The Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium's 13^th Annual Conference & Workshops is scheduled for October 8-10, 2003 at the St. Paul RiverCentre - Touchstone Energy ® Place. This year we are anticipating an even bigger and better conference, and expect to exceed the 750 participants who attended last year’s event. Vendors will have exposure to a large gathering of leaders in the GIS/LIS community and will be listed in the conference program. As a vendor, you play an integral part in the event and we welcome your participation in our 2003 Conference.

In order to increase the amount of contact between exhibitors and conference attendees, the Consortium has incorporated the following features into the schedule:

• A buffet reception with door prizes and cash prizes is scheduled from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Thursday in the exhibit area (Ticket holders must be present to win.) All door prizes donated by vendors will be given out at this reception.
• All exhibitors are invited to a seated conference luncheon on Thursday.
• Morning and afternoon refreshment breaks on Thursday, and the morning break on Friday will be held in the exhibit area.
• Product demonstrations will enable exhibitors to showcase their products in a presentation format.
• Exhibitor recognition on our Web site - we will add your name to our Web site for 2003.

The conference will also feature several excellent speakers who will address various topics in the GIS/LIS field. This year’s opening keynote speaker is Joni Mines, Manager of E-Business for the City of Edmonton, Canada. Ms. Mines’ work has been recognized at home and abroad. From 1998 until taking over the e-business portfolio, Joni was the Manager of Land Applications and Manager of the Corporate Geographic Base Information System (GBIS) Office. In that dual role, she played a major part in the development of new business and operations models for the City’s Information Technology Branch. Her work has been the recipient of several national and international awards, including recognition by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., the Bertelsmann Institute in Europe and Canada’s ITX award for excellence in information technology. Among other accomplishments, Joni initiated the Spatial Land Inventory Management (SLIM) project in 1999. SLIM represents a comprehensive leap forward in the City of Edmonton's twenty-year history of managing and using spatial data. The SLIM system replaced 49 existing land applications and sewed pockets of legacy systems together into a single data repository. SLIM serves a staff of more than 1,200 at the City of Edmonton through its client server and intranet components and provides a spatial data resource to the public through the Internet. Joni will discuss this and other examples of her work.

Please review the exhibit information and do not delay in sending your Exhibit Space Application Form as booth space is allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. We also recommend that you make your hotel reservations as soon as possible. See conference/hotel information on the Exhibit Information page.

This year, for the first year ever, we are extending corporate sponsorship opportunities. These sponsorships will help us continue to keep registration costs low while providing high quality training, education and networking. Whether you are able to join us as an exhibitor or not, please consider one of the sponsorships on the attached form. It would be greatly appreciated and will provide valuable recognition for your company.

Thank you for your interest in the Minnesota GIS/LIS Conference. We sincerely hope that you will join us and exhibit your company's products and/or services at our upcoming event.

Sincerely,

Joella Givens, 2003 Conference Chair