for decision makers and business analysts. Although it is possible to use native SQL to perform analytics, this approach is very cumbersome and has many shortcomings.

Oracle analytical functions are extensions to standard SQL statements that can be used to answer many Decision Support Systems (DSS) and data warehousing types of questions. By attending this session, you will learn how to work with Oracle’s analytical functions such as Cubes, Rollups, Ranking, Top-N, Bottom-N, etc. for real-life type of environments that can be very useful in business analysis. Attendees will have the opportunity to apply what we discuss in this session to answer questions similar to the one that they would face in real life.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• An overview of relational database systems and data warehousing.
• The basic SQL statements to solve real life OLTP type of problems.
• Advanced SQL statements beyond the standard in performing analytical function in Oracle 11g.
• Hands-on examples to Oracle’s analytic functions in a hypothetical scenario to drill down, roll-up, slice and dice a sample database in individual and group settings.

Business Analysis Track — Level: Introductory-Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Devan Shepherd, CEO/Chief Technical Officer/Author/Trainer, XMaLpha Technologies
In the quickly evolving realm of business analysis there is no shortage of theory, and then there is real-world practice. As it turns out, some of the theory is best left to textbooks. This seminar will focus on tried and proven methods, tricks, and techniques, that lead to better requirements gathering and ultimately more successful results in the unique world of government organizations.

By attending this session, you will:

• Learn some elicitation tricks and approaches that work
• Discover how to reduce scope creep by as much as 50%
• Discuss why it is that some of the "traditional" rules don't apply to government agencies
• Explore concepts, techniques, and methodologies that have been proven on real world projects
• Examine effective approaches to requirements-based problem solving
• Take-away nearly 50 "best practices" that come from an exhaustive study of requirements lessons learned.

How You’ll Learn: The seminar will utilize lecture, group discussions, case study illustrations, individual exercises, a wealth of valuable handouts, and plenty of time for Q & A

Cloud Track — Level: Introductory — Limited to 50 participants
Adam Grocholski, Technical Evangelist, RBA Consulting
Attendees must bring their own laptops
USB drives with the software needed will be provided
This is an immersive and interactive hands-on seminar to familiarize you with cloud computing and the Windows Azure Platform. We’ll start with a high level look at what cloud computing is and what benefits it can offer. From there we’ll talk about how Widows Azure’s Platform as a Service model fits into the cloud. Next, we’ll take a quick tour of all the features of the platform, and then dive deep into Windows Azure’s storage services. Finally, we’ll wrap up with a look at how you can architect for scalability in the cloud.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• To understand cloud computing and Windows Azure
• Benefits of adopting Windows Azure
• Features of Windows Azure
• Storage options available in Windows Azure, including SQL Azure
• How to migrate an existing application to Windows Azure
• How to use Microsoft Visual Studio to build applications for Windows Azure
• Scalability in the cloud

During this session you will have opportunities to practice what you learn with labs. Having all of your software ready will make it easier to dive right in and put your learning to work.

If you want to install the software in advance, download the following:

• Operating Systems Supported: Windows 7 (Ultimate, Professional, and Enterprise Editions); Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Vista (Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise Editions) with either Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 full or trial version (http://bit.ly/VisualStudioTools)
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (or above) (this is typically installed with Microsoft Visual Studio) (http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/download)
• Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsazure/cc974146.aspx)
• Windows Azure AppFabric SDK (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=129448)
• Windows Azure Platform Training Kit (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=413E88F8-5966-4A83-B309-53B7B77EDF78&displaylang=en

Emerging Technologies and Trends Track — Level: Introductory — Limited to 50 participants
Dr. David Bouchard, Professor and Coordinator of Masters in MIS, Metropolitan State University; Public Speaker/Trainer
Building on the “Future Technologies” series presented at previous Symposiums, this seminar will look at new technology developments around the world and look for technology-centered ideas to help public sector organizations meet the challenges and expectations of the future. The world is moving quickly to highly-connected, technology-mediated communities that expect public agencies to be involved and able to be active partners.

This presentation will look at how to identify, implement and evaluate new, potentially disruptive technologies through their lifecycles, and see how to use the best ideas and approaches from around the world for incorporating these technologies into our strategies for providing services. How can new technologies allow limited numbers of staff to provide vital services with effectiveness? Where will new technology scenarios suggest opportunities for the future?  As time permits, the seminar will involve participants in simulating the "ideation" processes used in top firms to think "outside the iPAD (box)" and create new technology-based solutions.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• International principles and patterns/rules of technological innovation
• New technologies from an international perspective.
• Ways to use and apply insights in design and improvement of services.
• Valuable examples of how technology is viewed differently across cultures, to better understand local challenges in our diverse constituencies.
• Practical examples for implementation, and scenarios for future developments that will provide valuable insights to participants
  

Leadership and Management Track — Level: Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Bob Lewis, President/Author, IT Catalysts, Inc.
You have a design: How the organization should change, and what the change should look like. You have a plan: What has to get done to make the change happen, and who's going to do it. Now what? Organizations resist change. They have to -- they're built to be the way they are, and everything reinforces it. This innovative seminar provides the framework you need to overcome the factors that conspire to make change fail.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• The nature of organizational change – a multi-level view of how change leaders should define what they're trying to accomplish.
• To redefine the role of IT in organizational change, from a supplier of tools with no active engagement in business change to an active collaborator throughout the process of definition, design, planning, and implementation.
• To identify sources of change resistance within the organization – not just the people, but the structural factors as well.
• To create a concrete plan of action to maximize support for a defined change while nullifying or neutralizing sources of resistance.
• To develop a shared, universal frame of reference for characterizing organizational change: What it is, how to define it, how to describe success.

How You’ll Learn: The seminar will combine mini lectures, facilitated discussions, case study illustrations, and plenty of Q/A. You will leave the seminar with a clear view of how you can apply business change management principles to the situations you and your staff experience every day.

Mobile Technologies and Applications Track — Level: Introductory — Limited to 50 participants
Calvin Vette, Sr. Instructor/Courseware Developer/Consultant, Web Age Solutions
As a part of the mobile strategy, enterprises need to address all major mobile platforms, like Android and iOS (iPhone, iPad etc.). They need to make their core data and services available in these platforms. This seminar addresses how to come up with a single vision of a mobile strategy and then implement it in Android or iOS. The contents of this course are not specific to any mobile OS.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• Application lifecycle patterns, user interface patterns, and business tier patterns
• Notification patterns and local data storage patterns
• Location based services patterns, background task processing patterns, and multimedia patterns
  

How You’ll Learn: The seminar will combine lecture, discussion, and Q&A.

Personal and Professional Development Track — Level: Introductory - Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Michael Monroe Kiefer, Ph.D., Speaker/Psychologist, Powermind Training Inc.
Everyone has natural talents and genetically inherited skills. In this in-depth seminar, you will have an opportunity to take a newly released 110 question natural talent and skills test. This test will reveal both physical and mental talents as well as genetically inherited traits. Interpretation of results and a Q and A session will follow the test. The objective of this session is to create awareness so you can increase the use of your natural talents (and others) back on your job. It will also enable you to apply the principle of talent based team building.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• To discover your natural talents and genetically inherited skills
• To understand the importance of utilizing your natural talents in your daily work
• To become self-confident in where your particular talent base is
• The principle of talent based team building
• To be better able to spot talent in others

Project and Portfolio Management Track — Level: Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
David Hussman, Agile Coach/Trainer, DevJam
Ten years ago, a group coined the term Agile to describe lightweight processes focused on learning through iterative delivery. Ten years later, agile methods are in use in organizations around the world. While some organizations succeed others fail due to dogmatic and prescriptive adoptions.

In this session, David Hussman shares tools and techniques he uses to successfully introduce pragmatically and lasting agility. Using a recent project to ground the session, each attendee will evaluate a project and use a set of tools to determine which agile practices would help and how the success of each practice would be measured overtime. Attendees will be able to question and learn how agile methods can work, going beyond the hype and into the evidence.

Topics Covered:

• Tools for evaluating which agile practices will amplify your strengths and address your challenges.
• Ideas for measuring the real value of introducing agile methods or any process change
• Real world stories around success and failure introducing and growing agile methods.
• Demystification of big ‘A’ agile by grounded and factual understanding agile practices and processes.

Security Track — Level: Introductory - Intermediate — Limited to 50 participants
Kent Huelman, Security Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
Even if you have no plans on taking the CISSP exam you can learn a lot about security by examining the 10 domains from the CISSP CBK. We will look at all of them and what they can add to your security program.

By attending this seminar, you will learn:

• The ten domains of Common Body Knowledge, and how they will benefit your security program
• To better understand information security and risk management
• To understand the benefits of taking the CISSP exam for your organization

How You’ll Learn: Among other activities, the seminar will feature mini lectures, group discussions, individual exercises, and Q/A. As we break down each of the 10 domains, we will save a few minutes at the end of each for a short quiz in order to reinforce what we’ve learned. Participants will be encouraged to share their own security stories and ask questions of others as well.

