How to Choose Breakout Sessions at NextGen

The Next Generation of Government Training Summit educates, inspires and promotes innovation and positive growth. But with 30 great breakout sessions to choose from, planning your NextGen schedule can be a challenge.

But we’re here to help. Here are three ways to choose your sessions so that you can improve your executive core qualifications and fundamental competencies and get the most out of NextGen!

1. Start with which ECQs you need to focus on
   Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) describe the leadership skills needed to succeed in the Senior Executive Service (SES) as identified by the Office of Personnel Management. So to advance your government career you should start working toward building skills in each ECQ fundamental competencies. Luckily, each NextGen breakout session aligns with ECQs, so it’s easy to build your schedule based on areas you need more focus on.

   You can sort by ECQ on the top right hand of the schedule. When you click into each breakout session, before the description there will be the ECQ and related competency listed in orange.

   For example, if you want to focus on ECQ 1: Leading Change, your breakout sessions to choose from include:

   • How to Advance Into Management
   • Understanding Government 101
   • Workplace Lessons for Millennials
   • Rebels at Work: Leading Change from Within
   • Design Thinking Immersion [Part 1 of 2]
   • Preparing for Leadership Positions
2. Follow a track by career experience
   If you are new to government or looking to move into a managerial role (or are a new manager), NextGen has dedicated paths for you. For each breakout session time block there is one session for each of these experience levels. You can also sort by this in the upper right hand of the schedule.

   New to Gov:
   (Recommended for 0 – 3 years of government experience)
   Entering into government can be confusing. This track is focused on helping you get a clearer understanding of how government works and how to better position yourself for future success in driving positive change. You’ll learn more about the government departments and agencies and how they align to their missions. You’ll also gain interpersonal skills that will help you identify your strengths and become a better communicator.

   Sessions include:

   • Map Your Government Career
   • Understand Government 101
   • Workplace Lessons for Millennials
   • Service, Certifications & Associations: your Path to Success!
   • Be The Most Valuable Employee
   • Preparing for Leadership Positions

   Moving into management:
   (Recommended for 5 or more years of government experience)
   Climbing the government career ladder is hard work. And good management and leadership training is hard to come by. This track is dedicated to help you grow into or within a management or leadership role in government.

   Sessions Include:

   • How To Advance Into Management
   • Empower Your Team To Succeed
   • Leading By Understanding Personality Preferences
   • Motivating Your Team
   • Courageous Conversations for SR Leaders
   • How to Give And Receive Feedback
3. Find your sessions by sorting by speaker
   NextGen has over 75 inspirational and distinguished public sector professionals who will lead the interactive breakout sessions. Check out the speaker page and browse through their biographies. Their session will be listed underneath their bio in a grey box.

   This year’s breakout session speakers include:

   • Mark Reger, Deputy Controller, Office of Management and Budget
   • Laura Kunkel, Special Assistant to the Chief Technology Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development
   • Sean Clayton, Chief Human Capital Officer , National Archives and Records Administration
   • Elida Sarmiento, Director of Training and Human Resources, Social Security Administration
   • Paul Allen, Co-Founder of Ancestry.com and Global Strengths Evangelist, Gallup

With previous generations retiring from the government workforce, knowledge-sharing and transition of resources is more important now than ever. By participating in the two-day NextGen Summit, you will build and improve your core qualifications and fundamental competencies to support sustained government success and drive positive change for your agency and community at large!

Which sessions are you most excited about joining? Let us know in the comments. See you on August 1st!