Like many people attending the IASA Educational Conference and Business Show, I have to steal away from sessions or the exhibit hall to get back to my room and do some "real" work. It's hard to convince ourselves—much less our bosses—that being away from the office and thinking about work, without actually doing any said work, is not a waste of time.

It's not a waste, though. I sat in a room with over 100 CIOs on Tuesday afternoon and all of them were discussing things that are important for the future of their company and the industry as a whole—and little of it related to what they will be doing over the next 12 months.

The subject of one session involved research and development and the audience heard views from both software vendors and other CIOs. Piyush Singh, CIO of Great American Insurance Co., believes discussions that happen at a conference such as this one can also happen within the walls of the IT department if CIOs have the fortitude to empower their team of technologists.