Ruminating on GIS Leadership Summit 2020
Although I’m still digesting, here are some initial thoughts.
I find myself thinking a lot about the recent GIS Leadership Summit. It’s passing through my mind. Bouncing around. Little bits still echoing.
I guess I can say, I’m still ruminating.
To try to gather my words “on paper”, I‘ll start there:
Ruminate:
1: to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly
2: to chew repeatedly for an extended period
Ruminating. Ruminate. Ruminati? Ruminant!
In elementary school, we had a lesson about ungulates and ruminants that really stuck with me. From a young age, I was also always looking for bits of knowledge that I could spin into grin inducing buffoonery. People at the time would ask why I ate so much — “Did I have a hollow leg?” — “Nope, I’m an ungulate. I have four stomachs!”. I would then launch into useless facts about cows. Weird sh*t, but funny to me. It still is.
Anyhow, I’m still ruminating about the GIS Leadership Summit put on by Soto Media and gissuccess.com. I continue to pass this experience through the four stomachs of my mind. I have a feeling I will continue to do so for quite some time. What are these four stomachs that I’ve been gathering my thoughts into and pondering on at length? What knowledge nutrients am I pulling from this Summit?
A. Hosts
Being invited to speak at the inaugural summit by Toby, Wade and Tim was a top honor.
Like most of you, I suffer from impostor syndrome at times, so at first I was like “wait, what, me? How many people? OMG! [chews nails]”. I’ve learned to eat the impostor feeling like a tasty nugget. In this instance, I used it to fuel me through many long hours putting my thoughts into presentation format … then practicing… again.. and again until the family dog could recite it back to me. There’s no better way to spend vacation than prepping for then sharing knowledge with friends? The dog seemed to enjoy the interaction.
Wade informed me their group decided to give me extra time. For a guy like me who prefers 4–40 hours to talk, it meant everything. It’s validating. Extra time means they’re recognizing the efforts I’m making to try to leave a mark on the industry and that my experiences and story are relatable.
Extra time also means added pressure. I put pressure on myself to maintain my typical quirky presentation style. Rapid, visual and fairly unconventional. Maybe too much for some. Not enough for me. Anyhow, at the same time, I felt I had to deliver in such a way that wouldn’t let Toby, Wade and Tim down (for example by accidentally slipping out an f-bomb or 12 along the way).
Being invited to speak by Toby Soto and team is an affirmation I haven’t felt since Adam Carnow invited me to speak at Esri UC GIS Managers Summit 2018. As a change agent, the constant destruction of momentum by an organization’s status quo really kicks the sh!t out of me at times. I am happy to report that the invitation to speak at this inaugural summit picked me back up at just the right time. I really can’t thank Toby Soto enough for this.
Ok, back to the Summit. During it’s two days, Toby, Wade and Tim expertly navigated us through the agenda, keeping things on track, seeding discussions and lending their expertise and experience throughout.
They were the Summit. Summit was them. It had their vibe, calm and informal relaxed feel. Lucky for us, they were able to bring a bunch of friends along for the ride!
B. Online Delivery
Short and sweet: the tech was easy, Zoom is mature, and it all went off without a hitch. I did have a few problems with connecting as an attendee instead of a panelist, but whatever. I figured it out.
C. Attendees
Did I miss the human connection, the running from session to session only to bump into a colleague who convinces you to ditch the talk and head out for tacos? Yes of course! Did I miss the nasty hangovers? Not really, no.
What really made this Summit special for me (other than the Hosts) was the constant intellectual intercourse and cheer-leading happening real-time in the chat panel. It was an orgy of geoawesome. I think all conferences including future live ones should harness this as a networking super power. I made many new contacts this way — sharing experiences with each other in 50–100 characters chat bites, then creeping and connecting with them up on LinkedIn*. I even had a new contact from LA send me a picture of his geoghetto box because he found my chat message (mildly) amusing. This effectively replaced what I love the most about large conferences… that random running into strangers, peers who become friends that help grow and feed your network.
D. Presenters
I’m gobsmacked. Wow! Knowledge. Experience. Personality. Each presenter with their own unique style and perspective. Presentations were complementary not contradictory. I think the speakers really jived.
I do have to disclose though, that I did miss most of Day 2 because of work related Lean Innovation Leadership training by Moves the Needle. Luckily I know Eric Abrams and Adam Carnow well enough to know what their presentations were going to cover off, how and how well (awesome I bet?!). Did Eric show how to draw a stupid owl :-) ?
Panels were phenomenal and the panelists opinions were backed up with real world experiences. Incredible.
The toughest part of the online delivery for me? Not being able to meetup as speakers. It’s something I still ache for and I do hope we’ll get to in person someday. For now, all I can hope for is to get together one Friday evening (Saturday afternoon in NZ) for drinks and to toast our hosts.
All presenters I watched left me with a lot to think about and each gave me new tools and strategies to do my job better as a leader.
Brandi Rank really made an impression on me. I found her direct approach relatable and I found myself “Amen”-ing her many many times during question period and the panel. She seems to be a true Corporate Rebel. I think her courage, that “don’t ask just do” is something we all need to work hard on emulating. I often catch myself saying “Um, why is such a such a person even in this conversation when they don’t have the first f’n idea of what it is we’re trying to do or how we do it?” What diff does it make complaining about it, really? Brandi reminded us all what courage looks like — we know better, it’s our responsibility to move our organizations forward, so just do it if it’s important. Do it with transparency. Do it with integrity. Do it. Ask for forgiveness after (if we need to).
Digestive Cookies
I deliberately hammered the content out fast — 62 animated slides in 37 minutes so the curious and engaged attendees were going to need a way to dig in afterwards. At GISMOS, the pace was the same — 105 slides in 52 minutes.
To help the Virtual Summit attendee’s digestion process, I decided to try something different for both the audience and myself. During my presentation, I provided a link to a companion web page. This page listed a post-summit Zoom meetup.
I’m happy to say I had 9 people that planned to “stick around to talk with me, ask questions and get some tips”. This 9 and the dozens of emails I received after has enriched my peer network. I hope I will do the same for them (reciprocity).
Digestive Cookie Update — Our post-summit meetup was a blast. Questions and discussion about Slimgim, how to measure likelihood, workforce capability assessments, Covid, Arizona train derailments, the value of certifications, etc. We even found out one meeting participant had already built their geospatial roadmap around Slimgim some time ago but got into the weeds when trying to action it. I’m going to help out.
As usual, I rambled my way through this meeting like an a$$ clown but that’s what I wanted to get from it —just a gaggle of peer-peeps huddled around the podium post-presentation, talking about pretty much anything. Mission accomplished!
Closing Thoughts?
GIS Leadership Summit 2020? Wow!
*Note: I noticed a handful of “Anonymous” users in the chat so I’m just going to come out and say it — the geospatial community is open and accepting. Join us. Share with us. We want to help. We learn from each other. Maybe I’m wrong (happens often) or maybe it was a just few users outside our geosphere like traditional I.T. or maybe someone famous like Jack or Beyonce? Regardless, we want to meet every single one of you. Many of us really want to connect with you. This can’t happen if your name is “Anonymous User”.
