Autodesk University - Day 0

So I decided to blog about my experiences this year at Autodesk University so that my local AUGI chapter could get a feeling for what goes on here.  Well to start off, yesterday (Sunday) was in Cocoa Beach running a half marathon.  I recorded a new personal record of 1:53:49.  After I drove back the 200 + miles, did laundry, and packed, I got about five hours of sleep before I had to be up and at the wonder Miami International Airport.  I must point out that the new Concourse D looks pretty good (reminds me of the old British Airways Concourse A).  The flight to Las Vegas was uneventful, although comedian Doug Benson was in first class.

When I arrived in Vegas, I ran into a local reseller of whom I will not mention a name, although he is some whose button I do love pushing when it comes to a certain BIM software.  He talked my ear off for a while and we shared a cab to the Mandalay Bay.  Registration was a breeze.  Autodesk really does a good job with this.  In the registration space, there are various stations.  At the first one, there are laptops where you walk up, and enter your name.  The display then shows a line to go to in order to pick up your badge (picture later).  After the badge, you go and pick up the first of your swag, which this year is a rolling backpack.  Being on subscription, I also got a nice steel mug.

On my way to an AUGI Leadership meeting, I realized that the convention center at the Mandalay looks eerily similar to the convention center at the Venetian (site of AU 2008).  The AUGI Leadership meeting was a little bit smaller than all anticipated (we would have had trouble fielding a futbol squad).  Most of the current AUGI Board of Directors were there, and when the topic of managing a chapter came up, I specifically mentioned the problems with the local chapter pages on the AUGI website.  The board admitted the problem and did vouch that they are not only trying to come up with a quick fix, but also a long term solution.  So hopefully, the local chapter page will work once again.  

After the leadership meeting I attended a Local Chapter President's meeting.  This meeting was very similar to the first one (a lot of the same people attended).  More details were given about the website issues, and we discussed other ways to help out user groups.


Now I'm heading out to a few of the mixers before I pass out from exhaustion, and then tomorrow Day 1 begins.