Learon Dalby is the GIS Program Manager, Arkansas Geographic Information Office – http://www.gis.state.ar.us/. I recently asked Learon if he’d be interested in sharing with me some things that he likes about the annual International Esri User Conference… read on for a fine response!
From Learon… Clint Brown provided a great list of 10 Cool things To Do at the 2010 ESRIUC. This will be my third ESRIUC to attend. I attend for one reason which is a combination of Clint’s number seven and ten; PEOPLE. The ESRIUC brings together a lot of geospatial minded people. There aren’t many other times when you can strike up a conversation with nearly anyone in San Diego and not have to explain GIS. So while I am at the conference I search out people that are pushing the limits of geotechnologies. I enjoy visiting with individuals that see things through a set of lenses other than mine. Last year I had the opportunity to meet Mark Greninger, Los Angeles County GIS Coordinator (http://gis.lacounty.gov/eGIS/). Mark was testing the use of WordPress to manage the county address file. Sounds pretty far outside the box and it is exactly the kind of thing I am looking for when meeting new colleagues and friends. Everyone attends the ESRIUC for various reasons. Mine have far less to do with the technology and a lot more to do with the people – technology pushers, outside the box thinkers. I really enjoy swapping new ideas with people that are looking for new ways to solve relatively old problems. The only thing missing at the conference is a white-board room. I feel sure @martenhogeweg would agree with me in this respect.
My response… Thanks to Learon for sharing his thoughts and I can’t help but totally agree with him! I’ve gotten to know Learon quite well over the past year or two thanks to Twitter and look forward to meeting up face to face this year in San Diego. I’m sure that once again, this year at the start of the plenary session Jack Dangermond will ask us all to take a moment to meet someone next to us and encourage us all to continue meeting people throughout the week… it seems Jack and Learon are on the same page there! I’m sure a number of you will be fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with Learon this week! If not you can connect with him on Twitter @LearonDalby
What gets you going about the ESRIUC?? Feel free to ping Glenn (glenn at gisuser.com) with your thoughts…