Returning from DevSummit 2024
For a group who specializes in enabling virtual connections and collaboration via online Community, the Esri Community team gets a lot of joy out of connecting with people in-person at Esri conferences! Just last week, several members of our team hiked over to Palm Springs, CA to spend time among the thousands of Esri DevSummit 2024 attendees from around the globe where we shared (and listened to feedback) about all things Community.
We make a point of spending time at conferences for a few reasons, probably the most obvious being to introduce unfamiliar Esri users with the incredible free resource this platform can be for them. There’s more we aim to accomplish, though. Our team goes to meet longtime members face-to-face, strengthening bonds and even facilitate introductions between members who can help each other. We go to inform and educate users about how they can get more out of Community. We also go to learn—inviting feedback, questions, and ideas for how Esri Community can better support the needs of its users.
It's no surprise that we have a great time and like to report back to our members about what took place. Highlights from our time at the DevSummit 2024 include:
Meeting & Greeting at the Esri Community Booth
Esri Staff member, Lisa Stanners, advocates for ArcGIS Ideas at the Esri Community booth
Three members of the Esri Community team set up shop on the Showcase Floor within the Tech Support area where we led virtual tours of Esri Community, answered questions, collected feature requests for the ArcGIS Ideas Exchange, and helped troubleshoot member account issues. Valuable help wasn’t the only thing visitors walked away with either—we were sure to load attendees up with plenty of Esri Community stickers and pins!
Connecting with Esri Community MVPs
Esri Community MVPs gather for a special session with Esri Community staff and Product Managers
Eight of the renowned Esri Community MVPs were in attendance at Esri DevSummit this year. Their presence provided a great opportunity to arrange a special session between those interested and several Esri Product Managers where product insights, questions, and feedback could be exchanged in a small-group setting tailored for super users.
After the day’s events, a group of Esri Community’s elite users—the MVPS—gathered at a local restaurant
with Esri team members to socialize
The following evening, we were able to embrace a less formal get-together via a local restaurant meetup. Outings like this are a good opportunity to leave the shop talk behind and get to know people out from behind their titles, discover commonalities, and solidify connections through that time-tested magic of sitting across the table while enjoying food and sharing laughs. That’s time we value getting to have with members of our Community who go far above and beyond with their participation.
A SpeedGeeking Intro to Esri Community
Dara Burlo of the Esri Community team leads a SpeedGeeking session
Dara Burlo (@DaraBurlo) is Esri Community’s Community Manager focused on ArcGIS Ideas. She led one of more than 10 developer-focused topics during SpeedGeeking sessions at the Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel during the conference. Through her interactive presentation, Dara introduced attendees to facts about Esri Community and why it presents as an important resource for developers.
Recording Members' Stories
Esri Community MVP, Ken Buja (@KenBuja), sits for a recorded interview
Every conference is a chance for the Esri Community team to learn more about our members and we schedule recorded interviews with willing participants every chance we get. These recordings provide testimonials, stories, insights, and reveal the living, breathing people behind usernames. Without interviews like these, we’d be hard-pressed to share members’ stories via our Esri Community Member Spotlight series, or to produce materials we use to show the daily impact Esri Community has on users, or even to illuminate the myriad connections between Esri’s own staff and non-staff members as a result of Community.
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If you’re reading this and are someone we met at DevSummit for the first time this year, thanks so much for taking the time to connect with us in person! If you’re an old acquaintance—it was so good to see you again. We look forward to keeping those connections strong here in Esri Community.
By the way, the Esri Community team will be headed to Esri User Conference in July so be sure to look for us if you’ll be there as well!