Question of the Week: Win 2 Tickets to the Peak of Data & AI 2025!

I haven’t attended a Safe Software conference before, but I’d love to experience the Peak of Data & AI 2025! in Seattle!

As a geospatial student, my first interaction with FME was during a university project, where I used it to enrich datasets,I was amazed by its capabilities. Attending this event would be a great opportunity to learn, network, and explore how FME is shaping the future of geospatial data!

I was bitten by the FME bug as a work placement student in 2022, and I've been hooked ever since! Using FME for various data transformation tasks (CAD, GIS, InfoDrainage, ProjectWise...) has not only streamlined my workflows but also significantly reduced the time spent on boring manual tasks. My favourite project was using FME for data collation and analysis in my dissertation, which made my life many times easier - obligatory graduation pic attached!

Experiencing The Peak 2025 would be an amazing opportunity to further my knowledge, connect with fellow FME enjoyers, and discover fun new ways to use FME in my work!

The Peak of Data Integration 2023 to me was the most memorable thus far, the venue was fantastic and the sunset boat cruise on the Rhine river with karaoke with live band support is something very difficult to forget.

I’m still pretty new to FME and mainly use it for GIS-related tasks (like UN migration projects). Right now, I’m working through the courses to get my FME Flow certification, and attending The Peak 2025 would be an incredible opportunity! I’d love to meet fellow ETL and GIS enthusiasts, learn from the best, and expand my network. I hope to see you there :) 

I haven’t attended any Safe hosted conferences before, but since starting to work with FME a few years ago, it’s pretty much become a hobby! I also remember “attending” the online FME World Tour during the pandemic while I was at an internship, and with dreamy eyes imagining I would one day be as knowledgeable as the presenters I watched!

The biggest reason for me to go though, would be to connect with other municipal FME users from around the world, as we have for the past year or so had a municipal developer network rolling here in Sweden. We call ourselves FMSWE:290 (as in 290 municipalites in the country) and we would love to spread the joys of collaborating over organisational boundaries!

Here’s me and my founding partner Stina presenting the presenters (presenception) for our first webinar in December - 157 attendees at the point of screenshotting! There’s around 230 members from 110 municipalites at the time of writing, and we’re still growing! 😀

added a pic.

As a first-time FME conference attendee, The Peak 2025 in Seattle presents an unparalleled opportunity for immersive learning, invaluable networking, and exposure to cutting-edge ideas within the FME community. I'm drawn to the prospect of connecting with industry experts and like-minded professionals, gaining practical FME-specific skills, and experiencing the vibrant atmosphere of Seattle, all of which promise to ignite my professional growth and provide the inspiration needed to propel my career forward. Plus, I'm excited to see CEO Don Murray again.

I'm excited about the opportunity to attend The Peak of Data & AI 2025. Although I haven't had the chance to experience an FME User Conference yet, the dynamic integration of AI, Machine Learning, and FME is deeply intriguing. My primary objective as part of a municipality is to automate the conversion of manual processes—such as PDF and DWG record drawings and service cards—into an enterprise geodatabase utilizing these cutting-edge technologies. This conversion drastically reduces what previously required months of effort into mere hours, transforming efficiency. At the Town of Qualicum Beach, our innovation earned us the Spirit of Innovation award at MISA BC 2024, showcasing our ability to lead in this space. Attending this conference would allow me to expand my knowledge and connect with other professionals, further fueling our automation initiatives. 

[FME was part of our award-winning Public Inquiry System 🏆 - This is two of our presentation slides.]

MISA - BC Awards

I would love to attend, have been using FME for 10 years now! It helped enormously creating SQL tables from USGS ShakeMaps and overlaying those with ZIP codes. Since first seeing some demos in 2014 at a road show in Sacramento, I came back a year later to present on what we were able to do with FME! Since then we have implemented all kinds of solutions and daily workflows using FME workspaces, I would love the opportunity to attend the user conference to see what kind of ideas will be sparked and connect with other enthusiasts!

I’ve been using FME daily for over 10 years, and it’s been an essential tool in my work, especially for geospatial data preparation. While I’ve never had the chance to attend an FME conference, I’d love to experience The Peak 2025 in Seattle to connect with the community, learn from industry experts, and explore how FME is evolving in the era of AI.

I’m deeply passionate about AI — I even won 1st place in the 28th Annual STOČ competition (2024) for developing a prototype that classifies roof types and optimizes photovoltaic panel placement using FME and PyTorch.

Attending The Peak 2025 would be an amazing opportunity to grow, share ideas, and bring fresh insights back to my work. Cheers from the Czech Republic — fingers crossed! 🤞

My favorite memory is from the first FME Worldwide User Conference 2006, hosted by Safe Software, that took place on September 21-22 in Vancouver, Canada in a beautifully restored heritage building in downtown Vancouver. It was the first global gathering of FME users, attracting 77 participants from 16 countries. The event focused on exploring the capabilities of FME (Feature Manipulation Engine), a spatial data transformation tool, through technical sessions, keynote addresses, and networking opportunities. Highlights included discussions on data transformation challenges and the innovative "FME Idol" competition. There was a reseller/partner meeting on September 20, 2006 and a two-day FME training course and a half-day seminar on SpatialDirect (the great grandfather of FME Flow), Safe Software’s solution for distributing spatial data online. These added significant value for long time partners like PIXEL SOFTEK looking to maximize their conference participation.

