PLSO The Oregon Surveyor November/December 2021

4 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 6 Let’s Get Back Together in Salem From the PLSO Office Aimee McAuliffe PLSO Exec. Secretary C ould it be true? Will we all see each other again? The answer is yes and no. That is, it’s up to you. Our 2022 PLSO Conference will be a hybrid event this coming January. You may register to attend in person, or you can register to watch a limited selection of live stream- ing/recordings online. The good news for those who attend in person—you also get to see the available recordings post conference. This means, if our na- tional speaker’s room has no seating left, you can go see another session and still catch every minute of their session later. Why has PLSO decided to go the hybrid route? If you recall, PLSO surveyed the membership earlier in 2021 regarding how you all felt about returning to an in-person event. The results were split. People either felt strongly about getting back to “normal” or were adamant that they would stay home. Yet, the truth is, just about everyone needs their PDHs and PLSO is dedicated to being that source for you. A hybrid event is expensive. For an event such as the conference, it doesn’t necessarily make more money or serve as a draw to bring a larger audience. It simply makes it possible for everyone who wants to attend the conference to do so. Therefore, I hope that you all will take advantage of this benefit, one way or another. In-person attendees will have the clas- sic conference experience with multiple sessions, exhibit booths, lunch, and a Thursday auction dinner. The event pro- gramwill not be printed, but run through the Whova app on your phone where you can communicate with everyone in the building and those online. Want to set up an in-person meet-up at a specific location? Set it up in the app and people will get the message. Have a job you want to post and be able to chat with people in-person at the conference about it? Post it on the board. Thosewho choose toattend the conference virtually will have a modified conference experiencewithone roomstreaming live all day and another being recorded to watch later. The online platform will be run on the Whova/Zoom platforms just like last year with community walls, direct mes- saging, photo contests, and more. We are excited to welcome all our speak- ers. Both John Stahl and David Doyle are set to give sessions at the conference cen- ter, which will be available online. There are interesting topics planned, such as cyber crime, writing a good narrative, the future of surveying, UAV, math for survey- ors, andmore. Our valuable exhibitors will be working their booths, ready to talk to you, and we will still be handing out drink tickets upon check-in. Some of you may be wondering what rules and regulations are happening at the event due to COVID-19. PLSO will be following all state regulations that are re- quired of us and the venue. As of writing this column, that means masks are re- quired. I’m going to request everyone to understand that we are an organization that represents many different profes - sionals with a lot of different viewpoints. Please respect your fellow attendees, vol- unteers, and staff by not turning it into a political scene. If someone asks for more distance, please be respectful and give it to them. If someone says they don’t be- lieve in masks, please don’t get into an argument about it. Decide what is best for you and understand that others are doing the same for them. Just respect the rules PLSO is working towards adhering to. As a professional organization, we are requiring all in-person attendees to agree to a COVID-19 waiver when registering as well. There is a link to read it next to the check box within the electronic form, or youmay read it in advance in theMember Resources or Conference FAQ sections of plso.org. In essence, it states that you un- derstand the risks involved, won’t attend if you have been exposed and, that while PLSOwill work to follow protocol, we can- not guarantee that you won’t come down with COVID-19. The work output that this community has pulled off over the last two years has been intense. The world needs surveyors. So, let’s all get back together and work towards making more of them.