The 2011 ESRI Developers Summit Really Blew

I arrived on Monday with some flair. Evidently, I was the first flight to land (12:30pm local) after some really crazy winds. I was in seat 2A and the lady in front of me barfed on arrival (God Love her).  Luckily, it was at the end of the flight.

I landed, got my car and was engulfed in the craziest sandstorm ever. The next day, the main feeders from the highway to downtown were closed as I tried to make my way to the convention center for the plenary (I like to stay in Palm Desert), so I used the interior city streets which sucked. This years Developer's Summit really blew so far.

However, things changed upon my arrival to the convention center (well actually before).  First, the weather could not have been better.  Clear, sunny, warm and no wind.  Next, the plenary was really good (here is the 1st part of it) which has not been the case for several years of attendance at various Developer's Summits, user group gatherings, as well as UCs.  What was striking this time was that this was the largest attendance ever for a Developer's Summit where 50% of the attendees were new and largely international.

Secondly, the vibe was SEXY.  I can't put my finger on it but I have been to dozens of ESRI sponsored events and this one was just cooler. I guess the seating is part of it, but I think it is something more as well.  The lunch on the first day was yummy too.

Technology wise, its time to get mobile.  I am kind of old-school and have forced myself to re-invent and re-brand as needed and this years Summit represents another milestone for that.  I hearken back to these times in my career...

• Arc/Info command line to ArcView 3.x
• AML to Avenue
• ArcX to Arc 8
• ArcIMS to ArcGIS Server
  
• you get the idea

While change is part of the game, I think ESRI has done a good job this year at the Developer's Summit to not get crazy with the "you need too.." and is still speaking to the user community.  While web and mobile is the latest and greatest, data (geodatabases) and good old fashioned GIS analysis (models) has been part of the discussion as well.

Given this need to change, I  focused on mobile tech sessions mostly as well as chatted with the alot of the engineers from the various product teams.  The tech sessions were great.  I especially want to lift up the "Choosing the best mobile platform" tech session.  I liked this session because it addressed real business issues.  Most tech sessions show a demo with code, but this session had larger relevance that is often missed in most tech sessions.

Anyhow, nice show this year!