SharePoint Track — Level: Intermediate - Advanced — Limited to 50 participants
Bill English, CEO/Trainer/Coach, Mindsharp
In this presentation, Bill English, CEO of Mindsharp, will go through the information organization issues that organizations are facing today. Included in this discussion are the concepts of putability, findability, e-discovery, data breaches, the Long Tail, precision, social media, recall and relevance. Bill will tie these concepts to his demonstrations in SharePoint and help you understand how SharePoint can support an overall information architecture and information design for your organization. Demos on SharePoint will also be given to show how SharePoint technologies support a robust organization of information in your environment.

In this seminar, you will learn:

• What the major issues are in organizing information in today's business environment
• How those issues interact to form a context in which SharePoint will be deployed
• How SharePoint will help resolve these issues if deployed correctly
• The areas that SharePoint will not help resolve

How You'll Learn: This seminar combines lecture, demonstrations, discussions and Q&A.

Testing Track — Level: Intermediate — Limited to 30 participants
Betty Schaar, Senior Consultant and Training Practice Lead, BenchmarkQA
Third-party software is a common way for government organizations to support their operations and services. However, there are unique challenges and adjustments needed for test planning to efficiently address integration, performance, and system testing for third-party software. This seminar will address how to develop a structured testing strategy for third-party software to maximize your efforts and your resources and minimize your risk.

In this seminar, you will:

• Review methods for obtaining and evaluating information about a vendor in order to know how much testing and what types of testing would be needed for that vendor's software.
• Understand and create key deliverables from the test planning phase (test strategy/test plan, requirements traceability matrix).
• Develop third-party software testing approaches for working without requirements.
• Identify necessary adjustments to your existing processes for improved efficiency and quality control.

How You’ll Learn: This half-day seminar will incorporate a combination of presentation and discussion, as well as small group exercises utilizing case studies.  Come prepared to share your experiences and to work with your peers to learn how to ensure effective testing of your third party software.

Accessibility Track — Level: Introductory
Lynn Wehrman, President/Director of Product Development, The Wehrman Collaborative (WeCo)
Ken Rodgers, Advisory Board Member, The Wehrman Collaborative (WeCo)
Bill Libberton, Certified Test Consultant, The Wehrman Collaborative (WeCo)
Nina Phouthasack, Certified Test Consultant, The Wehrman Collaborative (WeCo)
Inaccessible information can create legal issues for governments. This session will show how people with disabilities use web pages/forms, how assistive computer technologies work and where difficulties lie with web design and access. We will demonstrate the most commonly used devices such as screen readers, voice protocol software, non-handheld pointing devices and provide "hands-on" opportunities for participants.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Real-life case examples of people living with disabilities and the challenges and successes they face when using government web sites.
• About assistive computer technologies and how they interact with web sites and e-documents.
• Sensitivity awareness to improve outcomes and mitigate legal, and customer service, liabilities.

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Advanced
Mark Strange, Principal IT Management Consultant, Wood Cliff Consulting
William Edwards Deming (1900-1993) transformed Japanese and American manufacturing by proving that building quality intrinsically into a product or service, rather than relying on end of process inspection, improves quality and dramatically lowers costs. The software industry, however, continues to rely on end-of-process inspection and rework. What would Deming do if he were working in the software industry today?

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Deming's management approach, including his famous "14 Principles" and the "Plan-Do-Check-Act" process.
• Ways that software testing today does and does not align with Deming's principles, particularly Agile techniques.
• Ideas for improving software quality based on Deming's teachings.

Business Analysis Track - Level: Intermediate
Peter Serzo, Senior SharePoint Architect, High Monkey Consulting
SQL Reporting Services 2008 R2 is an underutilized tool and free component that comes with Microsoft SQL Server. This tool can quickly transform a humble SharePoint site into a dynamic and interactive source for timely, personalized corporate data. This session will introduce SQL Reporting Services s2008 and its architecture within SharePoint and without SharePoint.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• SQL Server Reporting Services, its architecture and how it integrates with SharePoint and outside of it.
• How to create a report, publish it to SharePoint and utilize out-of-the-box web parts to create a highly dynamic, personalized portal.
• The business benefits of utilizing Reporting services in terms of quick uptake and user evangelism and buy-in

Cloud Track - Level: Intermediate
Greg Moselle, Senior Cloud Engineer, enStratus
Security, especially when approaching public cloud offerings, represents the number one concern for organizations looking to leverage the benefits of the cloud. Attending this presentation will provide the attendee with a foundation in security matters from a cloud-centric viewpoint as well as concrete approaches to managing risk while operating in the cloud.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Cloud credentials management: securing cloud credentials to prevent unauthorized disclosure/loss.
• Cloud data security: securing cloud data in transit and at rest to meet network, application, and database security requirements.
• Role-based access controls: mapping traditional datacenter access controls into the cloud environment. Remote user access will also be covered.

Leadership and Managment Track - Level: Introductory
Ann Marie Tsoi, Educator, Benchmark Learning
In this session you will learn a brief history of Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model.  You’ll learn how to adapt your leadership style based on the needs of the individual or task that needs to be accomplished.  Learn how to provide the right level of direction and support for each of the leadership styles: Telling, Selling, Participating, and Delegating.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The Situational Leadership Model
• How to adapt your leadership style based on an individual’s skills, role, and tasks to be completed
• How to identify leadership activities to assist individual development through the Situational Leadership Model

MN Enterprise IT Track - Level: Introductory
Mindy Duvernet, Lead Business Systems Analyst, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
This session will cover the benefits of having an established Center of Excellence, or Centers of Excellence, in your organization. Research shows how a CoE can provide optimization across multiple channels to leverage what is recognized as excellent, so expectations can be set moving forward. You’ll learn how to apply BA best practices involving standards, methodologies, and frameworks to improve overall performance toward achieving organizational maturity and success.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How an organization’s culture provides the groundwork for establishing a CoE
• How different a government CoE may be from the private sector
• How to ensure that the maturity of an organization’s culture be stood up to be an asset for the future

Personal and Professional Development Track - Level:
Danielle Sagstetter, Learning and Development Consultant/Trainer, General Mills
Much research has been done to understand the 4 generations that are now in the workforce together. These studies are most frequently done by the more experienced Baby Boomers or Traditionalists and from that perspective. This presentation will be extremely interactive, upbeat and leave you with a clear understanding of the new perspectives entering the workforce, because it is facilitated by a Gen Y’er.

By the end of this session, you will learn:

• The differences and, more importantly, the similarities between the generational cohorts
• To think critically about the other generational perspectives
• To identify ways to leverage each other's skill sets

Project and Portfolio Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Don Jones, Director, Administrative Services, Ramsey County Human Services
There is a growing body of research on a wide range of project management approaches, tools and techniques now available. Yet, when our projects struggle, we often find that even the basics are missing. This session focuses on 5 essentials for successful project planning and monitoring. Based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge, these can be scaled to fit the size and complexity of any project.

By attending this session you will learn:

• What many experts consider to be the 5 fundamentals that every project leader needs to be successful on the job. New agile approaches included.
• How to scale your project plans to the complexity of your project. Make sure you have just enough (but not too much) to succeed.
• Valuable tips, checklists and on-line resources to use with current and future projects.

Security Track - Level: Intermediate
Paula Greve, Director, Web Security Research, McAfee
This presentation discusses the new network that IT administrators must manage - from integrated personal devices, full use of social media, and sophisticated attacks emerging against all users. The session will cover what the threat landscape is, how IT can partner with users to help mitigate risk and stretch their resource capabilities, and action items for ensuring their network is safe.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• What questions you should be asking about your network topology in order to understand risk.
• How to challenge users to better protect their infrastructure and network against risks
• Ways to monitor your networks in order to assess whether you are prone to attack.

Virtualization Track - Level: Intermediate
Jamie Peebles, Datacenter Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
Scott Villinski, Optimized Desktop Architect State/Local Government, Microsoft Corporation
In the next few months Microsoft will deliver new versions of the entire infrastructure suite (Windows and System Center). This will result in the delivery of a number of significant capabilities for datacenter and desktop management. Come see how all the pieces “fit together” in the next release of Microsoft’s technology roadmap and learn how you can upgrade your current desktop environment and server infrastructure.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• New capabilities and changes of Microsoft’s direction for management.
• Considerations for upgrading infrastructure management components
• The complete vision for an overall infrastructure management approach.

