Inspirational

Last Thursday Dec 9th I attended the 29th Government IT symposium at the St. Paul River Center. During the conference I attended two workshops on The New Cloud computing agreement between MN and the Office of Enterprise Technology and also a presentation by Cisco on Data Center consolidation.  Both presentations were interesting, informative and I continue to learn more about how MN government can take advantage of technology to improve services to employees and to Citizens. 

I want to thank Terek Tomes for his work on the Microsoft agreement and his presentation to the symposium.  He did an excellent job of outlining how this enterprise wide agreement will benefit the state. He did make it clear that this agreement will cause no layoffs and that it will save millions over the 6 years the agreement is in place.

The keynote speaker for the day was Michael Hingson a 9-11 survivor and much much more.  He ran a small tech company on the 78th Floor of the World Trade Center when it was hit.  He is also a blind man who has overcome more than most and this was just one more incident in his life.  His story was inspiring to all of us who listened.  On the horrific day being blind and having his guide dogs was actually an asset that most of us would not have understood.  When no one around him could see, yet he was able to lead people into safety. 

He spoke about the importance of trusting the team around you.  With trust you know that the others have your back. He trusted the team of workers he hired and he trusted the dog "Roselle" who lead them all to safety.  What a great story.  His book will go on sale soon and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com.