This week I am attending the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2009 for the 12th consecutive year. It is one of the largest and most important annual gatherings of CIOs and senior IT leaders. There are many influential CIO's & senior-level IT executives with ties to Wisconsin including those from Northwestern Mutual, WE Energies, Orbitz, Peace Corp., Joy Global, Rockwell, Goodyear, QBE Insurance and more….

The Symposium kicks off this afternoon with a focus on healthcare IT and wraps up with an interview with Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO of the U.S. Government.

The agenda this year focuses on the difficult task IT executives face of balancing cost, risk and growth.

According to Gartner CEO Gene Hall, “As economic indicators stabilize after the global recession of the last 12 months, you must now ensure that decision makers in your organization have the insight and systems necessary to return your organization to growth. Your role is to help your organization emerge from the economic downturn with a stronger competitive advantage than you had going into it.”

My agenda is packed with meetings with CIOs, Gartner analysts, session and presentations, mastermind keynotes and special interviews.

I will be summarizing the complex, interrelated challenges confronting you. Also, I am creating a photo gallery, podcasts and WTN broadcast from the event. So check out postings at www.wtnnews.com www.wtnnews discussions posted at the FusionCIO Linkedin Group and my blogs, here at  Global Fusion and course follow me on Twitter.

The theme for this years conference will kick off early Monday morning with the Gartner Analyst Opening Keynote, which will explore <b>“Breakthrough Approaches in the Era of the `New Normal' </b>and examine the strategic implications of fast-evolving technologies and trends.

On Tuesday, Mark Hurd, Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, will make a rare public appearance and return to Symposium when he spoke in 2005. Gartner analysts Donna Scott and David Cearley will interview Hurd on his plans for growth and driving customer value in the year ahead.

On Wednesday, Gartner analysts Whit Andrews and Hung LeHong will interview Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google</a>, on the strategic direction of the company. Now that should be very interesting!

And on Thursday, Gartner analysts Brian Gammag and Neil McDonald will interview Steve Elop, President of Microsoft Business Division about various topics affecting enterprises in the year ahead, including the launch of Windows 7. What? No Steve Ballmer this year? Maybe he is off selling advertising! I have to go and grab a coat, as it feels as cold or colder than the Packer game at Lambeau today. I need to find a sports bar as CBS has Brett Favre and his Vikings playing on TV here. It's 56 degrees in Orlando today with up to 40 mph winds. Brrr.. for Orlando! Thanks for listening.

Update...Minnesota amazing win over Baltimore 4:27/pm edt never did get to see Packers!

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Mike Klein is CEO and Editorial Director of WTN Media and WTN News also well as the Fusion CEO - CIO Symposium and the Digital Healthcare Conference. Klein was named" Journalist of the Year" for 2009-2010 by the U.S. Small Business Administration and writes on for the blog, Global Fusion and Fusion Healthcare, where he has been named and one of the "Top Healthcare Bloggers" by Wellsphere. You can reach Klein at edit@wistechnology.com