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory
Dennis Wenzel, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Steve Ginestra, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Legislative action at the federal and state level can have a significant effect on systems design. Changes in the law can trigger new requirements that existing and new applications are not currently configured to offer. We will discuss how an agency's IT professionals can monitor legislation and design systems to accommodate future changes. Attendees will hear a case study of how one agency responded to a new law.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How an agency/jurisdiction monitors and plans for potential federal and state legislative changes.
• How an agency/jurisdiction builds its systems to prepare for changes.
• How one agency's flexibility made a difference when the laws changed.

Special Selections Track
Rafal Los, Enterprise and Cloud Security Strategist, Hewlett-Packard
This session will provide a basic framework for threat modeling enterprise security challenges, and walk you through examples and a practical lesson in tools, thinking, and modeling. Cloud computing is arguably one of the most important paradism shifts in computing since the invention of the personal computer— you can't afford not to understand your threats and exposures.

Accessibility Track — Level: Introductory
Betsy Hayes, Contracts Manager, MN Dept of Administration
Justin Kaufman, Negotiations Manager, MN Dept of Administration
This presentation will cover Minnesota's unique and practical approach to the procurement of accessible products and how accessibility is integrated into requirements for service contracts. This session will explore the process, tools and considerations involved in Minnesota's unique approach to achieving a more accessible environment for both state employees and citizens who interact with state government.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The State of Minnesota's approach to weaving accessibility standards into procurement.
• The requirements and processes state employees now use to promote accessibility
• The history on how this process was developed.

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Intermediate
Glenn Leifheit, Application Security Program Leader, FICO
Your boss just came in and announced your newest customer has demanded proof your code is secure! Where do you turn? During this presentation, we will discuss resources to help you understand what secure coding is, what processes can assist you and tools to help move you into the realm of having truly secure code. These are also the same areas that many regulations such as PCI and HIPAA require.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• What secure software development means.
• What resources are available to continue learning about secure coding.
• What they need to do now that they have to secure their code

Business Analysis Track - Level: Intermediate
Teresa Tweeton, Senior Consultant, Hollstadt & Associates
Today's IT environment calls for business analysis to be flexible. Organizations can have multiple software development lifecycles in their portfolio at the same time. There are traditional waterfall projects from start to finish, fully Scrum run projects and sometimes a combination of waterfall and iterative. We'll explore what it means to be a BA in each of these situations and how to strive for success!

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Major differences in waterfall, iterative projects and a combination of both.
• Skills required to be successful in Business Analysis in each type of project environment.
• If mixing and matching software development lifecycles works in requirements management or not – based on real life experiences.

Cloud Track - Level: Intermediate
David Wilson, Managing Director, State and Local/US/Canada, Accenture
Sara Schlauderaff, Avanade Online Services, Avanade
State and local public sector leads are faced with a “new normal.” Working together to utilize cloud computing can be an effective way to succeed in this new environment. In this session, you will learn new ways to approach cross-jurisdictional collaboration. Then, you will engage in a more cloud focused conversation, specifically, the productivity advantages of the cloud and how it can be used to reduce your IT ownership costs.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Cross-jurisdictional collaboration - new, stronger incentives to collaborate - common themes, best practices, avoiding pitfalls -starting the process
• Leveraging the cloud -productivity advantages of the cloud - opportunities to reduce your it ownership costs - attain greater return on it investment
• What’s next? - new cloud frontier

Leadership and Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Dean Hyers, Partner/Trainer, SagePresence
Emotional Intelligence (E.I.) is not as complicated as you might fear. You know you’re supposed to have it, but how do you harness the power of this ambiguous buzz-word? Film maker and spy trainer, Dean Hyers, specializes in leveraging emotional intelligence to read between the lines, communicate with more influence, handle any pressure and insure that no unintended messages go out through body language. This presentation will help you master emotions and body language to effectively read others and communicate your intended messages with confidence and inspiration.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to read people better.
• How to communicate better.
• How to lead and inspire under pressure.

MN Enterprise IT Track - Level: Introductory
Christian Deloia, Product Manager, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
Ted Goessling, Product Manager, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
This session will show how the integrated Email, SharePoint, Instant Messaging, and Live Meeting components of Enterprise Unified Communication and Collaboration work together to enhance productivity. We will provide a live demonstration of these tools.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The functionality of Email, SharePoint, Instant Messaging, and Live Meeting.
• How the combination of tools is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
• The ease of use and connectivity.

Personal and Professional Development Track - Level: Intermediate
Michael Monroe Kiefer, Ph.D. Speaker/Psychologist, Powermind Training Inc.
Everyone with a job is now being asked to do more, with less. This leads to high stress, burnout, and careless, costly errors. This workshop teaches the techniques required to double your work output without the negative psychological stress factor. You will learn how to: combat the 8 major time wasters, save time over the phone/with e-mail, prioritize work, set goals, organize your workspace, and handle paperwork.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to reduce stress through improved time management.
• How to combat the 8 major time wasters.
• How to save time working on your computer, planning and communicating

Project and Portfolio ManagementTrack - Level: Intermediate
Stephen P. Hawrysh, CCP, PMP, CSM, Project Manager, MN State Colleges and Universities
This presentation will provide an overview of the agile experience at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) IT division. MnSCU has taken a bottom up approach to implementing agile to its application development. At this presentation you will learn why and how MnSCU took on agile, how it is implemented on the Students First program, the different flavors agile has taken across the program, and the tools used.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How agile improves team involvement on a project.
• How agile increases project productivity.
• How agile creates a better product.

Security Track - Level: Introductory
Matthew J. Harmon, Owner, Security Researcher, IT Risk, Ltd., LLC
Measuring and treating risk is a key component to preventing data breaches, maintaining a stable IT infrastructure and ensuring system resiliency. Anyone who is responsible for sensitive data or who makes strategic or tactical decisions regarding IT security should feel comfortable measuring risk. Attendees will learn how to do this confidently.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The structure of the risk assessment process.
• How to apply security testing tools to validate risk.
• How to build a risk assessment plan.

Virtualization Track - Level: Intermediate
Nick Vannelli, Senior Systems Consultant, Quest Software
Desktop Virtualization Infrastructure (VDI), Virtual Workspace, Centralized Desktop or Server-based computing are synonymous terms that have been getting a lot of attention. Join us for a discussion covering desktop virtualization, it's benefits, caveats and pitfalls

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Why (and why not) use virtual desktops/workspaces.
• How to match the user type with the appropriate virtualization technology.
• How cost versus flexibility should affect your choice.

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory-Intermediate
Kaytee Hanson, Software Administrator, MN Dept of Human Rights
Jason Engen, Account Manager, Government with eDocument Resources
Lee Meyerdirk, Account Manager, Government with eDocument Resources
This session will discuss the Minnesota Department of Human Rights automated case management system. The discussion will include why the agency went down the path of implementing automated case management, how they use the system today in the various parts of their agency, and what some of the goals of the agency are moving into the future.

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory
Jason Baker, Chief Technology Officer, VISI
Discover the forces and trends that are shaping the evolution of data center design. We'll dive into data center trends including power requirements, service availability, compliance, and cloud computing. Attendees will come away with an understanding of what a data center will look like in the future.

Accessibility Track — Level: Introductory
Jay Wyant, CEO, Remotocom
Emily Bell, Multimedia Manager, CaptionMax
Lisa Richardson, Director, CART/Captioning, Paradigm Reporting & Captioning
Jamie Taylor, Technology Specialist, Commission of Deaf, Deaf Blind & Hard of Hearing Minnesotans
Do you want viewers to understand your online videos — even when it's noisy or the computer's audio is cracked? 10% of Minnesotans are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing (doubling in the next 15 years) but everyone experiences problems. Captioning is the law in MN. It is also a key part of universal design. Learn how to build captioning into your videos to make sure your message isn't lost and is clearly understood.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The basic range of options for captioning for different formats, from DVD to recorded web video to live online video to TV.
• The terminology and legal requirements for captioning in all video formats, presentation environments and audiences.
• The best resources for your captioning needs, from online tutorials to understanding how to differentiate vendor types.

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Intermediate
Masood Siddiqui, Software Engineer, MN Department of Education
This session will provide a brief historical background and introduction, followed by a architectural and implementation perspective on development of RESTFul Web Services.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• A deeper understanding of RESTFul Web Services and how they can be used to leverage data interoperability within and without enterprises.
• Potential issues and pitfalls to look for.
• What kind of technology stack can be used to implement them.