The FME Idol Contest was more than just a competition—it was a way to foster creativity and build relationships among FME users. It offered a unique and fun way to break from the usual technical presentations and workshops, giving everyone a chance to relax, laugh, and enjoy the lighter side of the FME community. As for the FME Idol contest itself, which consisted of the four FME MVP contestants (Jason Birch from BC, Canada, Peter Laulund from Denmark, SRG (Raghavendran) from India and Hans van der Maarel from Netherlands solving one of two problems in front of a live audience in under an hour, which show-cased the capabilities of FME users under pressure. As if problem solving before an audience was not disconcerting enough, contestants were subjected a barrage of disparaging comments from the judges, in true Idol contest style. Our gloves-off, no comments-barred judges attempted to
distract contestants with comments such as, With workspaces like that, you should be downgraded to a Base Edition license, or Did you take FME training? Were you awake? However, the contestants were difficult to derail.

The FME Worldwide User Conference 2006 set the stage for future conferences by establishing a community-driven, practical focus that Safe Software refined and scaled over time, adapting to FME’s growing capabilities and user diversity. Here are some snaps:

19 Sep 2006: Partner FME Training at Safe Software Office

20 September 2006: Partner Meeting at Safe Software Office

 20 September 2006: Partner Dinner at Grouse Mountain

21 and 22 September 2006: FME Worldwide User Conference

I’ve been using FME for over 15 years and have never attended a conference on the west coast.

But I would love to join the Peak of Data 2025 so I can finally meet FME Lizard in person! Because after all these years, I think it's about time I meet the coolest reptile in data!

I started using FME in 2017 but I’ve never had the opportunity to attend the Safe Software conference. But I’d love to go anytime soon...

….and Seattle is the city that I always wanted to visit! Grunge and FME...nothing else is needed! :)

Like ​@baileyatsafe above, I won’t be winning tickets with this answer...but thought I’d add in my two cents. I started with Safe in 2022 as a Technical Support Specialist on the FME Form team, almost exactly three months before UC2022. I attended UC2022 to soak everything in and get to know our wonderful user community! It was here where I ended up taking my first support request, a doozy of a KML ask that led to some pretty neat KML workflows and solidified my sense of awe at the capabilities of FME Form and Flow, and at the FME community on the whole! I can’t say enough wonderful things about our Peak UC, a fantastic combination of connection, food, and fun! 

Since 2019 I have been using FME to perform some QAQC as GIS Specialist, working in an Electricity Distribution Company, in Nigeria. I have not attended any FME conference before, I would like to win two tickets to the Peak of Data & AI 2025 conference. On January 6, 2025, I had a meeting session with Stewart Harper and Jenna Lyons on the topic ‘How to Shape the Future of FME,’ where I stated that AI being fully integrated into FME would boost its future use in carrying out various tasks, such as data integration, for its users. The video of the session was recorded, and the team can watch it.

I would be happy to win the tickets to attend the conference to enable me network with others, and share my ideas on various AI integrations that will enhance the use of FME especially making FME easily utilized in Africa.


 

Thank you for everyone for sharing your stories! Our team is loving reading about all the memories - and why you want to come to the Peak 2025.

Not a Safe conference, but I remember one year at the UC, Dale was about to give a presentation and the power went out!  He grabbed a chair, pulled it out into the hallway which still had light, stood up on it, and gave an amazing talk while about 100 people stood around him.  Sort of a tech-sermon from the mount!  

Anyway, please don’t enter me in the contest.  I’ll be staying north of the border for the next little while!

My first FME Conference i went to was in 2022. My favorite was definitely the claw machine!! That was totally a hit. Got myself a Zipster!

Also love seeing all the stuffs people use FME for, it’s amazing how FME improve the quality of life / efficiency in our job.

 

Never have I been but I would love to engage with like-minded problem solvers, out-of-the box thinkers and tinkerers. There are so many ways to solution. Learning from others and collaboration are great ways of finding new ways to get there. 
Oh wait!! We already do that all the time in the FME Community!!! 😉 There is something, however, about in person events. The energy and positive vibes are electrifying and I always come out feeling inspired!

My favourite memory, although it’s hard to pick having been going to FME events since 2001, is a very small one.

At the Whistler conference, 2009 if I recall correctly, the social event was up on the mountain. Safe had hired one of the gondola lifts to take us up there. When we were boarding we were told that it would make one stop halfway up the mountain but we weren’t supposed to get off there, only at the top.

So our gondola stops halfway, the doors open and a waitress with a cheery smile and plate of finger food steps in. It felt like a very surreal moment and had us all in stitches.

I am super new to FME. Transitioning into a role where this will be like my holy grail or equivalent. Hoping to become a silent storm within my program and learn how to wrangle the mess that is our data. I’ve completed the basic training and chugging my way along with the advanced. I’d love to start getting my hands dirty with FME Flow as we are looking to integrate it relatively soon. I’ve had an amazing mentor who is an fme lover all around so I’d love to be out there so together we can take our program and Seattle by storm.

Contest entries are open until March 9, 2025! Thank goodness it is a random draw - I don’t know how we would ever choose a story 😉

The reason I would love to attend this event is because of the opportunity to network and build meaningful connections with other FME users. I have only been user the platform for about a year now and I learned everything that I know from the free online live trainings and seminars that Safe Software hosts. I would love to be able to continue my learning by attending this event and being able to connect with all of the individuals I met at the Safe table at the ESRI UC last year. Regardless of whether I go or not this software has changed my career path from a geospatial analyst to the new diverse role I am in now. Also, I currently live in Olympia, so the conference is just around an hour drive on the notorious I5 corridor. If anyone is trying to network at the event message me, I may not be there in person, but you best believe we can go grab brunch and expand international connections through Safe.

I think my favorite memory was the tribute to Shapefile at the 2017 FME UC!

In case anyone hasn’t seen it

Had a blast at last year’s Safe Software conference! I loved attending presentations, meeting awesome people, and having fun in the video booth. Can’t wait for more good times this year!