2025 NALIT Legislative Exchange-Final Call for Participants
On behalf of the Executive Committee, we are inviting NALIT members to participate in the NALIT Legislative Exchange Program.
Legislative IT personnel handle unique responsibilities and play essential roles within their institutions. The program gives selected participants the opportunity to learn about processes and procedures employed by other state legislatures. Additionally, the exchange facilitates the sharing of ideas and innovations, resulting in a mutually rewarding professional development experience.
Selected participants will be matched with a host state, where they will spend three to five days observing and working with legislative staff. The exact agenda for each visit will be worked out between the exchange participant and the host state.
Those participating in the program are responsible for their travel and lodging expenses. However, to help partially offset these costs, NALIT will award a small stipend to each participant. The amount of this stipend will be determined based upon the number of program participants.
We encourage you to discuss this opportunity with your supervisor and apply for the 2025 program. For more details on qualification requirements, please see the attached NLEP application. Only complete applications will be considered.
The deadline for submissions is Feb. 28, 2025.
Please do not hesitate to contact Kae Warnock should you have any questions.
NALIT Exchange - Virginia/Alaska IT Departments
By Troy Crawford, director, Infrastructure Services, Division of Legislative Automated Systems, Virginia
During my time as an IT professional with the Division of Legislative Automated Systems in Virginia, I often wondered how technology agencies in other states operated on a daily basis and some of the challenges they face. When I learned about the NALIT exchange program, I saw it as a great opportunity to explore this firsthand. This curiosity led me to Juneau, Alaska, to visit the Technology and Information staff of the Alaska State Legislature.
My hosts were incredibly welcoming from the start. I began the visit with a tour of their IT offices, where I had the chance to meet staff from various departments, including security, helpdesk, and hardware support. We dove into a range of technical discussions, covering topics such as:
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Backup and replication of on-premises data. We compared the types of hardware and software used, as well as how each other's IT departments test and manage backups.
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Cybersecurity measures. We shared insights on the protection software we use and discussed how our networks are monitored around the clock.
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Network administration tools. We compared tools that assist with daily operations and network monitoring.
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Hardware imaging, deployment and asset management. We reviewed software and methods for imaging laptops and desktops and discussed the importance of accurate hardware tracking.
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Help desk software. We discussed remote access tools used to assist users. I also showed the ticketing system we recently brought into our environment.
Along with daily routines, we also chatted about upcoming projects of interest and some of the challenges we were both currently dealing with or had successfully navigated in recent years.
Later, I took a tour of the Alaska Capitol Building, located across the street from the IT offices. There I was able to visit both House and Senate chambers and several of the committee rooms, as well as get a behind-the-scenes look at several telecom closets. For the last stop of the tour, we visited their print shop as I wanted to learn about the equipment and software used in their environment, along with their challenges of service on the high-production printers.
I highly recommend that others take advantage of the NALIT Exchange Program. While meeting peers from other states at NALIT conferences is valuable, the exchange program offers a unique opportunity to delve deeper into discussions that often feel rushed during conferences. Over the course of a few days, the two entities can thoroughly discuss various topics, providing more insightful dialogue.
It is important to remember that the standards and practices in your agency may differ from those of another state's IT department. I felt we kept our discussions open-ended, allowing for a natural flow of conversation. This flexibility revealed valuable insights, such as the reasons behind their choice of software, hardware deployments and security measures. By approaching the exchange with an open mind, I gained a better understanding of the unique challenges they face and the solutions they've developed to address them.
I also suggest setting aside an extra day to explore the local sights offered by the host capital. Unfortunately, I couldn't do so this time due to prior commitments, but I plan to take an extra day to venture around when I return to Juneau for the 2025 NALIT conference.
I would like to thank the Alaska State Legislative IT staff for being such gracious hosts, taking time out of their busy schedules to be part of this exchange and showing me around Juneau. I would also like to thank NALIT for creating this exchange program so that we could spend a couple of days to collaborate and share our IT experiences.
Hold the Date - NALIT's 2025 Joint Professional Development Seminar with LINCS
This one-of-a-kind seminar will take place in Juneau, Alaska, Sept. 8-11, 2025.
Space is limited.
The NALIT and LINCS Professional Development Seminar brings together state legislative IT professionals and communications/information, public relations and press room staff who are interested in advancing the effectiveness and efficiency of state legislatures through technology. The 2025 seminar provides a combination of educational sessions, legislative application showcases, tours and briefings, best practices, a vendors' reception and networking opportunities.
Proposed Topics:
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Productivity for Legislative IT and Communications Staff.
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Shadow IT-Empowering Users While Protecting Systems.
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Cybersecurity-It's Still a Threat, Are you Ready?
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Media Relations.
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Speechwriting.
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Communications Plan Development.
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Five Minutes of Fame.
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Applications Showcases.
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Birds of a Feather Roundtables.
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Teleconferences-40 Years Covering Thousands of Miles in Alaska.
Authors Needed - No Experience Necessary
NALIT is looking for members who can write short (300-500 words max) articles about interesting processes, new applications in development or helpful tools that other legislative IT offices need to hear about. Please take a moment to draft something and send it to Kae Warnock. She is happy to wordsmith articles if you need assistance.
Information from legislative IT offices is the best intel for NALIT members.