Business Analysis Track - Level: Advanced
Hong Huie, Partner/Trainer, Advanced Technologies Integration, Inc.
If you have done agile, you likely have encountered many questions not covered in books or introductory agile classes. This workshop addresses advanced agile topics and answers “frequently asked questions” over a wide range of agile concerns, such as agile for large and distributed teams, agile in IT infrastructure, estimating techniques, tools, and agile for Quality Assurance teams. It also covers common pitfalls to avoid.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Advanced techniques such as various estimating methodologies, approaches for guiding teams, and breaking down User Stories.
• Answers to frequently asked questions such as when and where Agile may not work, which practices to use, and how Agile works with RUP.
• A comparison of leading Agile tools and Agile project tracking platforms, including both open source and commercial options

Cloud Track - Level: Intermediate
Morgan Catlin, President and CTO, Valtira, LLC
Moving applications to the cloud presents new and exciting options for application development. Attendees will learn how to identify an application for cloud deployment, how to leverage the cost, scalability, and resiliency benefits of the cloud to deliver successful applications.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Scalability – how to architect an application for scalability.
• Resiliency – how to design for failure and build applications that can handle failure gracefully.
• Cost Effectiveness – how to choose the best cloud-based solution that meet budgetary requirements.

Leadersnip and Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Judy Regenscheid, Chief Information Officer, Hennepin County
Otto Doll, Chief Information Officer, City of Minneapolis
Recent research indicates that approximately 50% of public sector organizations are already engaged in data center and desktop consolidation and virtualization activities and the other 50% are preparing to make the move. It only makes sense.

Whichever group you fall into, come and learn more about how you can:

• Manage desktop applications and updates centrally with fewer staff.
• Reduce physical server count and annual hardware expense.
• Increase desktop hardware longevity and support a more mobile workforce.
• Claim credit for being “green” by reducing energy usage and expense.
• Fund future initiatives with savings generated now.

MN Enterprise IT Track - Level: Introductory
Staff Representative, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
The State of Minnesota Data Center migration and co-location is a hot topic in IT right now, but few know how agencies are progressing with their consolidation efforts. This presentation will provide an update on the strategy, co-location services and where the executive branch agencies are with migrations.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• An update on current history.
• Migration strategies and where executive branch agencies are in the lifecycle.
• Demonstrate ease of use and connectivity

Personal and Professional Development Track - Level: Introductory - Intermediate
Michael Monroe Kiefer, Ph.D., Speaker/Psychologist, Powermind Training Inc.
Everyone needs a good memory on the job. Everyone has also experienced those embarrassing moments when their memory isn't working! This session will allow participants to determine their genetic memory type with a survey. They will also learn memory tricks to enhance memory, remember people's names, when to memorize, foods that enhance or depress memory, memorize notes in half the time, even where you parked your car!!!

By attending this session, you will learn:

• What genetic type of memory you have with a survey
• How to remember people's names with an 8 step formula and what time of day is best to learn new information
• Specific foods and drinks that enhance or depress memory, how to use music to enhance memory, memorize notes in half the time

Project and Portfolio Management Track - Level: Introductory - Intermediate
Mary Texer, Director, IT Industry Relations, Advance IT Minnesota
As professional project managers, we have been schooled in all the parts and processes that need to be addressed to ensure a successful project. Yet some projects still fail. What are we missing? Projects succeed or fail for a variety of reasons. One of the more subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) reasons is people management. Join us for a look at the people side of project management, both inside and outside.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The importance of managing both the project and the project team.
• The basic information needs of the organization, the project and the team.
• The need to start developing a personal strategy to better manage your project teams.

Security Track - Level: Intermediate
Dr. Paul Judge, Chief Research Officer and VP, Barracuda Networks
Daniel Peck, Research Scientist, Barracuda Networks
The popularity and open API of social media make an attractive medium for attackers. In this session, we discuss the scale and history of malicious activity on Twitter and Facebook. Based on a comprehensive research study, we demonstrate how attackers respond rapidly to the large increases of users driven by celebrity attention, as well as review attacks across trending topics, URL shorteners and more.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Twitter and Facebook's paths and growth trajectories, including the vast influx of users in a short span, and the coinciding Crime Rate.
• Identify accounts suspended for malicious/suspicious activity, malicious activity spread via URL shorteners and poisoned searches and trending topics.
• How to distinguish between legitimate and fake accounts.

Virtualization Track - Level: Intermediate
Matt Heldstab, Systems Administrator, MN State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU), Office of the Chancellor
Jim Yanik, End User Computing Specialist SE, VMware
VDI modernizes desktops and applications by moving them into the datacenter and delivering them as a managed service. The MnSCU Office of the Chancellor piloted and implemented a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure resulting in the virtualization of one-fifth of all desktops. MnSCU and VMware will explain the pilot process and cover some valuable lessons learned. The presentation will be made with a thin client.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Flexibility: the intangible benefit ROI cannot calculate. Accessing your VDI desktop on an iPad, Mac, Thin/Zero Client or Windows PC a snap.
• Scalability: adding desktops to your infrastructure and allowing for the testing of new technologies (Windows 7, Office 2010, other software upgrades)
• Manageability: VDI allows you to provide a secondary platform for your users while eliminating rogue hypervisors that are tough to control.

Special Selections Track - Level:
Michael Anderson, Microsoft Engineer, Microsoft
Bill Bleckwehl, Account Manager, Cisco Systems
Jerry Connolly, Systems Engineer II, Polycom
Jen Marki, Microsoft Sales Rep, Microsoft
Building on the success of last year's “To Skype or not to Skype” presentation, representatives from the industry's key video conferencing and unified communication players will be on hand to discuss the current state of this technology. In the past year, Microsoft has purchased Skype for $8.5B. HP and Polycom announced a Broad Strategic Alliance. What does it all mean? How will it affect you and your organization?

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Updates on the current state of desktop video conferencing and unified communications.
• How to identify key differences and similarities from the various video conferencing and unified communication choices.
• Which video conferencing or unified communications option(s) might be best for your particular organization?

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory-Intermediate
Andrew Dorn, Document Imaging Architect, Toshiba Business Solutions
A common area of concern for network and document security is an organization’s multi-function device.  Sensitive documents and network information pass through these devices and uncontrolled access can pose a threat to the organization.  In addition, print output is an ongoing expense and can be difficult to assign as a cost to the appropriate staff.  How can an organization effectively secure devices while maintaining a user-friendly environment?  Is it possible to implement policies that both secure your information and reduce expenses associated with document output?

In this session you will learn about technology that:

• Authenticates user access to devices and facilitates secure print release
• Enables rules-based printing to encourage efficient use of technology
• Enables central web-based administration of network devices and allows for bill-back to departments or users

Accessibility Track - Level: Introductory
Rena Rogers, PMP, Project Management Specialist, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
Using the Accessibility Implementation Tool Kit and other resources, learn the basic steps to creating an Accessibility Implementation plan for your agency or organization. Tools, templates, guidance and many resources are available to assist you in this process and help assure that both employees and your customers are able to access your products and services.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Why technology accessibility is important to state agencies.
• A process to develop an implementation plan for your agency.
• Become familiar with tools, training, and guidance to help you develop and implement your plan

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Intermediate
Brian Lockwood, .NET Educator, Benchmark Learning
jQuery is derived from JavaScript and is ideal because it can create impressive animations and interactions. jQuery is simple to understand and easy to use. Using the theories set out in this session, designers, developers and web producers will have the knowledge and understanding to use jQuery for DOM scripting in an accessible and degradable way; maintaining content that is beautiful, functional AND accessible.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The (almost) infinite possibilities when using jQuery.
• How to create content that is accessible to a wide audience, yet well designed, interactive and visually appealing, with jQuery.
• How to use jQuery for DOM scripting in an accessible and degradable way, maintaining visual appeal, functionality and accessibility.

Business Analysis Track - Level: Introductory
Mike Steigerwald, IT Specialist, MN Dept of Human Services
Most IT professionals eventually find themselves in situations that require business analysis, whether they know it or not. This presentation shares strategies for providing ‘ad hoc’ business analysis that makes the most of available tools and information. It presents an example scenario (interactive, if possible) that leads to dashboards, scorecards, and drilldowns that should apply to most situations that pertain to ROI.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• To use browsers and other ‘office’ software to create dashboards, scorecards, and drill-downs.
• Strategies for slicing ‘big picture’ analyses like return-on-investment into component details to anticipate FAQ.
• To create generic dashboards, scorecards, and drill-downs and then prepare to customize them for specific analyses.

Cloud Track - Level: Introductory
Steve Tripp, Sr. IT Consultant, Sage Technology Group, LLC
Need to understand what all the hype is about? Interested in cloud computing but unsure if the time is right? Concerned about security and the cloud? Have a VDI project and considering placing them in the cloud? Just need more information on how best to utilize the cloud? In this session I will discuss all of those topic points, best practices, and providing you with the good and the bad of cloud computing.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Best practices of cloud computing.
• What cloud computing really is.
• How to proceed with their cloud initiative

Leadership and Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Danielle Sagstetter, Learning and Development Consultant/Trainer, General Mills
"Behind every successful person, there is one elementary truth. Somewhere, in some way, someone cared about that person's growth and development." (Anonymous) Mentoring is a powerful way to encourage individuals to manage their own learning in order to develop themselves, improve their performance and maximize their potential. Find out more by attending Mentor, Set, Go!

