The Amtower Report

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In this issue:
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: The Myth of the CIO
3) Events Worth Attending

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: I will be out of town most of this week so there will not be a newsletter next week. The Amtower Report will return February 6.

Repeat Item: Attention All on the East Side of the Potomac! February 23 is the first time I will host a seminar in Maryland. You do not have to cross the river to attend, unless you are attending FROM Virginia! This will be in Clarksville (Howard County, not Clarksburg, Montgomery County) in Claret Hall in the River Hill Shopping Center (near the intersection of Rt 108 and Rt 32). This is the first presentation of Government Marketing Best Practices, version 6.0, and it will be video taped. The video will ONLY be available in the members section of www.GovernmentMarketingBestPractices.com. This updated session will incorporate the feedback I have received from too many sources to recognize individually.

Item: I was interviewed last Friday via webcast by Dave Greene, president of PostNewsweek Tech Media. Feedback thus far has been very good. The session was recorded and will be available soon. I will post link details at my web site (www.FederalDirect.net) by Tuesday.

Item: The item last week on the Do Not Call list for cell phones appears to have been an ongoing internet hoax. It will not hurt if you registered your cell phone at www.DoNotCall.gov . I hate it when I fall for those hoaxes!

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY: THE MYTH OF THE CIO

In the Federal IT community, there are regular invitations to events featuring agency CIOs. In certain instances, these may be useful, while other offers may be little more than a very expensive photo opportunity.

The CIO breakfast briefings hosted by the trade publications, Input and others are usually valuable more as a networking event than as a venue to pick up business intelligence. While it is always good to get the CIO perspective on issues, agency policy and direction, the real value of these events (to me) is staying in touch with business contacts and developing new ones. It is also good to see which companies show up to which agency briefings.

The CIO-focused events I question the value of are those sponsored by Gartner, ConVurge and others, where the main selling point seems to be that the event producer guarantees you face time with CIOs you think you need to meet. The Garter event usually offers the opportunity to meet with major systems integrators as well, which certainly can be valuable as a door opener to the otherwise hard to reach integrator community. ConVurge does not seem to deliver this aspect.

However, the actual value of meeting CIOs is questionable. First, they are an extremely mobile group, mobile within government, for as long they stay in the public sector. There is also a growing number of these executives moving to the private sector. The job appears to have some of the characteristics of a revolving door.

Further, and perhaps of more importance, is the question of how much influence they really have on the business of the agency they represent. Over the years my more successful clients have found getting to know the senior technical staff at the agency is more important than knowing the CIO. Programs managers have always been a target (albeit harder to identify) for successful IT vendors.

So when you get the next call from someone purporting to have access to fifteen or more government CIOs they can deliver for only $40,000 (or more), tell them to call your competition.

Not that I have an opinion.

Beware of the schlock vendors, producing minimal value events, events that eat your money with no significant return! The events listed below are among those I think are worth your time, money and effort. Just because an event is not listed below does not imply it is not worth attending. If you want my opinion on a specific event or producer, call me. This topic is addressed more thoroughly in the members section at www.GovernmentMarketingBestPractices.com.

January 25, 2006 National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Chantilly, Virginia In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

January 26, 7:30-9:30 AM, Tower Club, Government Marketing Forum: The Ground Rules of In-Agency Federal Sales – Where are the rules found for each agency?  Expectations for conduct.  (Dan Sturdivant – DHS) www.fbcinc.com/tacticsthatwork

January 26, 2006 National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Chantilly, Virginia In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

January 26,  7:30-9:30 AM AFCEA Bethesda Chapter will hold its Breakfast Meeting  7:30 a.m. at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.  Information Technology Modernization is the subject a panel of experts, moderated by HUD CIO Lisa Schlosser.  To register or for more information,

February 2, 3rd Annual Strategies for Winning Government Contracts Matchmaker & Conferencehttp://www.bethesda-afcea.org/20060126.htm, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Sheraton Conference Center Burlington, VT http://www.vtsbdc.org/getcontracts.cfm

February 15, 2006 NSA/OPS 1 Building (Day 1), Fort Meade, Maryland In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

February 22, 2006 NSA R&E Building (Day 1), Fort Meade, Maryland In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

February 23,  GOVERNMENT MARKETING BEST PRACTICES – First Maryland Session EVER – Claret Hall, River Hill Shopping Center, – Clarksville, Maryland, 8:00AM – Noon. (session starts at 9:00) www.FederalDirect.net/gmbpfeb23.html

February 23, 2006 NSA R&E Building (Day 2), Fort Meade, Maryland In-Agency Event, www.fbcinc.com

Feb 23-24 EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT: Measure Results and Manage Performance, Cafritz Conference Center, George Washington University, Washington, DC. http://www.digitalgovernment.com/

February 28 - March 1, 2006 FAA IT/ISS Conference, Denver, Colorado www.fbcinc.com

March 7-9, 2006: FOSE www.FOSE.com 
This will be the thirtieth anniversary of FOSE.

April 18, FEDERAL CHANNELS, Denver www.fbcinc.com

APRIL 19, 2006, Tower Club, Vienna, VA. Amtower & Company presents the one and only Amy Africa and THE ULTIMATE B2B WEB SITE MAKEOVER. For those of you who do not know Ms Africa, she is perhaps the most sought after web consultant in the world, and we have sixty seats available for her first ONE DAY session focusing exclusively on maximizing the impact of B2B and B2G web sites.  www.FederalDirect.net/ultimatewebsitemakeover.html

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As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower Report is published by Amtower & Company, and is written for companies targeting the government marketplace. The opinions expressed are those of Mark Amtower unless otherwise noted. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 314, Highland, MD 20777-0314 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. Email subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net