Geographers United!
Geography Awareness week was a whirlwind of events around the world. I wasn’t sure what to expect since everything for the most part went virtual this week, but in typical fashion, Geographers pulled out all the stops for a fabulous week! Special thanks to all of the registrants for the Geography Awareness Week GIS Social, we raised $140 for Feeding America and I Support the Girls. Donations are on their way as I write this.
This year, I spoke at one event, attended two different events as an attendee, and hosted an additional two myself. I met people from all over the world - including a GIS software engineer from Morocco! It was wonderful to meet all of these amazing geographers, including people from London, Chicago, Dallas, and many other wonderful cities.
Monday, I presented at The Northeast Arc Users Group (NEARC) annual conference. NEARC is an independent, volunteer organization dedicated to helping users of ESRI GIS software be more successful. My talk was about building Professional Community (as apposed to specifically GIS), but it was quite relevant to the times and to the actual session: one of my former staff was a presenter in the same session! Big thanks to the NEARC Board, and Board Chair Katie Grillo, for the invitation.
On Thursday the 19th, also Post GIS day, I hosted a talk about building professional portfolios with Juliana McMillan-Wilhoit of Tabulae Spatial, at Mugs & Mornings. While this wasn’t specifically geography-related, most of the women on the call were connected to the GIS world in one way or other, and we had a great time talking about our experiences. We talked about why professional portfolios are important, how we can reach different populations with our portfolio, and how we can maximize our visibility and relevance. I learned a lot about how I can market myself. Let’s just say, you are never too far along in your career to learn new tricks.
That same evening, I hosted the Geography Awareness Week GIS Social, which was a great deal of fun. We enjoyed some longtime friends, new friends, and a lot of good conversation. It turns out that most of the 24 people attending the event had started out in GIS as an intern, which lead all of us to where we are today. The current job titles mentioned included all kinds of interesting GIS- and geography-related positions, including Senior Policy Advisor, (GIS) Project Manager, Map Librarian, and more. There were several GIS managers and a few students on the call, one of whose professors is a former colleague of mine. Such a small world!
I’m always telling people that geographers and GIS folk are really fabulous and that we are such an interesting group of people. Last week’s events are a great example of all the great work and interesting people in our community. I hope you will join us for the next Geography Social in February (open to all), or one of the women in technology events that I host year-round. Sign up for the newsletter to receive notifications about upcoming events.
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