FCW Insider: Wanted --Young people to talk tech

I have been posting somewhat regularly about FCW's CIO Summit, which is coming up in a mere six weeks.

One of the sessions we have started including consists of a panel of young people. This came out of our own frustration at having gone to so many conferences and listening to people -- many of them IT executives -- talk about technologies that they don't use. "I don't use (fill in technology here...instant messaging, for instance), but my kids use it all the time." So, we thought it would be great to have kids talk about how, in fact, they use technology.

At the last summit, we featured Steve Ressler, one of the founders of the Young Government Leaders and one of the winners last yearof FCW's Rising Star awards program. We also had Karen Evans' daughter, who, although somewhat young -- she is in her early teens -- was very well spoken for herself and did an outstanding job.

So we are on the search for young people who want to talk technology to a bunch of government IT executives. I moderate the panel and I try to keep it fun. We're there to learn, after all. We're just looking to talk to them about why e-mail is so 1990s... why they love Facebook or MySpace... how do they look at information that comes from Wikipedia. Do they trust it?

If you know a good young person -- high school, college, or a young person early in their career -- let me know.

Some specifics: This panel takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 13 and it is in Phoenix, Ariz. Yes, we'll cover the costs of getting them out there. They can come for as much of the program as they want. (I think we have a unique program, but it might not be something for a high school student. That being said, there is a Point South Mountain Resort, where the Summit will be held, has a water park.)

So if you know somebody good, let me know. In true Web 2.0 fashion, we'd like to tap into the wisdom of youth.