Knowledge Management in Diplomacy Conference

October 22 & 23, 2008 ▪ Washington, DC

The U.S. State Department's Office of eDiplomacy will host a Knowledge Management in Diplomacy Conference on October 22-23, in the Harry S Truman Building. The goal of this conference is to bring together knowledge management practitioners working in the field of diplomacy, in order to share existing best practices as well as their programs and technologies. The program will include such topics as:

• Wikis, blogs, instant messaging, SharePoint, and other collaborative technologies
• Inter-agency or inter-ministry collaboration
• Supporting inter-governmental collaboration
• Social networking
• Transforming business practices

Many organizations are turning to collaborative technologies and practices to achieve better knowledge management. Diplomatic institutions can greatly benefit from these innovations, but they face unique challenges: a globally dispersed workforce, security constraints, language barriers, transient workforces, local challenges, and more.

We hope that this conference will be the beginning of an ongoing, online conversation, where KM practitioners can share knowledge and ask questions from their counterparts in other foreign ministries.

If you are a member of the international foreign-affairs community and you work on knowledge management-related issues, contact us at KMDiplomacy@state.gov to register for this event, or if you have any questions.

We look forward to your participation!

Daniel P. Sheerin
Acting Director of the Office of eDiplomacy

Agenda

Wednesday | Conference Room 1107

8:00 – 9:00	Continental Breakfast & Registration
9:00 – 9:30	Opening Remarks Janice Fedak – Deputy Chief Information Officer for Business, Planning and Customer Service, and Chief Knowledge Officer, Bureau of Information Resources Management, U.S. Department of State Dan Sheerin – Acting Director of the Office of eDiplomacy Eric Johnson – Team Lead, Knowledge Management Action Team, Office of eDiplomacy
9:30 – 10:30	Knowledge Sharing Tools at State
10:30 – 10:45	Break
10:45 – 12:00	Internal Agency Collaboration
12:00 – 1:00	Lunch
1:00 – 1:30	History of Diplomatic Communications David Nickles, Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs
1:30 – 2:30	Best Practice Presentations and Discussions Marion Crawshaw, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Carla Winston, Ellen Ensel, U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP)
2:30 – 2:45	Break
2:45 – 3:35	Best Practice Presentations and Discussions Debbie Barney, Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) Helen Jelich, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade – Canada
3:45 – 4:00	Break
3:45 – 5:00	Best Practice Presentations and Discussions Renee Brock, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Thursday | Conference Room 1107

9:00 – 10:15	Session I: Tying Knowledge Management Tools Together
10:15 – 10:30	Break
10:30 – 12:00	Session II: Improving the Way We Do Diplomacy with Knowledge Management