It's the end of AU 2010 and I'm sitting at the Vegas airport sipping on a strawberry smoothie from Starbucks. I'm completely exhausted and my foot is throbbing from a blister I got last night, time to relax and reflect on the experience.
The good:
- Free food and drinks everywhere - you seriously could gain a lot of weight here - I'm balancing the laptop on top of my mountianous belly right now and not my lap.
- Getting to know my other DIALOG colleagues, which probably wouldn't happen otherwise.
- I'm amazed how Autodesk can manage 6000+ attendees - breakfast, lunch, dinner, all the sessions. It's quite the organizational feat!
The bad:
- Meeting up at 6:30 every morning.
- Going to bed at midnight - not a bad thing, but see above.
- Filling out surveys by hand - chisel and stone anyone?... seriously, everyone should have scanners.
- I seriously can't think of anything else.
Thank you DIALOG, thank you Autodesk, good-bye Vegas.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
It's Over
Exhausting.
Some super cool stuff. When they said complex per instance data, I wasn't expecting being able to embed an entire file structure of files within a Revit element. I don't know we would use it directly, but it does give me some good ideas.
The session on SharePoint integration was exactly what I expected. The technology is still in it's infancy, but, given time, it could develop into something really quite useful.
It was good meeting people from the other studios. I had a ton of fun. Too much walking. And I can't believe it is all over.
Some super cool stuff. When they said complex per instance data, I wasn't expecting being able to embed an entire file structure of files within a Revit element. I don't know we would use it directly, but it does give me some good ideas.
The session on SharePoint integration was exactly what I expected. The technology is still in it's infancy, but, given time, it could develop into something really quite useful.
It was good meeting people from the other studios. I had a ton of fun. Too much walking. And I can't believe it is all over.
Contrary to popular belief no I have not gotten married, yet...
Today was the last day of AU, it went by fast and I will miss the free mystery food(fajitas?) and drink. My first session today was by far the best, it was about design efficiency. The class involved using basic and complex REVIT models to do load calcs and had alot of tips for matching our room/space names to the Architectural model. All that should work out to a pretty decent how to/class by me.
I just got back from Freemont ave which was amazing, now its time for some food and Vegas novelties... Wish me luck!
Andrew
Today was the last day of AU, it went by fast and I will miss the free mystery food(fajitas?) and drink. My first session today was by far the best, it was about design efficiency. The class involved using basic and complex REVIT models to do load calcs and had alot of tips for matching our room/space names to the Architectural model. All that should work out to a pretty decent how to/class by me.
I just got back from Freemont ave which was amazing, now its time for some food and Vegas novelties... Wish me luck!
Andrew
No tiger, no wedding bells, no energy!
I just finished my last class of Autodesk University 2010 and i can honestly say that i am exhausted! Waking up at 5:45 am and having classes from 8:30 t0 5:30 every day really takes a toll on you! I'm looking forward to relaxing and going to sleep. Yes, this is Vegas and there a million things i could be doing here, but i honestly don't have the energy to even walk! All in all though, AU 2010 was a great experience. I managed to learn some things and i also got a chance to get to know some of my fellow coworkers from the other studios.
Things i will miss at AU2010:
1) All the good free food.
2) All the good free drink
3) My amazing hotel room
4) Chuck Norris
5) Andrew saying, "that's gnarly"
6) Andrew's quest for the definitive Vegas tourist T-shirt
7) Mike sending me a BBM message saying, "where are you guys" when we're standing right behind him.
Things i will not miss about AU2010:
1) All the good free food (i ate waaaaaay too much at every meal and snack time)
2) All the walking (seriously, your feet are killing at the end of each day and i'm wearing super comfortable sneakers)
3) Having to wear your conference ID badge around your neck
4) Filling out forms at the display booths in the exhibit hall just to get free stuff
5) Chuck Norris
So with that, i say good by to Las Vegas and AU2010. It was a great experience!
"Reggie has left the building" Vivaaaaaaa Las Vegas!
