Dear Fellow Surveyors:

The Rhode Island Society of Professional Land Surveyors (RISPLS) is hosting the New England Surveying Societies (NESS) Conference being held April 17-19, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza in Worcester, MA. The conference will consist of three days of seminars, panel discussions and vendor displays. The primary goal of the conference is to begin the communication between the New England surveying societies concerning the problems that the members of the surveying profession encounter every day.

There will be a daily morning panel discussion made up of professionals active in their respective fields of surveying. The discussion panels will consist of members of the various Boards of Directors, Boards of Registration and Colleges and Universities with a surveying curriculum.

Topics to be discussed include common registration laws in regard to education and experience, the “graying” of the profession, student outreach, GIS and GPS practitioners and their place in our profession, the educating of surveyors at the various universities, online programs and transfer of grades from one school to another. There will be discussion of a New England Federation, future NESS conferences, grants and other topics that are a part of our daily routine.
 
There will a two day trade show with about thirty exhibitors demonstrating some of their latest equipment. The trade show portion of the conference will be kicked off with hospitality suites on Thursday night. Friday and Saturday will feature 1½ hour technical presentations by the exhibitors throughout the day.

Speakers in an extensive “mix and match” seminar format include Dr. John Bossler, former Admiral with USGS and Professor at Ohio State, Jeffrey N. Lucas, Esq. PLS, Brent Jones LS of ESRI, Gary Kent LS of Schneider Corp, James Stowell of Leica Geo-Systems, Alan Dragoo, L.S. of Keystone Instruments, Terry Eldridge, P.L.S., Rick Ladd, L.S., Jay Doody, Tom Meyers and others. 

In addition to the trade show, seminars and panels there will be Society meetings, a scholarship auction and banquet on Friday, and a skills contest on Saturday pitting professionals against tech and students and state against state. The three day affair will be capped off with a large raffle with some great prizes.

We are looking to get auction donations from all of the states. The auction proceeds will be distributed to the states equally. Already pledged for the auction we have an 1813 Edition of Abel Flint’s Surveying, a 1796 Thirteenth Edition of Love’s Geodasia  (The Art of Surveying), and a Circa 1766 wooden compass that is inscribed on the cover “…compass by which the town of Hillsboro, N.H was laid out….”

We hope that you will be able to participate in this new and exciting venture as we try to meet and learn our neighboring professionals and take this bold step into the future.

John Libby and Patrick Grant, RISPLS

For a registration form (59Kb Word doc) click HERE

For the convention schedule (26Kb Excel spreadsheet) click HERE