Survey Summit 2012, The Road Ahead … or Summit Plummet?

I’ve just read that only an estimated 250 attended the joint endeavor between ESRI and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) in San Diego last month, billed as the ACSM Annual Conference.

Survey Summit or Summit Plummet?

250. That’s it! …. Survey Summit or Summit Plummet?

With less than 5 attendees from each state, on average, it’s hard to define the Survey Summit 2012 as anything remotely close to being successful.

The Road Ahead … Next Exit Please!

This ‘Survey Summit” was branded as “The Road Ahead”. However, if this conference’s perceived relevance and attendance show the road ahead, I’ll get off at the next exit, please.

Sure, attendance was down partly because of the economy. The economy still sucks, but is the economy the only reason? Does the ESRI affiliation turn off land surveyors?

Don’t Look Behind The Curtain, Dorothy!

And, does it bother any of you that ACSM acts as if everything is rosy when in fact they became insolvent, needing a bailout from the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS)? An old chicken farmer used to tell me that no matter how much mayonnaise you add to chicken manure, you can’t turn it into chicken salad. Sure, that’s true (and extremely gross), but the bigger question is why anyone would try to gussy up manure in the first place. Be very weary of crap sellers, even those with tons of mayonnaise.

Should our industry buy in to the spin from groups like the organization formerly known as ACSM? I think not. And, the demise of ACSM is a cautionary tale for other organizations assuming similar roles to that which ACSM once trumpeted. Those organizations will suffer the same fate as ACSM, if they are  not relevant to their members.

So, why did you not attend the Survey Summit? Was it because of money, the GIS contagion, or was it because of some other reasons?