First time at FOSE

I went to FOSE for the first time. With work/life in mind, I wanted to hear a talk about the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's experience with telework. I also picked up CDW-G's new report on telework and will tell you more about that another time. (Please note that 1105 Government Information Group, parent company of Federal Computer Week and fcw.com which includes my column and blog, also owns FOSE.)

I met people who were also new to FOSE, and those who had been there before. All agreed the event was big, especially the carry-away bags. The huge red bag from CDW-G could fit inside the even bigger bag from BestBuy. What was BestBuy doing there? They have a GSA contract to sell their electronic products to the government.

One fed from the Library of Congress carried away the big bag and said her cat would love it. She had been to FOSE before, and she found more wireless and mobility technology this year. She liked being able to see all the vendors at one time. She also said she thought the bags were bigger.

An acquisitions and technology specialist from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Scott Sternfeld was a first-timer at FOSE. Having worked for government for five years, he was gathering information to bring back to his office. He said he was also was thinking of targeting vendors he could revisit next year.

Another fed said he was on the way to the career fair. That fair was upstairs where people could find and exchange information about jobs. Downstairs at the exhibits, you could hear a roundtable of CIOs talk live on Federal News Radio. You could then go to a variety of talks, such as telework at the USPTO or, on Wednesday, Green Computing.

If you went to FOSE, what did you find interesting?