The Best NGA Meeting Ever?

This past weekend, I attended the 2015 Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, DC.  I always enjoy NGA meetings.  They give me a chance to catch up with friends and former colleagues, to meet potential clients and learn about their issues and policy concerns, and most importantly to represent and advocate for MOB Advocacy's clients.

While I enjoy the sessions, I have attended enough of these meetings to hear the same challenges come up year after year.  Government needs to fix the way we pay for healthcare, government needs to do a better job of teaching our kids so that they can actually get jobs, and government needs to do a better job helping startups and small businesses because they are vital to the economy.

That last one is really why I started MOB Advocacy - to help startups and small businesses tell their story to government (whether that is directly in the statehouses, or at meetings like NGA, National Conference of State Legislatures or the Council of State Governments) in venues that are usually dominated by big businesses.

So why was this the best NGA meeting ever?  One word TechShop.  In one session, TechShop's CEO Mark Hatch showed the power that a startup can have at a meeting like NGA - and helped a nation of potential entrepreneurs and creative startups in the process.

Mark told story after story of the businesses TechShop's advanced manufacturing facilities (which might sound like a huge factory, but is really just a giant membership-based high-tech tool shop) are helping to launch everyday.  It was amazing!

Watch Mark Hatch's presentation here (Mark's presentation begins at 12:24)

And best of all - the governors got it.  Governor Doug Ducey, governor of Arizona for all of about thirty days was making a back of the napkin outline for a new job skills program that would partner with the Arizona TechShop.  And at least three other governors publicly invited Mark to help them bring TechShop to their state or territory.  I'm willing to bet Mark also got a few emails after from other governors asking the same thing.

Watch the question and answer portion of the program here.

Why was this so successful?  It is pretty easy to dissect.  One, Mark had great stories.  Two, Mark kept it simple.  Three, Mark had one call to action - bring TechShops to your states and let us do the rest.  And wha-la - a few more successful public-private partnerships are born.

I'll be the first to admit - NGA meetings aren't for every startup.  But if you are a startup that needs states to make policy changes for you to scale, or you are looking for pilot program with a state or states - then an NGA meeting is a great place to meet key staff to start those conversations without having to travel the country to have them.

And when it works -- it is beautiful.

Michael O'Brien is the Founder & Principal of MOB Advocacy, a nationally-scoped state and local government relations firm located in Washington, D.C.  Contact Michael O'Brien if you are interested in exploring whether your company is ready for the NGA.

RIP Dr. Alan Rosenthal

I just read the New York Times obituary for Dr. Alan Rosenthal.  If you have been involved in state government at any time since before I was born and virtually anywhere in the country you have probably met him, read one of his books, took his class, heard him speak or simply watched him modernize your state legislature.  I met him on a number of occasions and talked with him in depth a handful of times (we share a strong dislike for term limits).  I wouldn't say I knew him well, but few people have had as big an impact on my career as Dr. Rosenthal.  I will miss him.

The man was a giant in the study of state government.  He really helped push the professionalism of state legislatures - calling for professional staffs, non-partisan legislative budget offices and pay for legislators.  It is hard to believe Connecticut had a biennial legislature not that long ago  (and my guess is many Nutmeg State residents would gladly go back to those days).

There a many reasons that I will remember him.  I loved his books - The Third House is THE book on state lobbying.  He had a unique insight to state government and access that rivaled anyone I know.  He loved to share stories with anyone that would listen, which is probably why he wrote so many books.

But the one reason I will always remember him, is because he is most responsible for shaping the way I look at state government.  It is why I love working with state legislatures and legislators so much.  It is why Dr. Rosenthal never stopped being a cheerleader for state legislatures.

People in state government loves to refer to Justice Brandeis' quote about states being the laboratories of democracy.  To Dr. Rosenthal, states legislatures were more than that. To Dr. Rosenthal, the legislatures were the drivers of democracy.  In one of my favorite books Engines of Democracy, Dr. Rosenthal compares state legislatures to the little engine that could.  The engine/legislature pulls democracy over the big hill into the station. But instead of the cheers that the little engine got in the story, this train is more likely met with indifference or even jeers.  Dr. Rosenthal never stopped cheering that train when it got into the station, because he knew what hard work it took to get there.

In a fitting tribute - the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) set up a site of testimonials to the late, great Dr. Rosenthal.  Please take a look here and here.

For my tribute, I am going to go back and read a book or two, and continue to be cheerleader for state legislatures - the true engines of democracy.