The Utah Council of Land Surveyors (UCLS) is the voice of the professional surveying community in Utah. The UCLS has a strong membership who are proud of our profession and love to be involved in many aspects of the surveying profession. One of these aspects is being the UCLS Conference Chair. Planning the annual conference can be challenging, but very rewarding as well. You will begin early by scheduling an event center and selecting/organizing your main presenter(s) and theme for the conference. There are many aspects of planning this conference, so by working with other committees and using other resources, the conference planning will be simple. Most of the work happens as the conference date approaches, but if you work on the conference a little here and a little there all year, it will make the time spent easier.

The conference is generally held at the Dixie Convention Center in St. George, Utah, the week of the President’s Day holiday. The days and times of the conference are generally from one o’clock Wednesday through Friday late afternoon.

The purpose of planning and organizing this conference, according to Rule 22, Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors Act Rule §§ R156-22-304, a licensed professional land surveyor shall complete qualified professional education that is directly related to the ethics, business, and technical content aimed at maintaining, improving, or expanding the skills and knowledge relevant to the land surveying and have an identifiable clear statement of purpose and defined objective. Training must also be relevant to the practice and be presented in a competent, well-organized, and sequential manner. It will need to be prepared and presented by those qualified by education, training, and experience.

Timeline

February during the conference: Schedule the Dixie Convention Center for next year’s conference while at the Dixie Center.

February and March: This is the time to research speakers and develop a preliminary theme for the conference. The National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) speaker’s list is a great resource. Here you will be able to read each speaker’s bio, topics, and contact information.

February through July: Lay out a rough draft of the conference schedule. The Dixie Center will be looking to have a contract signed. Please read through the contract to understand what the Dixie Center is expecting. This will provide timelines for vendors and the administrative secretary to enter the building and set up for the conference, among other information.

August: If you choose to send out a “Call for Presentations” to the membership, this is when you want to do that. These are usually other members of the UCLS but can also be other professionals you choose to invite as a presenter, e.g., title company representative, land use attorney, etc. This affords a broader opportunity for people to share their personal versions and aspirations for the organization.

Other great resources are the State Ombudsman, Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), Automated Geographic Reference Center (AGRC), United States Geological Survey (USGS), International Right of Way Association (IRWA), Utah Geographic Information Council (UGIC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Certified Federal Surveyor Transition (CFedS), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Utah Valley University (UVU), and Salt Lake Community College (SLCC).

September: The Department of Professional Licensing (DOPL) will partially reimburse the UCLS for conference expenses for presenters. A preliminary conference schedule will need to be turned into DOPL no later than October 1, along with the expenses for the contracted presenters, and a brief description of their topic(s) presentation.

October through December: Work on finalizing the conference schedule. You should be heavily involved with some of the other UCLS committees in organizing this event. Are you using an app for the conference? This is the time to put it together. Start looking at the purchasing of conference swag. You distribute these items to the members as they check in to the conference.

The UCLS donates a raffle item for the WMCEF scholarship fund. This has generally been a shotgun, but it can be anything that might catch one’s eye and give them a desire to purchase tickets.

This is when you begin to coordinate with the Dixie Center on the rooms you plan to use and the layout of tables and chairs for these rooms.

January-February: The conference schedule should be complete. The Dixie Center’s catering services will contact you for the number for food and on menu items for meals and breaks.

The Dixie Center is usually where we hold the conference. We get a bigger turnout at the conferences when they are held here. When the conference is held in Salt Lake City, we generally do not get as big of a turnout, and the venue is usually a lot more money. Also, when we combine conferences, e.g., Las Vegas, where they have been combined with other surrounding state societies, the same thing happens. Holding this event at the Dixie Center has by far turned out to be our best location.

Risk Management

Until the viral pandemic of 2020, aka COVID-19, there was not much risk in planning this conference. Now, we see that there could be a risk of not being able to get all of us together to meet in person, having to meet virtually instead. Even in planning the 2021 conference, it was unknown if we could meet in person or not. In the end, we met in person with about 75% attendance, but the conference was also held virtually. We were fortunate to have the time to plan for this, but it was out of the norm.

In the past, presenters were unable to make it at the last minute due to an emergency. This may cause you to cancel the session or possibly have someone ready at any time to fill in if this happens.

Always have a Plan B and adapt it.