Author Patrick Schwerdtfeger

Conference Speaker on eGovernment

Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a leading authority on self-employment and the use of social media as a business marketing tool, but these trends (self-employment and social media) feed directly into the growing eGovernance movement as well. The datasets shared by open government initiatives are in high demand by small businesses and self-employed professionals, and social media is a primary tool to build awareness and encourage participation among citizens by government organizations. Public engagement and participation with eGovernment initiatives is essential to calculate a return on investment (ROI) and justify continued investment in the underlying technology. And since many eGovernment sessions cover dense and technical information, Patrick’s dynamic speaking style, coupled with his broad expertise of social media marketing and effective communication strategies, make him a perfect choice for a closing keynote session for your eGovernance Conference. His philosophy and experience are described in more detail below.

 
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GCC eGovernment and eServices Conference in Dubai, UAE

Patrick is the author of the award-winning book Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed (2011, Wiley) and a regular keynote speaker for Bloomberg TV. He spoke at the 18th annual GCC eGovernment and eServices Conference in Dubai, UAE, (produced by Ali Al Kamali at Datamatix) and covered the mega trends affecting eGovernance as well as the use of social media to build engagement and participation among citizens. His presentation referred extensively to the 2012 United Nations e-Government Survey and the IBM Open Government Implementation Model. The conference was attended by 350 delegates, mostly government officials and IT consultants within the GCC region (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia).

One of the primary challenges for eGovernment initiatives is the lag between usage and availability. Governments around the world are developing impressive functionality and sharing enormous amounts of information in the public domain, but usage remains anemic. The low participation is partially due to a lack of awareness and also to the ‘standard technology adoption life cycle’. Citizens are not yet accustomed to having eGovernment services available online, resulting in poor ROI for the investments being made. If usage can be increased, the ROI would improve resulting in additional investments and an acceleration of the process.

eGovernment Keynote Speech

Patrick focuses on this lag between usage and availability. He discusses the use of social media as an effective (and inexpensive) tool to engage citizens and build trust. Instead of convincing citizens to visit newly created government portals, eGovernment officials can use social media to bring the data and the services directly to the citizens, on the platforms where they are already spending time (including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). The trick is to publish compelling and dynamic content that citizens will engage with and pass along to their family and friends. Patrick’s keynote program concludes with three simple tactics that eGovernment officials can use to communicate more effectively on today’s social media platforms.

eGovernment Keynote Speech Theme

It’s important to understand that ‘open government’ is one of the best tools available to diversity a country’s economy and reduce extreme elements within it. For example, governments in the GCC region rely heavily on the oil business for revenue. They are eager to diversify their economies in anticipation of a time when oil doesn’t play as big of a role as it does today. Open government increases transparency and allows citizens to analyze datasets relevant to their respective specialties. This often leads to expanded services or entirely new business opportunities. This same transparency builds trust among citizens and makes it more difficult for those with extreme ideologies to spread untrue or exaggerated stories. For both of these reasons, it is imperative that the eGovernment movement continue in the years ahead.