For those of you too young to remember that, it's an Elvis reference.
Day 3 Update
The last day of classes started off quite well. The first class, on handling finish plans in Revit, was quite interesting. The instructor came up with the idea of using areas to create floor finish plans. Quite interesting really...all the power of splitting faces and painting. Materials, but with none of the hassle of nesting your split lines.
The second class was fantastic. At Perkins + Will, they use server class machines with terminal server plus to provide high powered Revit capabilities for thei users. A 12 processor, each processor either dual or quad core, server with 64 gigs of RAM can host, according to their testing, up to 12-14 users. The benefit, the RAM is dynamically allocated to the processes, users, which need it. So if you are doing something RAM intensive in Revit, if you need 16 or more gigs of RAM to do it efficiently, you get it.
They also came up with a way of evaluating the potential size and complexity of a model and of determining how many people are needed on the project. Interesting stuff. They are also actively studying the impact of what they call lonely BIM, some involvement of stakeholders, and social BIM, heavy active involvement of all stakeholders throughout the process, on key portions of the design process. The findings are quite staggering.
My next class is starting...time to go.
The second class was fantastic. At Perkins + Will, they use server class machines with terminal server plus to provide high powered Revit capabilities for thei users. A 12 processor, each processor either dual or quad core, server with 64 gigs of RAM can host, according to their testing, up to 12-14 users. The benefit, the RAM is dynamically allocated to the processes, users, which need it. So if you are doing something RAM intensive in Revit, if you need 16 or more gigs of RAM to do it efficiently, you get it.
They also came up with a way of evaluating the potential size and complexity of a model and of determining how many people are needed on the project. Interesting stuff. They are also actively studying the impact of what they call lonely BIM, some involvement of stakeholders, and social BIM, heavy active involvement of all stakeholders throughout the process, on key portions of the design process. The findings are quite staggering.
My next class is starting...time to go.
Day 2 Review
My afternoon sessions were pretty good, with one exception. The presenter crashed and burned. It has happened to me, so I know, first of all, how easily it can happen, and secondly, just how much it sucks to be "that guy".
The presentation on level of detail was particularly good. I think Reggie and I will have some interesting discussions around how we can put that information to good use.
At the evening event, I ran into several people I have not seen in almost 10 years. People who have been around the Calgary and Edmonton offices for some time would be interested to hear that Stephen Jabs is a presenter this year.
I also ran into some of the top rated AU instructors, many of whom I have had the opportunity to meet at other events, like Destination Desktop. Dave Espinosa Aguilar is always interesting to talk to, as is Matt Murphy.
All in all, a good day.
The presentation on level of detail was particularly good. I think Reggie and I will have some interesting discussions around how we can put that information to good use.
At the evening event, I ran into several people I have not seen in almost 10 years. People who have been around the Calgary and Edmonton offices for some time would be interested to hear that Stephen Jabs is a presenter this year.
I also ran into some of the top rated AU instructors, many of whom I have had the opportunity to meet at other events, like Destination Desktop. Dave Espinosa Aguilar is always interesting to talk to, as is Matt Murphy.
All in all, a good day.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
AU 2010 - Day 2
Alright, so I bet you guys back home are getting tired of some of the technical writings, our adventures in finding a tiger and blogging from the strangest of locations. Oh just wait Bruce, we came up with a few new spots... untapped.
Tuesday night we found a kick-ass artist doing caricatures using an Autodesk product called sketchbook pro. Sad part is, we were 3 people away from getting our "likeness" done before the exhibit closed. Our goal for Wednesday was to get the entire group done. Reggie had a bit more time in the morning and he got his done (click on the image to enlarge). Since the rest of the group got it done Wednesday night, our images won't be ready till tomorrow sometime.
[edit: he posted to facebook before he posted to his website]
Tuesday night we found a kick-ass artist doing caricatures using an Autodesk product called sketchbook pro. Sad part is, we were 3 people away from getting our "likeness" done before the exhibit closed. Our goal for Wednesday was to get the entire group done. Reggie had a bit more time in the morning and he got his done (click on the image to enlarge). Since the rest of the group got it done Wednesday night, our images won't be ready till tomorrow sometime.
