ABTA Conference on May 18

I will be speaking at the 2009 National Conference on Innovations in Government Accountability and Performance hosted by the ABTA (Activity-Based Total Accountability) Institute in Melbourne, Florida on May 18. The focus of the conference will be on linking local government budgeting practices to performance metrics.

My role there will be to continue to push for increased integration of government performance measurement systems with community indicator systems. This is part of a larger conversation happening around the country, and an important one -- community indicator systems add an external accountability to government performance measurement systems that internal reporting can never add. And they connect to the people in an entirely democratic and open way that builds trust and citizen involvement. And they are designed by people who understand that the CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) is unreadable to the average system and is NOT a good model of transparent public communication.

So if you'll be at the conference, come over and say hello. I'm going to try to capture some of my thoughts and impressions after the conference as well to share them with this blog's readership (which keeps growing -- thank you, everyone.)

And look for some interesting announcements in the near future on how you can engage with this national discussion of performance measures and community indicators.