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The benefits of mentoring (including organizational benefits that could be used to sell mentoring back to your organization)
• The mentoring process and how to use it within an organization, while on-boarding, during professional development and succession planning
• Mentees will feel confident to initiate, organize and conclude a mentoring relationship. Mentors will feel confident in developing a mentee

MN Enterprise IT Track - Level: Introductory
Jim Steinwand, Access Control Manager, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
Gary Ostrem, Security Services Product Manager, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
Are your user’s identities managed properly, insuring your data access is properly controlled? OET is expanding the security services to help get you in and keep wrong people out. The Identity and Access Management (IAM) service is available for application integration with this externalized authentication service.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How an organization greatly increases their security profile with this OET security service?
• How an organization integrates and benefits from IAM Service?
• How does your security operate once security services have been integrated?

Personal and Professional DevelopmentTrack - Level: Introductory - Intermediate
Sandra Marks, Employee Development Specialist, MN Dept. of Administration
There is growing evidence that a strong professional network can mean a rapid rise in your career field and provide access to some awesome perks: more money, greater visibility, and the best assignments. It's also evident that it's becoming more difficult to succeed professionally without developing a diverse range of connections with other people. Learn how you can become an effective networker and realize your career goals.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The reasons it is important to build a professional network.
• Tips and techniques to become an effective networker.
• How to network in a few minutes a day.

Project and Portfolio Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Karen Rainford, Project Manager Educator/Trainer, St. Mary's University
The project team can’t resolve all the project uncertainty, risks and opportunities because many risks live at the higher levels of the organization, or the portfolio environment. This presentation applies risk management to a case study, examines the complications that can occur in implementing risk strategies, and suggests good practices.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The mandate for using risk management on technology projects greater than $1mm in size. (MN Statute 16E.04,Subd. 3.)
• How to triage risks and address uncertainty at all organizational levels and ensure that risks are properly identified, classified, and managed.
• A case study that defines the steps for implementing risk management.

Security Track - Level: Intermediate
George Archibald, World Wide IM Business Development, IBM
This presentation will look at the nature of Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) and how some recent data breaches occurred. Focus will be on the importance of protecting data stored in databases, as this tends to be an organization's most important data. Ways of protecting data in databases will be discussed and how this can be incorporated into an overall security strategy. 

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Prevention of database leaks, protect data privacy
• To enforce database change control, audit and validate compliance
• To prevent cyber attacks with database activity monitoring, monitor privileged users

Virtualization Track - Level:Intermediate
Jacqueline Campbell, IT Program Manager, University of Minnesota
Mike Scheuerman, IT Management Consultant, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota faculty and staff must constantly evaluate how to be more efficient in the work that they do. This is the "new normal" of declining budgets in higher education. As part of the effort to be more efficient, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) launched The Data Center Modernization Program, a collection of eleven different projects which aim to create efficiency within centeral IT's data centers and also be consolidating disparate server rooms and computing infrastructure across distributed IT departments.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to launch a centrally hosted virtualization service and other hosting services to be consumed by many distributed IT departments..
• How space utilization through virtualization and consolidation can reduce the number of rooms used to house servers.
• How distributed IT staff can refocus from providing commodity infrastructurer services to more strategic activities and initiatives.
• How to organize multiple IT initiatives into a strategic program.

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory
Christopher Flaherty, Co-founder and Executive Vice President of Strategic Accounts, N'compass
According to Forrester, data center infrastructure is expected to grow to 60 percent market penetration by 2014. You will leave this session acquiring the information necessary to build a strategy on the “how’s” and “why’s of a management infrastructure. This knowledge will equip you with the ever-changing demands of increased power and heat density, data center consolidation, virtualization, cloud computing, reliance and energy efficiency.

Special Selections Track
Bill Johnson, Senior systems Engineer for Endpoint Management and Mobility, Symantec
The rapid proliferation of mobile devices in the workplace is outpacing that of any previous technology, and enterprises are moving quickly to address this trend. This new wave of technology must be enabled, secured, and managed to maximize government agility and employee productivity. As mobile devices become more sophisticated and provide greater access to electronic protected information, government agencies require greater control and management to protect information, comply with regulations, and ensure departments productivity—all while delivering a lower costs. Please join us to learn more on this critical topic.

Timely Topics Track - Level: Intermediate
Craig Yellick, Vice President, Alto Consulting & Training
A sophisticated yet easy-to-use workflow engine is built into every edition of SharePoint. While it doesn't take a software developer to use, power users will find the free workflow designer tool has plenty of features and functionality for automating and streamlining routine tasks, routing and decision-making. Implement business rules and gain consistency, repeatability and accountability through process tracking and reporting.

By attending this session, you will:

• Learn how and where workflows can be used in SharePoint to gain efficiency, reduce duplication of effort, and improve collaboration.
• Gain exposure to workflow actions and conditions and see how they improve process and project management by making tasks more visible and accountable.
• Leave with a plan for leveraging SharePoint workflow features and benefits

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Intermediate
Brian Lockwood, .NET Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
ASP.NET MVC gives you a powerful, patterns-based way to build dynamic websites that enables a clean separation of concerns and gives you full control over markup. ASP.NET MVC includes many features and also enables test driven development defined applications that use the latest web standards. This session will discuss the primary elements to ASP.NET MVC including Models, Views and Controllers.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to build dynamic websites that enable a clean separation of concerns and gives you full control over markup.
• ASP.NET MVC features and test driven development defined applications that use the latest web standards.
• The primary elements to ASP.NET MVC including Models, Views and Controllers.

Business Analysis Track - Level: Introductory
Dr. David Bouchard, Professor and Coordinator of Masters in MIS, Metropolitan State University
Business analytics significantly improve ability to analyze huge datasets and improve creation and management of metrics for tracking and improving services. How do we know what is really happening? In combination with visual communications techniques, we can speed responsiveness of services with improved ability to document effectiveness to funders.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Concepts of business analytics and data-driven metrics with a public sector perspective.
• Ways to use and apply insights in design and improvement of services.
• Visual presentation techniques for data-based materials.

Content and Document Management Track - Level: Introductory
Dave Anderson, Web Developer/Architect, MN Pollution Control Agency
Dick McMullen, IS Manager, Office of the Chancellor, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
Jason Dean, Web Application Developer, Dakota County Technical County
Bob Granvin, Interim Director of Information Services, Metropolitan State University
Web content management systems are powerful platforms for managing web sites of all sizes. Bring your questions to this fast-paced panel discussion with four organizations who are in the process of selecting and implementing different content management systems.

By attending this session you will learn:

• How organizations have selected a CMS, and why there is no one-size-fits-all CMS solution.
• How organizations are dealing with the overlapping functionality among Content/Document/Asset Management systems.
• How a CMS helps shift management and maintenance of web content to the subject matter experts and communications staff.

Emerging Technology and Trends Track - Level: Intermediate
John Banchy, Systems Architect, IBM Corporation
We are in the era of a smarter planet. Instrumented, intelligent, and interconnected devices are driving an explosion in data and new ways to solve problems. Learn about trends in smart government, grids, traffic, and how the underlying IT infrastructure is changing to handle this new smarter environment.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• About recent trends in IT service delivery.
• How smart devices will change how we approach problems.
• How a number of real clients are building a smarter planet

Leadership and Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Kit Welchlin, Professional Speaker/Trainer, Welchlin Communication Strategies
Position power is the extent to which leaders have rewards, punishments, and sanctions. Position power comes from the organization. Personal power is the extent to which you can gain the confidence and trust of those people that you’re attempting to influence. It’s the cohesiveness or commitment between leaders and followers. The new leaders are communicators and build and sustain both positional and personal power!

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Six criteria of personal credibility
• Top ten characteristics of effective leaders
• Three skills to long-term effectiveness
• How to select appropriate situational leadership styles
• How to take charge and grow winners

Mobile Devices and Applications Track - Level: Intermediate
Benjamin Williams, Mobile Application Developer, Hennepin County
Christopher D. Aburime, IT Technical Services Supervisor, Hennepin County
Hennepin County is forming a new mobile development practice to improve and expand upon county services. Mobile development presents many challenges, including: the need to support varied devices and platforms, extreme usability requirements, and strict device limitations. We will cover our experiences forming an agile process that can successfully handle the unique demands of development on mobile devices.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• What unique process challenges await in the mobile development arena.
• Why agile methods are highly complementary to the needs of mobile development.
• The specific challenges we faced at Hennepin County while forming a mobile development practice.

Personal and Professional Development Track - Level: Introductory
Brandy Favilla, Community Manager, Social Media Strategist and Public Speaker, Computer Rangers, LLC
Internal networking is when you reach out to colleagues within your organization, even if your job doesn’t require you to do so. It’s going beyond your normal scope of job responsibilities. Being an internal networker means you are looking outside your immediate, day-to-day activities and thinking about how you can connect with and create value for others in your company.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Networking basics, must have skills and how to get started networking internally.
• Communication styles, generational differences and building powerful relationships with coworkers.
• Online networking tools, such as LinkedIn, to maintain relationships.