[edit: he posted to facebook before he posted to his website]
End of Day 2
Well I finally figured out how to blog, god forbid...
I will keep this short. So far AU has been pretty good and beyond my expectation. The classes have been 50-50 hit and miss, however the mechanical folks should prepare themselves for a savage lunch and learn on families and nested families.
Stay tuned.
I will keep this short. So far AU has been pretty good and beyond my expectation. The classes have been 50-50 hit and miss, however the mechanical folks should prepare themselves for a savage lunch and learn on families and nested families.
Stay tuned.
Day 2 Checking In
So far, for me, day 2 has been pretty good. It started early, like all days at AU, with breakfast. The first class was from one of my favorite instructors, Tench Tlighman. His classes always get you thinking about what you can do to work with your team better.
The second class was taught by Matt Dillon. Anyone who has ever been on the Autodesk support forums should have seen his name at least a few times. In his class we talked about detailing in Revit. One of his main points, you can spend a ton of extra time in your Revit model making things look as good as they did in CAD or even as good as when you drew things by hand, but if the information is clearly presented,is this time really required. Controversial, I know, but definitely a valid question.
The next class is starting...so that is it for now...
The second class was taught by Matt Dillon. Anyone who has ever been on the Autodesk support forums should have seen his name at least a few times. In his class we talked about detailing in Revit. One of his main points, you can spend a ton of extra time in your Revit model making things look as good as they did in CAD or even as good as when you drew things by hand, but if the information is clearly presented,is this time really required. Controversial, I know, but definitely a valid question.
The next class is starting...so that is it for now...
AU day 2...still no tiger or missing teeth.
I just finished the "Connect the Dots: Creating the Skeleton" Revit class. It is the structural portion of the Connect the Dots series. Chris and Andrew are taking the Arch and MEP portions of the series. I have to say that i am pretty disappointed with the class. I thought that the class would give me an in depth look at "connecting the dots" between ASME or even open my eyes to something new in regards to our workflow. Instead, my speaker spoke about general guide lines about Revit. Things like roles, what to model, what not to model, etc. Nothing really new or eye opening. In fact, Bruce (our DIALOG bim manager) has spoken to me about most of what my speaker was talking about!
Anyway, the class was scheduled for 1 hour, but ended up being 25 minutes with a 10 min. Q&A. I asked the speaker if he could comment on the all disciplines working on one model format since i was working on 3 projects using that format (thanks Bruce!). I'm not joking when i say that as soon as i finished asking the question, 3/4 of the room mumbled "hmmmm?" followed by the whispering of, "Why would anyone do that??!?!" and "baaaad idea". The speaker looked at me and said that he did a small project to try out that format, but realized halfway through production that it wasn't working out. He then said to me, "So...my advice to you about that format? ....DON'T!". I"m still on the fence about it so we'll see what happens from here!
Heading out to my next class. My advice to next year's AU attendees: wear comfortable shoes because you will be walking alot!
Oh, and i tried blogging while riding the escalator... (Bruce mentioned in an email that we will be blogging everywhere, like on an escalator) "Baaaaad idea!"
Day 1 Review
My sessions for day 1 included, Conceptual Massing, Integrated Design, and Commercial Interios.
The class on Conceptual Massing also included demonstrations on using Revit Architecture to evaluate multiple options for a phased campus Master Plan. Interesting stuff. I am convinced once people get familiar with the modeling tools in Revit, so much is possible. We also learned how to attach constraints and formulae to a conceptual mass, this makes fine tuning the model so much easier.
The class on Integrated Design was presented by a Mechanical Engineer from Australia. He works for a global, integrated design firm which uses Revit, and several other pieces of software, to work on a wide range of design projects. His main point, BIM is not simply more than CAD. It is a quantum leap beyond it. If you think of BIM the way you think of CAD, you are limiting your potential to succeed. He also talked about the importance of integrated teams, the surprising efficiency which can be achieved when people truly work together, and how working across studios is such a challenge.
