GIS/ValTech 2027

The best broad education in our field already exists. What is often missing is the hyper-local layer: your state's statutes, your CAMA system, your corner of the profession. In 2023, we set out to fill that local gap for our own community and built a peer-run conference from scratch.

This session tells the story of how a peer-run education conference grew from an idea between two people into a thriving annual event, and it hands you the practical blueprint to do the same. You will learn how to spot the gaps worth filling, recruit a founding team, choose a format and governance structure, fund the event without pricing anyone out, and draw both speakers and attendees from within your own community. Whether the need is software, appraisal, GIS, leadership, or something no one else is teaching, the grassroots model works.

Come and learn how to build affordable, peer-led education that your colleagues genuinely need, and that outlasts the people who start it.

Falon Hoven, Chief Deputy Assessor, Whatcom County - WA

Keywords: Workforce & Professional Development, Intermediate