Project and Portfolio Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Facilitators: Judy Grew, Management Consultant Senior, MN Management & Budget
Pamela Belknap, Management Analysis & Development, MN Management & Budget
Panel Members: Nancy Crandall, Principal, Justice Connections, LLC (former Deputy Director, State Court Administration, Court Services Division)
Oded Galili, Deputy Director, Department of Public Safety, Minnesota Justice Information Services (MNJIS)
Lisa Meredith, Executive Director, Minnesota Counties Computer Cooperative (MCCC)
For a change initiative to be successful, organizations need to prepare their staff and organizations to build support for the initiative and its implementation. In this session, participants will have a unique opportunity to learn from representative managers of four Minnesota state agencies, as they share best practices and advice from recent experiences with large systems implementation projects.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to involve system users in the development process to build ownership and acceptance for future changes to their work.
• What, how, and when to communicate about the project with various audiences and stakeholders
• Factors to include in system rollout and training (and those to avoid) that can make or break a successful transition.

Security Track - Level: Intermediate
Chris Andrews, CFCE, EnCE, Director, Computer Forensics & Secure Information Services Practice, Kroll
If approached and executed correctly, computer forensics can assist in uncovering evidence that may bolster an investigation. Adherence to strict industry standards, especially with regard to preserving the data, will help prevent the loss of critical data and will strengthen the credibility of the work performed. This session will explain how to use computer forensics to the fullest advantage possible, including a discussion of the following:

• Computer Forensics Incident Handling
• Counter-Forensics and Spoliation
• Password Breaking
• Common Computer Forensics Mistakes and Other Considerations

Social Media Track - Level: Introductory
Jane Kennedy, Director of Relationship Management Services, MN Dept of Human Services
Barry Caplin, Chief Information Security Officer, MN Dept of Human Services
Linda Dahlen, Chief Information Security Officer, MN Dept of Transportation
Cathy de Moll, Director, Planning, Communications and Marketing, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
Bob Filipczak, Social Media Coordinator/IO3, MN Dept of Transportation
Ryan Furlong, Director of Social Media, Governor's Office
When it comes to reaching citizens, users, customers or clients, social media is definitely the biggest, shiniest new toy out there. But there are a lot more things to consider when you’re providing government services, rather than selling widgets. This session features a panel discussion about social media and government. We will talk about what works and what doesn’t, as well as the risks and benefits of Government 2.0.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How other agencies have gotten started using social media.
• What issues a government entity should consider before jumping into social media.
• The importance of strategic planning before using social media within an organization.

Virtualization Track - Level: Intermediate
Kent Huelman, Virtualization Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
Virtual Desktops can definitely work, but they also present some challenges. This session will have a frank discussion on the pluses and minuses of this latest virtualization trend.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The benefits and challenges of virtualizing your desktop.
• How to navigate a virtual desktop environment.
• Whether or not a virtual desktop environment is within your scope.

Special Selections Track - Level: Intermediate
Paul Schlueter, Data Center Specialist, Cisco
This session looks inside the next-generation data center platform that unites computer, network, storage access and virtualization into a cohesive system which reduces complexity and costs, while increasing agility. Cisco is consolidating technology silos in the data center and significantly simplifying management/infrastructure in the data center with a systems approach — making things work better together, while driving considerable cost savings and efficiencies.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The numerous features of UCS and how they improve efficiency and reduce cost.
• The Unified Compute System including extended memory architecture and simplified management.
• How UCS can benefit your organization and will hear about different organizations such as the University of Colorado and the State of New Mexico who have deployed UCS.

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory
Eddie Dunn, VP of Sales, ArcMail
Many organizations are seriously considering transitioning to Google Apps for their email, or using Google to augment their current in-house Email/Exchange environment. This transition "to the Cloud" has many implications, some good, some with things to think about. This session will discuss this option for your organization, and also the implications for your budget, compliance requirements, and email management.

Timely Topics Track
Senator Terri Bonoff, Minnesota Senate
Representative Keith Downey, Minnesota House of Representatives
Carolyn Parnell, CIO, State of Minnesota
This panel features State Representative Keith Downey, State Senator Terri Bonoff, and State CIO Carolyn Parnell who are leaders in government reform and innovation. The discussion will focus on hearing the policymaker's vision for the role of IT in delivering government services and what they see as outcomes of the recently enacted IT consolidation law.

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Introductory
Brian Lockwood, Web Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
In this session we'll discuss web accessibility principles and design ideas. Discussions and examples will focus around web development and making the web content accessible to people with disabilities. Although web accessibility is appropriate for basic web development, this session will also share how accessible web content works in a client server environment.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to make your website more accessible and compliant for people with disabilities.
• Website design requirements and principles to assist you in your web development.
• How to translate accessible web content into a client server environment.

Business Analysis Track - Level: Inroductory
Devan Shepherd, CEO/Chief Technical Officer/Author/Trainer, XMaLpha Technologies
As most government agencies begin to embrace the underlying principles of business analysis, the question often arises about which software products are essential for the well-equipped analyst. This is a topic that can sometimes generate discussion, heart-felt opinion, and even passionate debate, but the unbiased focus here will be primarily on tools that get the job done without breaking the bank in the process.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• A few low-cost alternatives, suggestions and tips based on lessons learned from real word projects.
• How to repurpose existing tools to perform critical business analysis tasks, and see how to build a free project wiki in five minutes.
• How to assess the quality of requirements, written in natural language, for free, thanks to NASA.

Content and Document Management Track - Level: Introductory - Intermediate
Brent Wartner, Director of Policy & Legal Services, MN Dept of Corrections
Patrick Courtney, Records Manager, MN Dept of Corrections
Barbara Blackburn, Project Manager/Certified Records Manager, The MACRO GROUP Inc.
Jennifer Smith, SharePoint Specialist, The MACRO GROUP Inc.

Electronic document management presents an opportunity for government agencies to address issues they currently face with paper/document bound processes. MN DOC's implementation of SharePoint 2010 is providing easier – and secured – access to inmate-related documents, immediate availability of information to multiple parties at remote facilities, automated retention processes, and improved administration.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• An approach for determining document management requirements and implementing electronic document management.
• How SharePoint 2010 can be leveraged for enterprise content management.
• How using workflow processes and electronic documents can make document-bound processes more timely and efficient.

Emerging Technologies and Trends Track - Level: Intermediate
Karl Solie, Network Architect, Solie Research, LLC; Instructor, Ascolta
On February 3rd, 2011, the Number Resource Organization (NRO) announced, “that the free pool of available IPv4 addresses is now fully depleted.” IPv6 deployment is now at a critical stage, and the only option for the Internet to continue to grow. This session will discuss the current state of the Internet and IPv4. It will introduce the IPv6 address space, while comparing it to IPv4. It will also address basic IPv6 deployment.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The current state of the Internet and the depletion of the IPv4 address space.
• The IPv6 addresses space and the different types of IPv6 addresses.
• Basic deployment of IPv6, including routing protocols and other IPv6 applications.

Leadership and Management Track - Level: Introductory
Greta Grosch, Professional Trainer, Speaker, Writer, Performer
When Peter Pan told Wendy to follow him out the window, she did. And great adventures followed. Are you the kind of leader that can inspire others to such acts of daring? This inspirational and interactive leadership session is designed to help answer the questions: How do I lead difficult people? How do I create a team? How can I inspire others to action in order to maximize results?

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The difference between managing and leading.
• A four-step leadership model.
• Strategies for resolving conflict within a group.

Mobile Devices and Applications Track - Level: Intermediate
Reynaldo Lyles, President, YFI Technologies
You’ve deployed a few mobile applications to a handful of devices. Now you need to deploy to a few hundred or maybe 10,000+ devices. If that’s not enough, you also need to accommodate multiple device types such as iPhone, Android, iPad, iPod Touch, and Windows mobile. This session will discuss device policies, security, and best-practices for MDM.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• About mobile device security, mobile device policy’s, key MDM features.
• An understanding of MDM governance to prevent lawsuits from unauthorized action on personal/business devices.
• Best-practices knowledge and how to maximize IT resources when it comes to application deployment and device management.

Personal and Professional Development Track - Level: Introductory—Intermediate
Catherine Perme, Organizational Change Consultant and Facilitator, C.M. Perme & Associates LLC
Let’s face it, it’s not a great time to be a public servant these days, with calls for reduced spending fostering changes in services, organizations, and staffing levels.  This session will provide key strategies to help you anticipate, assess, face, and manage the changes that may affect you, to help you avoid being a “victim” of change and make the best decisions possible for you and your family.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to anticipate and analyze potential changes that may affect you
• How to identify your own "non-negotiables" so that you can make better decisions
• Strategies to help you cope with the uncertainty and emotional toil of change.