Some other interesting points from this presentation... People who create Revit families should not be the same people working on projects. People working on projects often get the family only as completed as is necessary for the project. Also, on larger projects, someone on the team is tasked with managing integration, making sure that work is being done by the people who can do the work in the least amount of time or that additional work is done by people if it saves the rest of the team, and the project, more time.
The last class yesterday was on using Revit Architecture for interiors. The most surprising thing, for me, in this lecture was the instructor's support for using scanned, hand drawn information in Revit. As a tool for preliminary design, I can see how this process could be useful. Most useful was his take on detail. Don't go overboard modeling a 5 Mb family when a 300 Kb family will convey just as much meaningful information. Use 2.5D to keep model size reasonable.
It was a good day with lots of informant. We will see hoe today compares.
The class on Conceptual Massing also included demonstrations on using Revit Architecture to evaluate multiple options for a phased campus Master Plan. Interesting stuff. I am convinced once people get familiar with the modeling tools in Revit, so much is possible. We also learned how to attach constraints and formulae to a conceptual mass, this makes fine tuning the model so much easier.
The class on Integrated Design was presented by a Mechanical Engineer from Australia. He works for a global, integrated design firm which uses Revit, and several other pieces of software, to work on a wide range of design projects. His main point, BIM is not simply more than CAD. It is a quantum leap beyond it. If you think of BIM the way you think of CAD, you are limiting your potential to succeed. He also talked about the importance of integrated teams, the surprising efficiency which can be achieved when people truly work together, and how working across studios is such a challenge.
Some other interesting points from this presentation... People who create Revit families should not be the same people working on projects. People working on projects often get the family only as completed as is necessary for the project. Also, on larger projects, someone on the team is tasked with managing integration, making sure that work is being done by the people who can do the work in the least amount of time or that additional work is done by people if it saves the rest of the team, and the project, more time.
The last class yesterday was on using Revit Architecture for interiors. The most surprising thing, for me, in this lecture was the instructor's support for using scanned, hand drawn information in Revit. As a tool for preliminary design, I can see how this process could be useful. Most useful was his take on detail. Don't go overboard modeling a 5 Mb family when a 300 Kb family will convey just as much meaningful information. Use 2.5D to keep model size reasonable.
It was a good day with lots of informant. We will see hoe today compares.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
AU 2010 - Day 1 Content Review
So I had four sessions today covering various topics; Advanced Curtain Wall, Adaptive Components, uing BIM in construction documents and BIM and interiors.
One session I was completly lost on what they were talking about. They did a survey months prior to the session and it revealed that a lot of people are not familiar on using adaptive components. This sessions went through very quickly and had, what I thought, some pretty advanced examples. The concept of what you can do with them is incredible - but it was not presented well.
I'm starting to see a few trends across a number of the courses so far. 1) Use a BIP (BIM Implimentation Plan) and define what level of detail you need in your model. 2) If you have a number of repeating rooms, do one room using 3D components for visualization and coordination - remainder of rooms can be 2D or 2.5D. 3) Define what is considered a clash. Are a bunch of 2" pipe penetrating a slab a clash when in reality they wouldn't sleeve them but core them after the fact? This comes full circle in using a BIP and defining your expectations.
Tomorrow is a new day and I'm hoping for some stellar presentations.
One session I was completly lost on what they were talking about. They did a survey months prior to the session and it revealed that a lot of people are not familiar on using adaptive components. This sessions went through very quickly and had, what I thought, some pretty advanced examples. The concept of what you can do with them is incredible - but it was not presented well.
I'm starting to see a few trends across a number of the courses so far. 1) Use a BIP (BIM Implimentation Plan) and define what level of detail you need in your model. 2) If you have a number of repeating rooms, do one room using 3D components for visualization and coordination - remainder of rooms can be 2D or 2.5D. 3) Define what is considered a clash. Are a bunch of 2" pipe penetrating a slab a clash when in reality they wouldn't sleeve them but core them after the fact? This comes full circle in using a BIP and defining your expectations.
