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GeoNet presence at the 2016 User Conference

TimothyHales

The past 2 years we have had a booth at the UC. Last year we had two presentations on getting your questions answered and using GeoNet. There was not an official GeoNet meet up per se although I ran into many of our members at the Developer Meetup. I am planning out this year's UC. What would you like to see in regards to GeoNet and the UC? I can't guarantee I'll be able to fulfill every idea, but I am open to any idea you may have. Thanks!

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ChrisDonohue__GISP

GeoNet meetup with Beer on tap!

Chris Donohue, GISP

AdrianWelsh

I agree with Chris! And why not a GeoNet dedicated museum for the Balboa Park thing!

In reality, is Esri having a hard time promoting the GeoNet? Or are people getting the hang of where to ask questions? Could there be a way to help showcase the GeoNet more in order for it to get more usage?

I recall one year where Esri personnel wore some extra "flair" around their nametag that said something like "ask me about cloud services" or so. Maybe there can be something similiar like "Did you ask your question on GeoNet first?"

TimothyHales

The community continues to grow with users and content. Within the last year we have added almost 60,000 new registered users and 16,000 discussions. People are figuring out where to post; however, we are continuing to improve the user experience.

There are a variety of marketing strategies to promote the community, and flair is a good option. I am exploring opportunities to answer questions, hear feedback, educate users, and put faces to screen names.

curtvprice

Bling. We must have bling. And flair.

AdrianWelsh

37 pieces of flair...

DanPatterson_Retired

too late I suppose to start an 'avatar' contest or place 'banner' contest, just to generate some artistic flair beyond the I ❤️ GIS stuff ... (except Xander can't enter, cause he is too good at them)

ChrisDonohue__GISP

So if I understand this correctly, the goal is to promote awareness of GeoNet beyond the current group of troublemakers contributors.

With that in mind (on a more serious note), here's some brainstorming:

One idea - and I don't know if this is already done - would be to have GeoNet listed in the ESRI User Conference packets one gets when attending. For example, towards the end of the "book" that ESRI has provided in the past UC's there are listings towards the back in the post-conference section for things like "get recordings of presentations". This area would be a good location to plug GeoNet as an opportunity to get ones questions answered. After all, one big reason why people go to the Users Conferce is to get questions answered; one of the appeals of GeoNet is that is available all year, to everyone, night and day, to get ones questions answered.

Another opportunity to generate interest and thus promote awareness would be a contest approach, as suggested by Dan Patterson . I know personally when I'm at the UC I always do the satellite imagery contest where one identifies where in the world the images were taken. Maybe something similar that grabs people's attention and thus makes them aware of GeoNet?

A third idea - to grab people's attention, here's some ideas for print approaches:

A poster with "These were the top 10 questions last year on GeoNet. Find the answers to these and more on GeoNet". Somewhat reminiscent of the "Top 10" enhancements to ArcGIS that used to be part of the UC Opening Session, but in a print form. Just the questions, as a teaser.
A map of the World with "Here's the locations of GeoNet Contributors who can answer your questions. Come be a part of it". (If you really want to be risque, you could intentionally put Earth in a non-standard projection to grab people's unconscious attention as they note the distortion).

Chris Donohue, GISP

ChrisDonohue__GISP

You probably already thought of this, but here are two more dimensions of the challenge:

At the Users Conference, trying to promote GeoNet will essentially be "competing" with all the other things going on. Let's face it, the UC can be pretty overwhelming, there is so much going on, it can be mind-boggling. So the challenge will be to promote GeoNet in a way that makes an impression on people and that they remember it while they are simultaneously being bombarded by all the other (cool) stuff.
Secondary Selling points:
- GeoNet is free. I mention this as some folks may assume GeoNet is the same as Customer Support, has fee/cost, or think it requires a Maintenance plan to use.
- Available to all levels of GIS users. Some folks may assume GeoNet is just for hardcore users and are intimidated from using it.
- Available to all types of GIS users. Some may assume it is just for one flavor of ESRI software.
- Contributors are mainly users. This is an important point, as the advice received from users oftentimes contains tidbits of information that help other users resolve problems that concern the "pragmatic/practical" issues one hits in "real life" besides the purely technical side.

Chris Donohue, GISP

TimothyHales

Chris, thank you for this valuable input! These are some great ideas! Some of these we have already been discussing and others are new possibilities that we have yet to consider. I will take these back to my team to see what all we can incorporate. Thanks again!

RebeccaStrauch__GISP

To continue on Chris' thoughts on geonet contest....maybe a scavenger hunt for q&a in geonet...although "scoring" the check list items would be a challenge maybe.

KimberlyVilimas

This may have already been suggested, but I think that the point system is a great way to get people to jump the GeoNet community and start experimenting. Maybe there could be a temporary, user-conference specific achievement (or whatever they are called, the little goals which give you points like WiseGuy, etc.) that you can only get during the time of the conference and is something simple for people at the conference to do immediately like, "Put a status update that has User Conference in it and automatically get 50 pts" or something. The only reason I suggest this is I am personally obsessed with the points system

AdrianWelsh

Kimberly,

I agree that the points system is fun, but adding more point-based things will make us points-obsessed-crazies into more-points-obsessed-crazies.... It's a great suggestion though. I wonder if Timothy has come up with some things for the UC this year (or if he has been too busy with putting out Jive fires....).

Oh, and I'll add to your points craziness (marking your post as 'helpful' )!

KimberlyVilimas

Adrian,

Yessss thank you for adding to my points craze! I think you're probably right that it's better to keep things balanced

RebeccaStrauch__GISP

There are some Geonet sessions schedule, but I don't think they have been announced officially announced yet, although that might be an oversight.......or may just be preliminary, but since we were told to share with others, I'm sharing....

Monday: Informal Meet & Greet Meet-up
What: Meet & Greet with Chris & Timothy and Esri Community members
When: 4-5pm
Where: Map Gallery (specific location TBD)
Tuesday - Thursday: Formal meet-ups with agenda
When: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 12-1pm
Where: SDCC, Room 33A

The detailed agenda was still being worked out, so not including......these are just me passing on info, and not an official announcement...I.e. Subject to change.

TimothyHales

I've been working on Jive fires and most recently the Ideas migration. Although there has been some talk about adding gamification to the UC, there probably will not be anything big if it does happen.

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