Project and Portfolio Management Track - Level: Introductory
Manoj Vadakkan, Agile Coach & Trainer, Northern Start Technologies
Many organizations get attracted to Scrum because of its simplicity and its potential to deliver results faster. Many don’t realize the cultural changes that they need to make in order to become a hyper-productive team. This session will discuss why cultural aspects are important and how cultural changes make the mechanics of Scrum effective.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• What are the necessary cultural changes and why they are important when adopting Agile / Scrum?
• How to enable the Scrum mechanics with the cultural changes to make an effective team.
• How to make these cultural changes stick.

Security Track - Level: Intermediate
Chris Andrews, CFCE, EnCE, Director, Computer Forensics & Secure Information Services Practice, Kroll
This session will include a live demonstration using commonly available Computer Forensics tools such as Tableau hardware write-blockers, Access Data FTK Imager, and Guidance Software EnCase software:

• Create an accurate forensic image of a hard drive that contains the necessary information to be entered as evidence in Court
• Examine the forensic image for some common types of evidence such as 1) File records (active and deleted), 2) Internet history, 3) Email, 4) Graphics (pictures), and Keyword searches for the 'smoking gun' evidence.

Social Media Track - Level: Introductory
Mike Ellsworth, Program Director, CareerOneStop, MN Dept of Employment and Economic Development
For organizations who serve people, social media presents opportunities (e.g. engaging customers in conversations and obtaining feedback) as well as challenges (e.g. handling negative comments). Using mySkills myFuture’s online community as a case study, this presentation will help you gain a better understanding of the do’s and don’ts of using social media and help you identify critical organizational transformations necessary for success.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to write a social media usage policy.
• How to set up a social media community while avoiding possible security issues.
• How your organization may need to change in order to leverage social media’s potential.

Virtualization Track - Level: Introductory
Kent Huelman, Virtualization Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
You have always been told “there is no free lunch” and it’s true. With this in mind, there are a few things you will want to consider before deploying virtual desktops. The session will also address how well it scales.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The benefits and limitations of virtualization as it applies to your environment.
• Whether or not virtualized desktops will provide the benefits desired for the investment you will make
• What the expense is associated with virtualizing your desktops
• What the limitations are on size.
• The feasibility and benefits of virtualizing your desktop environment

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory-Intermediate
Jonathan Distad, Senior Consultant on Social and Portal Efforts, Perficient
Social is here and Open Government/Govt 2.0 is hitting us faster than any other technology decision in history. Come learn tools, technologies, best practices and sample social governance plans to help your team move beyond e-government to a socially engaging entity – both internally and externally. You will leave with the knowledge and tools to begin to jump start social initiatives.

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory-Intermediate
Damian Flannery, Senior Account Executive, RJR Innovations
In this era of the "mobile worker", organizations often struggle with how to provide access to assets while adhering to security policies and standards. The key challenge lies in finding a balance between protecting your sensitive information, maintaining a strict control over who has access without chaining your employees to your organization's network. Learn how RJR Innovations' End Point Security Solution can set you free!

By attending our information session, you will learn:

• Why your organization needs an End Point Security Solution
• What components define a complete End Point Security Solution
• How an End Point Security Solution can ensure compliance to security policies and standards
• How to identify which components are essential for your organizations

Timely Topics Track
Tom Norman, Central Region Territory Manager for Aruba Networks
Are you interested in learning how to securely and easily connect employee-owned devices in the enterprise? Mobile devices are creating a new set of security configuration and management challenges for IT departments. In this presentation, we will discuss the major network and security issues relating to BYOD, as well as the myriad devices that need to be supported.

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Intermediate
John Wooden, Director, Usability Services, Speaker/Trainer, Fredrickson Communications, Inc
Ever wonder what really happens during a usability test? Why usability testing is crucial? Or how it compares to other user research methods, such as surveys and focus groups? Nothing will help you better understand the value of usability testing than seeing it for yourself. This session will center on a live demo of a usability test, using a sample government website and volunteer test participants from the audience.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to prepare for and conduct a usability test.
• What to do with the results from a usability test.
• How usability testing compares with other user research methods.

Business Analysis Track - Level: Introductory
Devan Shepherd, CEO/Chief Technical Officer/Author/Trainer, XMaLpha Technologies
All too often, data models are overly complex, or useful to only a subset of project stakeholders. In this session we will explore an easy-to-use, comprehensive approach to the logical modeling of data structures that effectively maps back to requirements.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• A system to establish models that are readable and useful to all levels of project stakeholders.
• To use data modeling to predict and analyze the evolution of requirements knowledge and discovery in a complex IT project.
• Discover the differences between the "what" and "how" of data considerations on an IT project.

Content and Document Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Randy Dufault, Director, Solution Development, Genus Technologies
Organizations are now rife with electronic and physical content that are growing, in many cases, at exponential levels. An Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system can help tame this content beast. But as always, selecting the right technology solution and deploying it the right way is a huge challenge. This session presents a strategy for accomplishing just that.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The considerations for evaluating different ECM systems and vendors.
• The complexities and considerations involved with a content system deployment.
• ECM considerations like capture, classification, security, document formats and user interfaces.
• Experiences of other organizations that have conducted content system deployments.

Emerging Technologies and Trends Track - Level: Introductory
Dan Oehmke, Director, Process Controls and Improvement, MN Office of Enterprise Technology; Instructor, St. Mary's University
Have you been hearing about ITIL ad IT Service Management? Do you find yourself wondering what it's all about? Come to this session for an overview of related fundamentals and why you should care. Learn how OET has been using these ideas to shape its organization and way of getting work done. Find out where to learn more and how to get started if your organization wants to incorporate ITIL into its business.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Basic fundamentals of ITIL and IT Service Management.
• How OET has been using ITIL and IT Service Management to shape its organization and method of working.
• Where to learn more and how to get started if your organization wants to incorporate ITIL.

Leadership and Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Christophe Veltsos, Associate Professor, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Eric Breece, Security Architect, MN Office of Enterprise Technology
John Hoffoss, Information Security Specialist, MN State Colleges & Universities
Risk management (RM) is an idea whose time has come. But what do you need to know before setting this up? Why do you need RM? What risks are you trying to manage? Can you measure risks with so many unknowns in the world of IT and security? Our panel will shed light on these questions.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• What you should know before starting a risk management program.
• What risk management frameworks exist.
• How risks can be measured when there are so many unknowns in the world of IT and security.

Mobile Devices and Applications Track - Level: Intermediate
Mark Monn, Multi-Media/Web Development, Learning Resources Services, St. Cloud State University
Mobile devices are being used more frequently to access content on institutional websites. In order to satisfy these users, St. Cloud State University wanted to provide a streamlined user experience that would efficiently deliver appropriate content on multiple platforms and devices. The session will address: the decision making processes, and the experiences and the rationale behind the choices made as we navigated through the process of creating m.stcloudstate.edu.

In this session, you will learn:

• What the difference is between a mobile application and a mobile website.
• How you decide when it is appropriate to build a platform-specific mobile application or a mobile website.
• What St. Cloud State University is doing with their mobile presence

Personal and Professional Development Track - Level: Introductory
David Mann, Professional Speaker/Trainer, Word to Action
You know what you're talking about, but your staff/clients might not because they don't understand the way you communicate. This session will outline useful methods of making key points clearly, telling a memorable story, and translating technical jargon into everyday speech. Whether you're using a script or a bullet point outline, this session will help you get your message across with confidence.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to translate technical information into images that convey the point more clearly.
• How to communicate more information with fewer words.
• An easy-to-remember template for individual communication styles.

Project and Portfolio Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Steve Mueller, IT Application Manager, Department of Public Safety
Allan Neoh, President/CTO, Riciti LLC
Gain insight into the MN Dept of Public Safety’s deployment of SharePoint for its public websites from RFP to production release. This session addresses challenges and lessons covering project and management strategies, effective processes, best practices for web governance, accessibility compliance, testing and technical challenges.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Insight into DPS’s project from RFP to production covering the project phases, challenges, and lessons learned.
• Best practices for building Gov 2.0 and accessibility compliance requirements into a deployment.
• A proven strategy for building a successful SharePoint program from the ground up.

Security Track - Level: Intermediate
Mari Payton, Information Security Analyst, OET/MN Dept of Human Services
David T Anderson, Information Security Analyst, OET/MN Dept of Human Services
Most ClOs would identify an alignment of vision and business practices throughout the organization as key to success. People are the first line of defense in a successful Information Security program. Learn how to be successful in engaging business partners throughout your organization in establishing policy, training staff, gaining compliance, and ultimately a more secure organization.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Insight for establishing policy that encourages compliance.
• A variety of training and awareness activities.
• Techniques for increasing compliance.

