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When I started Gov20LA in the fall of 2009 it was because I saw the immediate future. Governments were turning to Web 2.0 (Gov 2.0) to change their mode and methods of communications and engagement. We ran with that theme in 2010. 2011 I saw that Digital Diplomacy was changing the world, and we focused on that. The week we did the event, Tunisia, then Egypt fell (day before we did it.) Given that we had world’s collections of government social media experts, including a British Ambassador and representatives of 5 Foreign Governments in the room; many outside watching online were asking if my event somehow caused those revolutions… Umm, No.

In 2012 we did the first ever live presentation on Pinterest at an event that was also streamed; and we focused heavily on the success stories like Data.Gov and how the social media landscape was changing all of our interactions, whether in politics or personal.

This year, we are focusing on social media in emergency management; and how it is being used in the military and intelligence circles as well as at the local levels. So this week’s events in Boston just highlight the themes previously chosen. I did not plan it this way, and honestly wish there was no tie in to such horrific news. But. There it is. I am very proud of this event. It is not something I do to earn money – but rather to teach all of us that we own the government. We are the shareholders and can hire and fire our leaders when we need. Do not forget the power you have. Join us on Saturday in Malibu at Pepperdine for what promises to be another powerful event. www.gov20la.com and thank you for your patience with all my posts and updates about this.

Authored by Alan W. Silberberg
Founder, Gov 2.0 L.A.

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The third Gov20LA is coming up soon. In fact in On April 21 of 2012 at the same location as this year.

As we have in the last two years, the event will be fully live-streamed and interactive with twitter, facebook, chat.

We are past the point where the “Gov 2.0” in our name does more than evoke recognition. It is time to focus not on the theoretical but on the practical and how that is working or not. This past year the world has witnessed upheaval and change on a scale that is new to all of us. When we did Gov20LA this year - Tunisia had just fallen, and the crisis in Egypt was just erupting in full; we had a collection of the some of the world’s leading thinkers about guess what: social media in times of crisis and governments. It was to be sure pretty amazing timing.

This year we don’t expect any world revolutions while holding the event again, but who knows? We do know that the speaker lineup is getting better everyday. In addition to certain key sponsors we are also going to be crowdsourcing some of the event costs in a way to involve more of the live stream audience in addition to those attending.

The three themes of this upcoming Gov20LA are going to be:

1. Business inside Government and how it is rapidly becoming different, things like SCRM are being deployed and government is basically being forced to restructure itself.

2. Goverments’ use and management of social media in crisis like the earthquake, hurricanes, wildfires and large scale urban fires, and protests and riots.

3. Engagement is now being taken as a for granted thing, “everyone has a facebook page” but how real is it and how are crowd-sourcing and public private partnerships re-arranging the landscape?

We are requesting two things from you.

1. If you would like to submit a panel idea or speak please contact us here.

2. We will be issuing a follow up post before February 1, 2012 with regard to sponsorships and corporate opportunities as well as crowdsourced support for Gov 2.0 L.A. 2012, but if you are interested in sponsoring the event or some part of it, please contact us at Gov20LA@Gmail.com. Once again we appreciate all of the previous sponsors of the past two years, and could not have done it without each and every company and person who stepped up to sponsor the event.