Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Posts from Vegas - AU 2010, Day 1

Well, it's not really day one for me, got here Saturday to do my virtual recordings. Eventful flight - before takeoff in Nashville, plane had to go back - cracked windshield...that's a problem you don't want to have at 38,000 feet.

Spent about 14 hours prepping for 3 hours of recordings. There are three AUv sessions that I had (for the first time this year) - one for AutoCAD Architecture, one for AutoCAD MEP and one for Revit MEP. Managed to hit Revit and ACAD A right on the time frame, but was a little short on ACAD MEP. Interesting note - these sessions are recorded in one take, so you have to a) own (not know) your material, and b) don't be afraid of mistakes - dwelling on them only points it out, so it's best to just keep moving. The hard part was watching final part - man, I gotta lose some weight...

 Hats off to Autodesk and the AU staff - the speaker social was actually a great event, sponsored by Ford. There are awesome views from mIX at theHotel, took a few pics. Matt Dillon, good friend and mentor,got recognized for his years on contributions and classes at AU. I worked for him as a lab assistant at my first AU, and learned a lot from his style and rapport with the students. He's coined the perfect description of AU - "it's the running of the nerds..." - man, that cracked me up. As for the AEC mixer, watched the Autodesk Employee band - not too bad, but guys, "Comfortably Numb" is a party killer...

Had 5 classes total today - 2 virtual (of which the first one was cancelled - server issues - got to the Speaker Ready room at 6:45am, they said "didn't you get the email?" - had to laugh) and 3 live sessions, on Plant, Revit MEP and AutoCAD Architecture. And the Arch crowd was the best, followed closely by the RMEP group - but I got two more shots at that crowd on Thursday and Friday.

The exhibit hall is a great reflection of the current economic times. Met countless people that had changed jobs, left the channel for the design market, left Autodesk...but the real tell was how many fewer exhibitors there seemed to be. Not as many third party developers, and a much smaller crowd (looking like about 1/3 less) that AU 2008 at the Venetian. But the positive aspect was the determination of those present to take their current tools and process to the next level - they're all finally understanding that you have to stay on top of technology if you're going to survive as a business. Those that can't or don't evolve will be left behind...as well as those using outdated techniques and business practices.

Had a little dinner at House of Blues with a great house band, and got to finally meet some fellow bloggers in person. And for those that came to the classes - thank you so much for being there, and taking the time to attend my classes and participate - you're what makes doing this worthwhile!

 So, that's the first report from the floor at AU 2010 - I'll try to do updates tomorrow and Thursday as well.

Happy modeling! David B.

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