If you had a conversation with me in 2008, during my first few months on the job as USGIF president, you probably heard me say that while I felt I knew a bit about intelligence in general, and GEOINT specifically, I recognized that I didn’t know much about managing a nonprofit foundation.

What I quickly learned is that nonprofits heavily rely on their membership, and more so on the volunteers they provide. It is these volunteers who help in almost every aspect of a nonprofit’s activities, and without whom no nonprofit would succeed.

USGIF is no different, and so I’d like to begin this column with an enormous “Thank You” to all of our members and the volunteers who helped the foundation throughout the year. From our academic activities, to our awards program, to our event planning, our volunteers performed superbly. Their support in preparing for our GEOINT 2009 Symposium was particularly impressive.

GEOINT 2009 is widely being recognized as the best event we’ve ever produced—and some media have gone so far as to say the GEOINT Symposium is the single best event associated with our extended community. I tend to agree, but then again I’m biased. Regardless, our volunteers, members, attendees and exhibitors all deserve special thanks for their efforts.

This year, despite current economic realities and associated cutbacks in travel and tradeshow budgets, the GEOINT Symposium saw growth. We had more people come through the door for the symposium, more total verified attendees, than ever before. Our government and military attendance numbers grew as a percentage of total attendance as well, and we had a broader number of government agencies represented. Also exciting was the growth in attendance from academia and the almost 100 young professionals who attended under a new, discounted registration category.

Although there were slightly fewer exhibiting organizations compared with last year, the total square footage of exhibit booth space increased, making for the largest GEOINT Symposium exhibit hall to date. We also had an increase in exhibits from government organizations, technology laboratories, academic institutions, military commands and first responders—a trend we expect to expand upon next year.

We could not be more thrilled about these numbers, as it tells me we are doing something right. Even more encouraging to me, though, is the fantastic feedback we’ve received, both formally and anecdotally, regarding the very high quality of our speakers and breakout sessions.

The GEOINT Symposium returns to Nashville, Tenn., October 25-28, 2010, and planning is already underway. Our staff just returned from a site visit to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, and downtown Nashville (hint, hint…), and we’ve begun to brainstorm ideas for the panels and breakout sessions. Now is the time to contact us with your ideas.

The theme for next year is “Geospatial Intelligence 3.0…A new era of GEOINT.” We will pull this thread across all of our events in 2010. At the International Commercial Remote Sensing Symposium—a new event produced in conjunction with the Department of Commerce and NOAA—remote sensing leaders from around the globe will discuss this new era of GEOINT. Tech Days continues to expand with the coordination of the Army Geospatial and Imagery Conference and new learning and training opportunities. At each GEOINTeraction Tuesday networking event, the speakers will address the future of GEOINT training, tradecraft and technology.

These events, in addition to the work of our USGIF committees, will focus on this idea of Geospatial Intelligence 3.0 and the needs of this next era of GEOINT. I’ll outline in the next issue of Geospatial Intelligence Forum, the first of 2010, what GEOINT 3.0 means to us and where USGIF is leading the GEOINT community.

I’d like to note (brag) that due to reader demand, GIF is increasing its frequency in 2010. Instead of six bi-monthly issues, the 2010 editorial calendar features eight issues. This increased frequency helps keep our community more closely connected and informed throughout the year.

In addition, the increase provides us an opportunity to give you, the reader, more insightful articles about the issues of interest to you.

Also, USGIF, with our partner KMI Media Group, is planning some new products to better serve our USGIF membership and GEOINT community.

First, we are planning a USGIF Member Directory as part of the GIF issue that is distributed at Tech Days. This issue, to be an annual feature, will be the go-to resource for the defense, intelligence and homeland security communities to see who the major players are and what services and capabilities they offer.

We are also discussing how we might be able to combine the GIF issue published for the GEOINT Symposium with the symposium Event Guide to provide subscribers and attendees a more enriching and valuable product.

Next year we’ll also continue the official Show Daily for GEOINT 2010. I was very excited by “buzz” generated by this year’s Show Daily, and we will continue to improve and expand the resource for next year’s symposium, which will include a digital version for coverage of the final day’s events.

We are always seeking better ways for USGIF to serve the GEOINT community, and the broader national security community. Of course, we want to hear from you as to what we can improve, and what features and products you would find useful.

Next year will be an exciting one. The foundation has a lot on its plate, and we are always looking for new members and new volunteers to help support USGIF and the GEOINT community. We hope to see you soon.