Well, I was late coming out of San Luis Obispo to San Francisco, missed my 11:30 PM flight to Chicago, so here I am waiting for a 6:00 AM flight.
Anyway, just surfing around and found this interesting site:
http://whistleralley.com/surveying/
I attended the ACSM part of the ESRI conference in San Diego over the weekend. Very disappointing that there were only 500 attendees. Most of the sessions I sat in on had less than 10 people. Even a panel discussion about "Building an Accessile Geodetic Control Network for California" had only a few people there. Does no one care anymore?? You would think with more states requiring continuing ed that there would be MORE people going to conferences such as this.
> Well, I was late coming out of San Luis Obispo to San Francisco, missed my 11:30 PM flight to Chicago, so here I am waiting for a 6:00 AM flight.
>
> Anyway, just surfing around and found this interesting site:
>
>> http://whistleralley.com/surveying/
>
> I attended the ACSM part of the ESRI conference in San Diego over the weekend. Very disappointing that there were only 500 attendees. Most of the sessions I sat in on had less than 10 people. Even a panel discussion about "Building an Accessile Geodetic Control Network for California" had only a few people there. Does no one care anymore?? You would think with more states requiring continuing ed that there would be MORE people going to conferences such as this.
John,
The cost:reward ratio is too high on the cost side for travel to these type of conferences in this economy for most surveyors. Maybe when we replace a bunch more in DC and the state legislatures in 1-1/2 years and get a couple of years of recovery it will get better.
😐
I was also thinking along the lines of the cost/economy idea. Another factor I will throw in is being able to take the classes/re-cert online, at least here in Maryland.
A couple of observations:
>Very disappointing that there were only 500 attendees
Once you take out the people who had to be there (NSPS Governors, ACSM & Member Association officers) and people who attended because their meeting were held in conjunction with the conference (CFedS working group, US Fish & Wildlife Land Surveyors, IRWA Surveying Committee, Federal Geodetic Control Sub–committee, etc.) the number was probably much lower. What I heard (from esri, through the grapevine) about a month prior was 250 paid registrants who weren't associated with anything else at the conference.
>Does no one care anymore??
Last year, working with the BLS Occupational Statistics and the Association's own data I came up the the following (approximate) membership rates in professional organizations:
Doctors (AMA) 60%
Architects (AIA) 60%
Attorneys (ABA) 50%
Engineers (ASCE or NSPE) 40%
Surveyors (ACSM) 8%
So you can draw your own conclusions on that one.
>You would think with more states requiring continuing ed that there would be MORE people going to conferences such as this.
I was in the room at esri last year before they announced the partnership for the Survey Summit while this was discussed by Curt, Brent and others. The general consensus at the time was that the ACSM conference had devolved into another version of a state conference (I was going to say "a larger state conference" but from my experience PA & NJ are substantially larger than ACSM) and it didn't make sense to compete with the state conferences who were offering the same presenters and programs. That for the ACSM conference to thrive, it needed to differentiate itself by offering more technical presentations and more business development presentations and cut back on the four hour "basic survey math" & "introduction to the PLSS" sessions, leaving that to the states. My belief (and it's only that) is that they are hoping that the three year "subsidization" of the conference by esri will give them the time to make that transition.
I think that San Diego in July, although I hear everyone say how nice it is, is to difficult for most of us east coaster's that work for a living. 5 days, during the height of my season is to much for me to miss....
I am all in favor of regional national conferences that make them more accessible to the membership.
There Are 365 Days In A Year
Before deciding that no one cares anymore based on this one conference, think about the California State Association and their regional associations, and how many meetings and how many CEUs they offer throughout the year.
I attend a state conference (occassionally two) every year. I have only been to three ACSM conferences since 1982.
There is only so much time one can take off and travel and there is only so much money one can spend on continuing education.
And, as has been mentioned here before, having the annual ACSM event in San Diego every year puts a burden on surveyors from the rest of the country who might otherwise attend a Baltimore, St. Louis, Cleveland, Dallas, Chicago, Orlando, New York, Atlanta or Boston (or pick any one of dozens of additionally suitable cities)
conference.
> Last year, working with the BLS Occupational Statistics and the Association's own data I came up the the following (approximate) membership rates in professional organizations:
>
> Doctors (AMA) 60%
> Architects (AIA) 60%
> Attorneys (ABA) 50%
> Engineers (ASCE or NSPE) 40%
> Surveyors (ACSM) 8%
>
> So you can draw your own conclusions on that one.
>
The ACSM membership has been brought on by ACSM. It is in their membership and dues structure. I was a member about 25 years ago. Until I did a cost benefit analysis. I sent them a letter delineating the several reasons I would not renew until certain things were changed. To date ZERO of the items on that list have been changed. I refuse to deal with an organization that is that useless.
What's on your list?
My request to attend was denied by my employer for the first time ever. Sure, I could have used vac. and gone on my own dime but with more than 2 weeks of furlough last year its too much cost to justify the benefit.
I do agree with many of the comments. I realize it can be hard to justify.
Next year they are doing the same thing, with ESRI again. In the past it alternated more or less between east coast-west coast. It was often in Washington or Baltimore.
The first time I went I was a GS-3 working for the feds (tranlate: low paid). Nobody from my agency went to the conference, so I took time off and paid my own way.
I think I value the opportunity to interact with others in the profession as much as the technical sessions. I will also admit there were a LOT more interesting papers in the past than there are now.
I definitely care but the only thing my employer offered was I could call any conference time work time (no use of paid leave which is one thing I have plenty of).
College tuition for my daughter is going skyward while pay is going downwards.
I have no funds to attend conferences. If I could scrape together anything it would be used for family vacation.
There is more to life than work.
I took my wife and daughter (and her friend). We turned it into a vacation, at least for them. I did go to Sea World one day, and we went out each night.
Whether working private or government, I always pay my own bills. One conference an employer paid for my time, but that's one out of 20 or so I've been to in 30 years of surveying.
Same goes for 1 and 2 day seminars. The only exceptions were a handful that my employer wanted or required me to go to.
I prefer it that way. My money, my choice of what training is worth going to. No flack from the employer when I decide to go.
