Thursday 27 October 2011

Conference Season is Over

As we approach November, we can look back at a first for Manitoba – multiple GIS-related conferences within a six week period.  In mid-September, we started with IHEEP, followed by MGUG and Intergraph.  To finish the season, ESRI hosted a Public Infrastructure Leadership Forum at the Fort Garry Hotel on October 25.

All of the GIS events were good and useful to the GIS community.  For me, the crown jewel of the lot was the MGUG conference on September 30.  I found the presentations given by Microsoft to be extremely interesting and useful.  Others I have talked to were extremely impressed with Taz Stuart and John Sauder.  One of the most interesting presentations was given by Dr. Mohamed Abousalem of Tecterra who almost came across like Santa Claus.  Even today, as I attend other events and talk with others, they are still referring to the MGUG event and how good it was.

The other events of this season were more focussed – each specializing in a different area.  At IHEEP, the focus was on transportation but it did have a broader appeal to the Geomatics professional with a full day of sessions devoted to LiDAR.  As mentioned in a previous blog, the feedback was excellent and that the LiDAR sessions were worth attending.

The Intergraph Regional Users’ Conference held at the Delta was a great opportunity to see Intergraph’s latest technology and their vision for the future.  It was free and about 75 people attended.  For me, the most interesting part of the conference was the presentation on Smart Client, a powerful thin client application that Intergraph will soon be releasing in North America.

Earlier this week, ESRI held a Public Infrastructure Leadership Forum.  Again, this was a focused event that would not appeal to all GIS people, but was useful for those who are interested in asset management.

After all of the excitement of September and October, it looks like it will be a long winter, unless MGUG puts on a half day workshop sometime after the New Year.  Otherwise, the next GIS events to look forward to are in March or later with WestMan GIS conference and the ESRI Regional User Group.

Sunday 2 October 2011

MGUG September 2011 Conference Review

The Manitoba GIS Users Group’s (MGUG) first all-day conference was last week on Friday September 30, 2011.  Now that it is over, it’s time for an analysis of what was good and what could be improved.

First the positive:
  • There was a great turnout.  I did not get a number from MGUG, but there must have been 350 people at the conference.  This is the best turnout we have seen for a Manitoba GIS conference.   This is a credit to all of the hard work and organization of the current MGUG board.  The current board should also pay tribute to those who established MGUG – the first sponsors, workshop attendees and board members who created MGUG out of nothing, nursed it along through the early years and helped create the MGUG brand.  The current organizers have taken it to a new level and ensured that MGUG is THE GIS organization in Manitoba and the MGUG conference is the place to be for a GIS event.
  • The exhibitor’s floor was amazing.  I could not believe how many organizations and vendors had booths and exhibits.  I have to admit that I skipped out of a couple of the presentations so that I could get some one-on-one time with the exhibitors.
  • Another surprise was the great prizes that were given out – although I was disappointed not to win one.
  • Although some may not agree with me I consider the entrance fee a positive.  The amount was reasonable and should not have restricted access.  Charging delegates gave MGUG added freedom to host at an interesting venue and run it like a “real” conference.
  • I had a discussion with a few people at the end and the topic of how short the presentations were came up.  This was seen as positive by all who discussed.  In a conference like this where there are no alternative tracks, having presentations of 30 minutes or less is a good thing.
What could be Improved:
  • I was pretty impressed with the conference, so my suggestions for improvements are pretty minor.
  • The Lightning Talks almost all went over 10 minutes.  Since the afternoon presentations were only 20 minutes, having 15 minutes presentations did not seem like “lightning”.  There was also too long an intro for these short talks.  Reading the biography (which is already written in the program) for two minutes before a short talk was excessive.  These talks needed to be shorter with a shorter intro.
  • When I was in the consulting world and working at conferences, we wanted to maximize the number of people who came by our booth.  The best events had the food and refreshment service near or at the exhibitor floor.  The MGUG event had quite a separation between breakfast, lunch and the exhibitors’ floor.
  • Now that MGUG is established in the big time, is it time for a major league keynote speaker to open the conferences?
Next up is the Intergraph Regional Users’ Conference on October 19, 2011 at the Delta.  For more information check out: http://www.intergraph.com/global/ca/events/ICAN2011/winnipeg/default.aspx