3 Awesome Things about the Federal Technology Spring Fling

What can I say – – last night’s Federal Technology Spring Fling was one to remember. With 350+ attendees, tons of good conversations, overall fun, spirit, and no thunderstorms. The enthusiasm reminded me of last year’s Next Generation of Government Summit. I CAN’T WAIT for this again this July 28 – 29. Here’s a sneak peak at the agenda if you are interested.

Here are my top 3 favorite aspects of the Federal Technology Spring Fling:

More pics curtesy of Allen Magtibay!

1. Good energy + connections made. The success of any networking event (outside of logistics) is largely dependent on the enthusiasm of the participants. People were certainly energized and chatty last night making it easy for lots of connections to be made, business cards to be traded, and even, towards the end, a little dance competition to bust out. DC is an amazing hub of technology and web 2.0, and entrepreneurship. I love how events like this bring people together, and strengthen our community.

2. Brought together Industry and govies. When an event is solely one or the other, it is pretty dry in my opinion. AFCEA’s mission is to bridge these two groups, so whenever an effort is made to facilitate this as close to 50 / 50 as possible, the better.

3. Raised money for a charity. All proceeds from this event went to the Japan Relief Fund.

A couple ideas for improving for next year:

1. Big nametags that have Name | Company | What I am Looking For | What I Can Help With :: could be a good way to break the ice and get more people networking outside of smaller cliques. This is Joseph Porcelli’s idea, and he is, afterall the Nametag Guy.

2. The line was way too long (reminded me a bit of being at a club at South Beach, but that’s not what we were going for). We’ll improve this for next year.

Anyone attend have suggestions for next year?