ESRI European, Middle East & Africa User Conference

Istanbul, Oct. 15-18 2000

Istanbul was the perfect setting for the latest ESRI European (and this time also Middle Eastern and African) User Conference. More then 500 delegates from over 30 countries participated in the three day event which was organised by the local ESRI distributor Islem GIS.

The first day featured the opening speeches by Jack Dangermond (President ESRI), David Maguire (Director Product Planning) and several other speakers among which Prof. Banger of the Turkish Prime Ministry and Lawrie Jordan (CEO) of ERDAS. Those who ever participated in the ESRI's User Conference in Palm Springs were struck with the similarities of the international user conference at that time.

The poster session in the evening was also a good opportunity for the delegates to visit the many partners in the exhibition in order to get updated about their products and services. More then 20 partners had a booth among them of Compaq, Lizard Tech, ERDAS, Miner & Miner, Space Imaging and Navigation Technologies.

The two days which followed were filled with user presentations, technical workshops and a special defense track. The Swiss hotel proofed to be a very good environment with lots of space for individual meetings in between the sessions.

What would Turkey be without a dinner party during which the participants could get a glimpse of the colorful past of that country? Sultans, a royal military band, folk dancers and of course graceful belly dancers were the colorful treats in between the courses and made this Ottoman dinner to an unforgettable event.

During the last day the participants could enjoy a boat trip over the Bosporus during which both the European and the Asian shores were explored, a perfect closure of this wonderful event where people of East and West mingled in the best possible way.

During the conference people could already get information about next year's EMEA conference which is going to take place in Lisabon, Portugal (Oct. 17-19, 2001).

For more details, please contact:
Frank Holsmuller
Regional Marketing Manager EMEA, ESRI-Europe
Tel. +31-10-2177788
Fax +31-10-2177789