Another Chapter for EWUG

At some point during a conference, I as EWUG President, ask how many people have never attended an EWUG conference before. Year after year, about third of the hands go up. Looking back our attendance numbers, our attendance has stayed very consistent over the past seven or eight years. This could only mean one thing - about a third of EWUG turns over every year. One out of three people would not return next year, but they would be replaced by someone else. For a long time this really bothered me.

I then remembered with the “UG” stood for – we are a User Group. As GIS professionals, we need to know the nuts and bolts of the machine because we never know what we’ll be asked to do. Our job is to make sure the machine is finely tuned and ready to go. Yet for many of us, GIS is not your primary job. We do GIS for local government, state government, for business, natural resource protection, or even rat control. What I’ve come to realize is that the third of attendance that we “loose” every year is just because we’ve taught the non-GIS people enough GIS so that they can use it in their everyday jobs. And each year there’s a lot of other people that say, “Hey, this GIS thing is important – I gotta learn more about that.” And thus we teach people and they move on.

The need for greater GIS knowledge is not new either, it existed more than ten years ago. Back in 1998-ish a group of ESRI users had an idea after an ESRI technology fair in Madison. They wanted to create an ESRI user group that would help promote GIS concepts throughout the state. And thus EWUG was born. The name and logo choice quickly followed. The first conference was held in Milwaukee in 1999. The first president was Todd Niedermeyer. I, David Haines, somehow became President in 2000 and have remained a benevolent dictator ever since. Last year (2008 conference) I announced at the business meeting that my time as EWUG President would be over after the 2009 conference. Nine years was long enough. At the time, I had no idea I would departure sooner.

I have now left Wisconsin for Colorado, for a great opportunity. I will get to use both my Planning and GIS experience to help plan for unique and special area of the country. If you happen in Boulder, please feel free to stop on by the Boulder County Land Use Department. I’ll be happy to talk about GIS and Planning in the warm sun on Pearl Street.

As for EWUG – it will EWUG on! The organization is well supported, well funded and will continue on. I know that Nedd, Emily, Brian and Bill will finally get to try some things now that I’m gone. I also know you’ll continue to see the user group prosper. I am confident that they continue to grow EWUG. At and at all times, remember, it is a user group.

Checking out the Flat Irons