GIS Education IRL

AngelaLee · ‎06-23-2022

We’re so excited to see you at the Education Summit @ Esri UC and the User Conference! This opportunity to learn from and with you is the highlight of our year. And we’re thrilled to be with you in real life again!!

We want to share some tips for making the most of your conference experience. There’s a great post on Esri Community in which several conference veterans share their tips for newbies. (Even if you’ve attended several times, we’re all probably a little out of practice and could use a refresher.)

Some common themes are:

Plan ahead and select at least 2 options for each session block in case a session is full
Attend special interest group meetings and social events to meet new people and build your network
Spend time in the Expo to get your questions answered and learn about new technologies and trends
Dress for comfort (have a light jacket or sweater, wear comfortable shoes)

To help you choose which sessions to attend, several teams curate lists of sessions and other events around a particular industry, product, or topic. Here are a few we recommend:

You can also search and filter the online agendas to find sessions of interest. Pro Tip: Log in to save sessions of interest to your profile, making them easier to find again later.

Before heading to special interest group meetings and social events, create a personal “elevator pitch.” Be able to introduce yourself and say what interests you in half a minute. Include an intriguing fun fact. And be sure to ask others what interests them.

The Expo is a great place to meet with Esri staff who can address your specific needs and answer questions about learning resources, dive deep into product capabilities, assist with licensing and customer service issues, and more. Swing by the Education Zone to meet with us or just say hi – we’d love to catch up with you.

If you have other tips to share with you peers, please add them here!