Social Media Track - Level: Introductory-Immediate
Paul Burtness, Web Site Coordinator, Anoka County
Martha Weaver, Public Information Manager, Anoka County
Jennifer Fink, Marketing and Visitor Services Manager, Anoka County Parks
Social media is no longer a novelty, or something to do "when we get around to it." Social media needs to be an essential part of your plans for communicating to and engaging with citizens because that's where they are on the web. Anoka County has been using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for two years and we're ready to share real-world experiences.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How social media can be integrated with your organization's plans and goals.
• Practical, real-world tips on getting buy-in within the organization, handling comments from citizens, and saving time and effort.
• How social media tools can be used to measure your impact and evaluate the results of your efforts.

Virtualization Track - Level: Intermediate
Kent Huelman, Virtualization Educator/Trainer, Benchmark Learning
There is a lot of talk about increased security with virtualization and the benefits and limitations of its presence. This session will try to separate fact from fiction.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The benefits and limitations of increased virtualization security.
• To take an in-depth look at how security measures are applied to a virtual environment.
• What is fact and what is fection as it applies to virtualization security.

Special Selections Track - Level: Introductory
Mitch Brown, Works Computing CTO
Jeff Barsness, Works Computing Principal Solutions Architect
Jason Ligday, Works Computing Solutions Architect
This session will focus on the transformational changes to IP networks through Ethernet fabric technologies now on the market. These new feature-rich technologies can be deployed today, and transform the network from hierarchical, multi-layer topologies to flatter, streamlined topologies where multi-pathing and sub-second failovers are the norm. Additional features such as policy based provisioning and automation, along with horizontal data movement, will support the highest performance and fail-over requirements.

Special Selections Track
Mark Feil, Minneapolis General Manager, XO Communications
Tripp O'Hara. VP, Cloud Technology Solutions, XO Communications
Wayne Quehl, Sr. Sales Engineer, XO Communications
Learn how XO Communications is helping the government with the transformation to the next generation dataceter through our comprehensive laaS solutions in partnership with EMC, Cisco and VMWare. Come learn how you can utilize cloud computing and Content Delivery Networks to meet your IT requirements using a flexible, on-demand, and rapidly scalable model that requires neither ownership, nor provision of dedicated resources.

Timely Topics Track - Level:
speaker
coming

Application Development and Testing Track - Level: Intermediate
Tom Ammons, Developer, MN Dept of Human Services
Unless you have a very simple website, there is a good chance that it is has some glitches when you run it in your browser. This session will show you how you can use your browser (IE) and fiddler (tracks data flows on port 80) to help you debug your HTML, CSS and your scripts.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• To use your browser to debug problems with your website.
• How to use fiddler to debug problems with your website.
• How to debug your JavaScript/jquery code.

Business Analysis Track - Level:Intermediate
Bob Sigafus, Business Analyst, Hennepin County
Ken Murphy, QA Tester, Hennepin County
Hennepin County is developing a content management and workflow application for Human Services workers. In order to overcome some challenges in the project, the project team decided to adopt the agile methodology. This presentation will discuss the initial approach to agile and the adjustments to this initial approach. These adjustments were driven by the needs of business analysts and QA team.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The critical role that Business Analysts and user stories play in the success of agile methodology
• The importance of test criteria definition in user stories.
• Agile improves communication within the project team.

Emerging Technologies and Trends Track - Level: Intermediate
Doreene Lorenzen, IT Manager, Hennepin County
Optimizing business processes? Looking for cost reduction opportunities that do not negatively impact business? Hennepin County’s MPS will ultimately save the County $3 million a year in printing costs, reduce environmental impact, and support their active living initiative. The session focus will be on critical success factors for implementing change at the enterprise level.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• ALOHA – Welcome innovation and change: Ask, Listen, Observe, have Heart, Advocate
• Business process management is your friend. To develop a managed print strategy, consideration must be given to all aspects of the program.
• Establishing strong, informed partnerships enables business transformation and change management to occur.

Leadership and Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Kimi Hirotsu Ziemski, President/Coach/Trainer, Energizing Enterprises
Professionals are under the tyranny of the urgent. In an age of attempting to match our processing to the speed of the Internet, we must also recognize its limitations. Rediscover the value of critical thinking to our leadership and our organizations. This approach is as old as the practice of philosophy and as necessary as oxygen.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• The need for critical thinking analysis.
• A model for critical thinking analysis.
• To evaluate the value of the use of the critical thinking analysis in specific situations

Mobile Devices and Applications Track - Level: Introductory-Intermediate
Sue Bousquet, IT Project Manager, MN Dept of Transportation
Rick Meyer, Systems Architect, MN Dept of Transportation
Paul Weinberger, Supervisor of the Application Development and GIS Services Unit, MN Dept of Transportation
The need for mobile applications and data is growing exponentially.  Learn how the MN Dept of Transportation (MnDOT) is making it easy to rapidly set up and use mobile data and applications by establishing a set of mobile standards and best practices.  The session addresses selecting the best mobile device based on business need and includes iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile.  It provides a common data structure and a flexible, reusable mobile web application with plans for adding reusable client and hybrid client applications.  It provides a mobile application security policy that is incorporated with the enterprise architecture.  It also provides mobile device security and management, including standard device configurations.

By attending this session you will learn:

• A method for providing mobile development standards and best practices that include business/technical requirements-based decision matrix for device selection, a common data structure, and a flexible, reusable mobile web application.
• How to develop and implement a mobile application security policy and integrates with enterprise IT architecture.
• MnDOT's strategies related to mobile device securit and management, including standard device configurations.

Personal and Professional Development Track - Level:
Michael Monroe Kiefer, Ph.D, Speaker/Psychologist, Powermind Training Inc.
In this highly motivational workshop, participants will learn how to apply core techniques based on studies of "peak performers." These proven methods can be practiced by anyone striving to accelerate their life progress. Numerous success examples will be provided to illustrate the methods. This workshop is for those looking to be inspired and have their self-confidence boosted!

By attending this session you will learn:

• A ten point peak performance goal-setting formula and how to use treasure charting to stay fired up every day and motivated to the max!
• How to use positive affirmation and visualization for health and inspiration.
• How to move your goals toward you — automatically! What to watch for and when!
• Taking action every day—simple disciplines
• The power of unstoppable persistence!

Project and Portfolio Management Track - Level: Intermediate
Steven Pine, Consultant/Trainer/Coach, Trissential
Tad Schindler, Supervisor, Application Development Unit, MN Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)
The Legacy Transformation project used agile and kaizen processes to work with IT and business staff to reach a consensus roadmap for transforming the existing MPCA application portfolio in a way that meets the budgetary constraints. Methods were successful and are very applicable to other agencies. Approaches will be explained and example deliverables shown.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How agile and kaizen processes were combined to produce a consensus agreement on a transformation roadmap.
• How a series of workshops were used and structured to reach a consensus agreement on the transformation roadmap.
• A model developed for application portfolio capacity planning.

Security Track - Level: Intermediate
Barry Caplin, Chief Information Security Officer, MN Dept of Human Services
There are personal devices at work for a variety of reasons: they are more convenient, they may be more powerful than company-issued gear, they are easy interfaces, they can carry less equipment, and, these devices are finally like "real" computers. But use of these personally-owned devices brings all kinds of security concerns, including data leakage and vulnerabilities in newer operating systems and apps.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• Define the convergence of mobile and desktop computing devices
• Review security concerns with the use of these devices, particularly employee-owned
• Discuss possible solutions

Social Media Track - Level: Introductory
Tom Jahnsen, Info Tech Spec 4 (HR Technology), Minnesota Department of Health
Social networks and personal devices are everywhere, especially in the workplace. The days when organizations could use technical tools to limit employee Internet access are over (if they ever existed in the first place!). These days, employees come to work with an Internet connection in their pocket. What opportunities and risks does 2011 technology bring for employers? For employees? Job seekers?

By attending this session, you will learn:

• What are the opportunities and risks that social networks and personal devices bring to the workplace?
• What can (or should) organizations do about this flood of new technology?
• What can (or should) individuals do about their own use of social networks and personal devices?

Virtualization Track - Level: Intermediate
Steve Tripp, Sr. IT Consultant, Sage Technology Group, LLC
With the release of VMware vSphere 5.0 you are charged with implementing the new environment; but you are unsure how to proceed or what to expect and have concerns from past experiences in previous upgrades. In this session we will discuss upgrading to VMware vSphere 5.0, the new features to be prepared for, steps to take and best practices.

By attending this session, you will learn:

• How to properly plan and execute the implementation to vSphere 5.0 and what to expect during the process.
• How the new features fit in with the planning and designing.
• Best practices and strategies for moving to the new environment.