What’s the ROI? 9 Practical Skills You Will Learn at NGG

GovLoop has teamed up with Young Government Leaders to launch Next Generation of Government Summit, July 6 & 7. More information and this blog appear at nextgengovt.com

Working in government, you often get the question “What’s the ROI?” Or “If I send you to that training or conference, what will you learn and bring back to help the organization.”

We’ve purposely planned the Next Generation of Government to be the most practical event for rising government leaders to help them develop the tactical and leadership skills they need.

As such, here are 9 practical skills you will learn at Next Generation of Government:

1) <strong>Bringing projects on time and within budget </strong>- Almost all government jobs have a level of managing projects and timeliness. We have a great session on how to get projects done in a timely and efficient manner by rockstar Randi Greenberg, who has been there and done that.

2) <strong>Developing excellent presentations for senior leaders</strong> – A large part of government work is briefings. Creating excellent Powerpoint summaries and presentations that can be sent up the chain of command. And at staff meetings, presenting your work succinctly and getting buy-in. We have a great session on these topics from Dave Uejio of NIH

3) <strong>How to better manage people </strong>- First time managers often struggle in their new roles and dealing with delegation and supervision. We have a great session from the Washington Post’s Federal Career Coach on practical tips for managing employees. This isn’t theoretical…real situations, real answers.

4) <strong>Learn how to better work with a boss</strong>- While bosses often enjoy the energy of Gen Y, the perceived impatience and lack of respect to authority is seen as a problem. At NGG, we have a tactical session on “managing up” as well as a “bridging the gap” session where Gen Y will learn the best tips on how to navigate the workplace, understand the perspective of being a boss, and hear Gen X and Boomers provide tactical tips on workplace dynamics.

5) <strong>Bring back best practice case studies to implement</strong> – There is a ton of innovation occuring in government. At Next Generation of Government, you will hear case studies of innovative government programs in the HR, IT, Communications, and Acquisition fields. Not just hype, you will hear concrete steps of what worked and what didn’t, and how to implement similar programs in your agency

6) <strong>Develop a network to do my job better</strong> – Networking has a bad name. The real goal of networking is to know people to help you solve problem. At NGG, you will meet and connect with government innovators across dozens of agencies. These contacts can help when you are working on a cross-agency project and need a point of contact. Or working on an initiative and need information on how another agency is handling it.

7) <strong>Concrete innovative ideas from best of non-profit and private sector</strong> – There is a lot of cutting-edge innovation occurring in non-profit and private sector. You will hear from the folks at rapidly growing change.org, the hottest non-profit in DC Sunlight Foundation, the amazing tech innovators at O’Reilly Media, and CEO of SeeClickFix – where you can submit your potholes via your cell phone

8) <strong>How to Build an Amazing Gov’t Career</strong>- I’ve seen too many of my friends get frustrated with their gov’t job and just leave the field. This was often a mistake and it occurred because they lacked the knowledge and effort of building a government career – how to grow internally in your agency, find mentors, pitch new projects, ask for new assignments, volunteer for committes, network across departments, etc. We have the amazing Frank DiGiammarino present his Career Framework as well as a session on Mentors and Reverse Mentoring.

9) <strong>Good Energy</strong> – You will come back with lots of new energy and ideas to improve public service and your agency. Public service is hard work and there is nothing better than being around other gov’t innovators to learn and be inspired. Every office needs a little of that energy – come get re-energized and spread that energy back in the office.

That’s just 9 practical skills you’ll learn…There’s another 50 more. But trust me – this will be the most useful training of the year.