AU 2006 - A Big Success

Autodesk University lived up to my expectations this year, with over 7500 attendees showing up in Las Vegas. Even at the large Venetian Resort facilities, there were so many guests that several overflow hotels were used. My hats off to Joseph Wurcher, Chris, June, Lynn Allen and the rest of the crew for pulling of one of the best-run events in recent memory.

My classes contained a pretty interesting mix of students, (what a crowd in such a small room - and they played along so well, even with my weak attempt a singing "Tequila") and was really impressed by the turnout. Interest in Revit System is starting to grow, and Building Systems continues to attract users who want to use an "AutoCAD for Engineers" (thanks Amy F for the idea). It really interested me to see the level of use for ABS and ADT - more users are into the walls doors and windows mode, and the crowd seemed pretty interested in moving beyond that level - which is great news.

A couple of suggestions for next year - secondary screens in the labs to show the handouts or presenter's powerpoints at the same time as the lab exercises. The food selection was a little weak a couple of days, sometimes a sandwich works on lunchtime just fine - mainly because a good number of users were going "takeout" with their meals. The meal rooms worked really well, handling large numbers with very few delays.

I also thought the idea of the learning labs run by staff other than just Autodesk staff in the exhibit hall was a great idea - gave me a great opportunity to talk to users from around the country - and wear this funky headset at the same time...thanks Nancy Tremblay for inviting me to work in the booth - and the fleece fits fine.


Thursday night's events including the comedian Don Williams (right on the money - only an engineer can understand) and the Blue Man group - guess I need to come up with a pipe routing definition to do what those guys were doing - awesome show!

I plan on adding several posts over the next few days, including a few new features (including links to downloadable files - my datasets will be available from the AU website) and some suggestions I picked up from the usual sources (the great longtimers at AU such as Matt Dillon, Bill Glennie and more) - it never fails, I always learn something new at the these events.

Thanks to Autodesk for giving me the opportunity to speak this year - and I plan on returning next year with a whole new set of jokes...!

thanks - David B.