UPDATED: Various errors (spelling, grammar etc..) have been changed since the original was posted

It’s the brief encounters and interesting discussions that make all the difference at these types of events.  Often I learn more and come away more enthused from the people I meet rather than the presentations, I think this year was no exception.

I didn’t meet everyone at the dinner bash….

Below in no particular order are some of the people I met (apologies if you are not on the list, use the comments section to point it out!):

  • Nick Chappallaz ESRI UK – Nice guy obviously quite busy at the conference, and I apologise for using video that didn’t work on ESRI’s laptops!
  • Angela BakerESRI UK – She made me feel very welcome, and was very encouraging.   She expressed a love for Inverness (I up on holiday soon near there).   I just hope I gave her a presentation that works!
  • Andrew BloggKorec – As a well as a colleague whose name escapes me (I didn’t get his business card).   They are, as I understand it, the UK distributor for this neat bit of surveying kit GPS + Camera + Rugged looking Tablet PC + REMOTE CONTROL PLANE = Geek heaven? From SenseFly, check out the video here.
  • Lisa ThomasThe Coal Authority – She did a presentation on the Geo-Futures track after me, which I talk about here.    We had a very interesting chat at lunch on Day 2 (it’s always difficult standing up, eating and talking to a fellow professional who can tell when you’re making it up!), she told me of the interesting stuff that happens at the AGI meetings (I should probably go to one, one of these days).  We also discussed presentation techniques and how to cope with nerves…. thank you.
  • Richard GreaneyRusmoor Borough Council – It’s a shame I missed his session, but I did meet his colleague (sorry I didn’t get her name), and heard good things about his presentation.  He was also excellent company at the evening dinner/awards.
  • Richard Betts , Scottish Natural Heritage – Nice to meet him and hear that his bosses seem to give him the freedom to explore new and innovative ways of working.   Again he was good company at the awards dinner.
  • Steven Feldman Knowhere Consulting – Interesting gentleman with a lot of knowledge and enthusiasm, likes to be a bit controversial. I spoke with him about derived data (interesting discussion still going on here) and Rights of Way (RoW) as well as opendata – His suggestion/advice still ringing in my ears “JFDI”!
  • Stuart LesterBirmingham City Council – From a very big authority and doing great things, we talked about how to motivate people into perhaps working differently, joined up thinking etc…   I think the Planners of Birmingham could get some interesting stuff done with his help!
  • Elavvenil KarthikeyanBLOM – Came and found me at the end of the conference, he was interested in my presentation and was doing some interesting modelling of cities, mainly for TomTom and was very interested in CityEngine.  I think there is an interesting project here.  Perhaps he’d like to come back and chat with me and the people at Procedural.

A big thank you to everyone I met and spoke with, I really enjoyed it.

Continue to thoughts for the Future, suggestions for ESRI UK