By mid-morning on the Tuesday of the annual pilgrimage to ICSC Vegas, my body harshly reminds me that humans were not designed to walk for hours on concrete floors. And by mid-afternoon, driving south on I-15 towards the California state line as if the local sheriff was chasing me, I will usually state, for the record and to no one in particular, that I am done with these things. Time to tap out.
This year was no exception. The usual suspects – my right knee and lower back – are slowly getting over their anger for their alleged mistreatment and we are once again on speaking terms, as foul mouthed as they both are.
I think I went to my first ICSC show in 1992. By then I was an industry veteran in a very young GIS industry, so the ICSC crowd always seemed old to me. Some of them were in their 60’s and hobbling around on torn-up knees. Fast forward a few decades. Is it just me or does the crowd seem to be getting younger each year? Rumor has it that I am one of the ‘veterans’ which we all know is merely a polite way of saying old dinosaur.
Anyways, to what I learned.
First, our newsletter has a loyal and consistent readership. Several times, when Mike and I were pitching our latest product – our entire library of data for both the United States and Canada on the Uber H3 polygon geographies – I was met with a very pleasing response. Hey, didn’t you write about this last fall and trash them as analytical geographies? True, I did. In my defense, I did end that piece by saying that they sure were pretty. As it turns out, I wouldn’t change a word of that article and now we can put the pretty geography beside the practical and the world is a marginally better place for it. My commentary about the 2020 census was old news because most of you have read what we alone in the industry dared to say out loud.
For those of you who aren’t subscribers and reading on LinkedIn? Sign up. Articles are short and generally interesting, informative, and sometimes amusing. At least those that Elyse writes.
The second, and much more significant thing I learned was that people are truly amazed to hear what a small band of rogues can accomplish. We spent two days talking up our quarterly updated national parcel and building footprints files and their impact on the next generation of demographics. No one scoffed at the boldness of our statement that if a carpenter in Bozeman, MT picks up a hammer we want to know why, and more importantly, how it might affect our household count in that census block. When that new house is finished, our rapidly evolving set of demographic models will create a synthetic household with the most likely characteristics. Will we capture every new house? Of course not. But any goal worth achieving seems absurd when first proposed.
Surprisingly the response was not the anticipated “are you people nuts?”, as I suspect that they know we are, but no one doubts either our sincerity or the ability of a motivated collection of lunatics to achieve our goals. Instead, to a one, they asked ‘how many people do you have now”? Seven, including me. They are the most productive, self-managing and enthusiastic group we could have ever imagined could be assembled in one virtual office. Did I know we have an incredible team? Of course, but it is good that this is being recognized out there. So, to Ben, Elyse, Matt, Mike, Oscar, and new twin dad Thomas: you are all incredibly talented and productive, much more than I think we recognize ourselves and certainly more than I ever get around to telling you. Thanks, and let’s keep this party going: the fun is just beginning!
And ICSC 2025? See you again next year. By then, my defective joints will have forgiven, and I will have long forgotten that I swore I was really tapping out this time. Like a moth to a porch light.
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