The virtual switch of the world-renown ESRI User Conference
I'm so excited for the ESRI User Conference next week! I recently had my first virtual conference experience and was pleasantly surprised with how much content I was able to focus on and absorb from the comfort of my own home while maintaining that inspiring buzz of a big conference.
However, the networking opportunities (those moments where you typically may or may not have an alcoholic beverage in hand while talking face-to-face with potential collaborators, clients, etc) fell short. My previous conference was in a Zoom framework, where the chat remained open to attendees during each presentation, which on one hand, was a quick way to ask your question and receive a response from not just the presenter, but from the entire audience. On the other hand, it could be distracting at times... But it was the main source of networking.
As the world continues to adapt to virtual events, I'm interested to see the networking framework for this upcoming ESRI conference, where they intend to create profiles for each attendee that contain specific areas of interest, in which the platform's AI will then connect you to other attendees who share similar interests... (sounds similar to a dating app!). You also have the option to search for someone you already know and direct message them.
It’s a step up from zoom chats. Looking forward to experiencing the effectiveness of this innovative networking framework. I’d be interested to see how this system continues to evolve in the future.