DENVER — The 2025 edition of Geo Week, a Diversified event serving geospatial and mapping professionals, featured a keynote that focused on the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last year.
The panel explored how the geospatial community was involved in the government’s response to this tragedy and how cross-disciplinary collaboration was key to its success.
Trade Show Executive (TSE) spoke with Carla Lauter, Senior Content Manager at Diversified and Editor at Geo Week News, and Lora Burns, Senior Marketing Manager at Geo Week, about how this session was successfully planned and the value of incorporating hot-button topics into an event’s programming.
ANDREW: What inspired the decision to have a keynote focused on the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster at Geo Week 2025?
CARLA: The idea was brought to us during one of our Advisory Board meetings.
Ronda Schrenk, CEO of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) [the session’s moderator], is on our Advisory Board and the USGIF is a partner organization to Geo Week, and they are very keen on sharing case studies that demonstrate the value of geospatial information and intelligence, as well as bring together the geospatial industry to solve tough problems.
We immediately went to work to see how we could make it a reality. What appealed to us, as event organizers, was the combination of it being a high-profile and important event, but also the level of interagency cooperation and the use of geospatial technology that made it possible … There was an unprecedented amount of data sharing, coordination and cooperation involved — and that was a story we wanted to help tell.
ANDREW: How were the keynote’s speakers chosen?
CARLA: Ronda worked within her organization and contacts to identify the right people to connect with. After some outreach, the two speakers were chosen and the session flow finalized.
Jeremy Wasson from the Army Geospatial Center and Mike Aslaksen from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Geodetic Survey provided their perspectives on the response and the lessons learned from the response and recovery from the disaster.
ANDREW: Did choosing a topic of this nature pose any risks for the show? If so, how were these mitigated or avoided?
LORA: Any time we highlight sensitive topics, whether it’s subject matter or confidentiality, we take care in how we are marketing and presenting information.
We would never want to use flashy marketing campaigns like we might use for some of our other keynotes … We present only the facts and lessons learned for attendees, but also the hope that by delving into what happened we can as an industry work together to prevent future catastrophes.
CARLA: An additional risk that we couldn’t really anticipate was some of the uncertainty facing government organizations like NOAA, for example. After the new administration came into office, we were concerned that there would be some attendees (and speakers) that might not be able to attend due to funding freezes, especially those working for federal agencies.
Thankfully, this did not affect our keynote speakers, but it is always a risk that we take when inviting government officials to present — they are needed for important work, and sometimes priorities shift, which can necessitate being flexible and having a “Plan B.”
ANDREW: How can incorporating current events into a show’s programming benefit events and their attendees?
LORA: Looking to current events and recent case studies is vital to planning conference programming. It benefits attendees to have a baseline of knowledge about a topic going into a session and encourages meaningful audience engagement, plus the opportunity to be able to ask presenters questions in-person (if permitted) is invaluable.
CARLA: No one wants to go to a conference and see content that’s the same presentation that they saw somewhere else, or that doesn’t feel new or relevant. Picking a current event, landmark or project that attendees have heard of can forge a stronger connection between attendees and the keynote content.
ANDREW: What advice would you give to a show organizer who wants to incorporate current events into their programming?
LORA: Be flexible with speakers and be transparent with your audience. Current events are evolving, so a keynote description of what will be presented may change or need to be tweaked from one week to the next.
CARLA: I would advise not to be afraid to ask. The work that people are doing on large-scale and high-profile projects are often complex, but the people who work on them are often very willing to share their lessons learned or showcase their work because it is so important to them.
In this case, it was also compelling for the speakers to share just what a difference the level of collaboration they were able to achieve meant to them — and pushed the audience to be more transparent in their own work. These lessons and challenges are best shared directly from the people who lived it — so don’t be afraid to ask them to.
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ANDREW: Has Geo Week covered similar topics in previous editions?
LORA: Geo Week News often covers topics related to disaster recovery — from wildfires to flooding and other natural disasters or tragedies, geospatial technology has helped with rescue, recovery and rebuilding, and we aim to help others learn how to utilize technology to help mitigate the effects of such tragedies.
CARLA: However, for the keynote this year, specifically, we wanted to focus on case-study-driven presentations rather than high-level industry talks.
We thought it was important for our audience to connect the type of work that they are doing to some of the biggest challenges out there — to both inspire them and to challenge them. So in that way, this year’s keynote choices were a bit of a departure from our typical approach.
ANDREW: How did attendees respond to the keynote?
CARLA: The keynote room was packed with attendees and we were very pleased at the turnout. While we have not yet received the final results of our post-show attendee surveys, we’ve had several conversations with attendees where they expressed the importance and the impressive scale/scope of the keynote.
ANDREW: What were some of the keynote’s main takeaways?
CARLA: One of the main takeaways is that geospatial data can be used as a common language and metaphorical “bridge” for organizations to better their responses to complex problems.
Both speakers touched on collaboration at a previously unprecedented scale — data access, sharing, etc. — enabled by the need to get crucial information more quickly. There’s no reason for keeping data to oneself when there are rescues and massive economic and safety impacts at stake.
ANDREW: How did this topic help Geo Week explore how data, maps and advanced technologies can deepen our understanding of the world and inform solutions for complex challenges?
CARLA: One of the topics that we talk a lot about at Geo Week and in Geo Week News, our content website, is the harm that can come from keeping data in “silos” or not knowing how or where to access data that is needed. That trend leads to a lot of re-work, [including] collecting the same data multiple times, and can be costly.
This keynote showed an example of what can happen if data is shared — and the outcome was clearly positive.
ANDREW: Is there anything else you would like to add about Geo Week 2025?
LORA: As industries experience rapid advancements in technology, the growing demand for remote workflows and breakthroughs in hardware, Geo Week stands at the forefront of these changes, driving new expectations across organizations and industries.
Participants have grown to expect the most up-to-date and impactful case studies, and we are proud to provide a platform for this in-person knowledge exchange.
There are so many components that make up a successful event, from keynotes to conference content to cutting-edge exhibitors, special features, partnerships, networking and more — and this year we even hosted a global celebration, World Lidar Day.
Geo Week was another record-breaking year, with more than 3,200 professionals from 49 countries and a sold-out exhibit floor featuring 215 exhibiting companies. The continued growth has been tremendous and has cemented Geo Week as the premier event for geospatial professionals.
Geo Week continues to provide a unique opportunity to see how technologies are shaping the future and addressing the complex challenges of today’s world.
Find Diversified’s full recap of the panel here and learn more about Geo Week here.
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