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GovUp: We Love You San Francisco!

Last night we kicked off our GovLoop National tour and we definitely made the right choice starting in the city by the bay: San Francisco.

First off I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad time when you get tons of Govies together and last night we packed the Minna Gallery with over 100 awesome (yeah I said it) peeps. The event was pretty darn cool and I’m not the only one who thought so either: at one point in the night, the bouncer pulled me aside and told me he had no idea us Govies rocked so much. If you weren’t there below’s a little breakdown of the event to get you pumped about coming out to one of our future GovUps (Click here to see upcoming locations).

The night started off with some mingling and, yes, we totally played an ice breaker game. But the winners scored one of the infamous govloop t-shirts, so needless to say competition was intense.

The group in attendance was actually a pretty solid split with a guesstimation of 45% local, 35% Fed and 20% other. A lot of agencies and organization were repping there to, here’s just a few: GSA, City of San Fran, DHS, EPA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and companies like Uservoice and Granicus and Cisco.

Not only were the attendees great, but the speakers were very good. San Fran CIO Chris Vein gave a really passionate talk about how to push through and change government. He also played right up the GovUps alley by saying government relationships are second to none.

David Lampert talked about GSA and really focused in on their local aspect, which I didn’t know too much about. In reality GSA has a ton of programs for State and Local. You can check them out here:

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/105300

Well I’ve already told you how fun it was, so here’s a slideshow with more evidence of the awesomeness:



Find more photos like this on GovLoop – Social Network for Government

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So what do you do now that you’ve attended the San Fran GovUp? Here’s my Top 5 Tips:

1. Join GovLoop – if you’re not a member, go for it! It’s free and takes 30 seconds.

2. Make Friends – you met new people and they’re probably on GovLoop. Friend ’em:

3. Find Groups – San Fran area folks have a few places to connect here:

4. Share Pics/Videos – Take pictures or shoot some video? Post and tag it GovUp and GovUpSF

5. Post Blogs/Discussions – Did somebody say something and you want to talk more? Post it.

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4 Comments

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Terrence (Terry) Hill PHR

Steve – I’m glad that you started on the west coast. San Francisco is my favorite city and not just because my son lives there. Your report convinced me to attend the Washington DC GovUp next week, even though I know that it will be mobbed. Maybe you can record snippets from the speeches. I’d love to see them. Maybe put it on GovLoop’s YouTube channel. I’d subscribe!

Timonie Hood

Thanks so much for organizing the event!

It was fabulous & thanks also for all of the change that GovLoop supports. Chris Vein, San Francisco’s CIO, gave a fabulous talk. For those who couldn’t make it here’ an interview with him from a Gov 2.0 Expo Preview. He encourages his staff to play 20% of the time & is definitely leading the charge in shaping the meaning of open government.

Thanks also to GSA for sponsoring the event!

If there’s a GovUp in your area, don’t miss it.