Tomorrow is a new day and I'm hoping for some stellar presentations.
AU 2010 - Day 1
First up was the General Session Keynote. Let me tell you Autodesk can put on a production. After breakfast we followed the herd (think lemmings) to the Event Centre. This is a mini stadium inside the hotel - which easily held the 6000+ attendees. I'm sure it could max out close to 10,000 people. I felt I was at some rock concert.
Lynn Allen did her usual cheerlead to start things off. For those that don't know who she's is, I believe her title is "Technical Evangelist" for Autodesk. Carl Bass, president and CEO of Autodesk then introduced a number of keynote speakers that don't use Autodesk products per say, but are innovative leaders. My inner geek screamed when they showed a prototype trailer of Tron used to get stakeholder buy-in. There was also Tesla's completely electric car, no wonder I couldn't hear the thing drive into the stadium. There was also a couple of speakers using 3D on civil projects and how they "test drive" (literally) the roads before construction.
Two speakers that really stood out for me was the "shop teacher" (her self appointed title...) really, she created the company Project H Design. She started off by telling 6000+ attendees that her first project was a disaster, complete and udder failure. It wasn't the failure she focused on, but the opportunity to learn from that failure. Without failing she wouldn't have been as successful. Which begs the question... are we failing enough to create success. Are we pushing as hard as we can as professional? Babe Ruth, one of baseball's homerun legends is also one ofbaseball's leaders in strikeouts.
Scott Summit of Bespoke Innovations, industrial designer of prosthetic limbs followed the Tron trailer. Poor guy. He did one hell of a job all things considering. The limbs they create don't look real or try to imitate the real thing, instead they showcase the beauty of the design - essentially social objects. His gallery really doesn't speak for the quality of the designs he showed at the Keynote.
I'm glad the keynote session took a different spin on innovation and showcased innovative leaders outside of the Autodesk world. Yes, the world doesn't revolve around Autodesk and it was a great start to what ended up being a medicore day.
Lynn Allen did her usual cheerlead to start things off. For those that don't know who she's is, I believe her title is "Technical Evangelist" for Autodesk. Carl Bass, president and CEO of Autodesk then introduced a number of keynote speakers that don't use Autodesk products per say, but are innovative leaders. My inner geek screamed when they showed a prototype trailer of Tron used to get stakeholder buy-in. There was also Tesla's completely electric car, no wonder I couldn't hear the thing drive into the stadium. There was also a couple of speakers using 3D on civil projects and how they "test drive" (literally) the roads before construction.
Two speakers that really stood out for me was the "shop teacher" (her self appointed title...) really, she created the company Project H Design. She started off by telling 6000+ attendees that her first project was a disaster, complete and udder failure. It wasn't the failure she focused on, but the opportunity to learn from that failure. Without failing she wouldn't have been as successful. Which begs the question... are we failing enough to create success. Are we pushing as hard as we can as professional? Babe Ruth, one of baseball's homerun legends is also one ofbaseball's leaders in strikeouts.
Scott Summit of Bespoke Innovations, industrial designer of prosthetic limbs followed the Tron trailer. Poor guy. He did one hell of a job all things considering. The limbs they create don't look real or try to imitate the real thing, instead they showcase the beauty of the design - essentially social objects. His gallery really doesn't speak for the quality of the designs he showed at the Keynote.
I'm glad the keynote session took a different spin on innovation and showcased innovative leaders outside of the Autodesk world. Yes, the world doesn't revolve around Autodesk and it was a great start to what ended up being a medicore day.
What happens at AU stays at AU!
My apologies for being a day late on my blogging responsibilities...was having technical difficulties with my Mackbook Pro (yes, i'm a MAC person).
So where do i begin? Hmmm...i guess i'll start with a quick blurb about my journey to Las Vegas. Oh lucky me for living in Toronto. I thought that waking up at 5am would give me enough time to get to the airport and make my flight departing at 10am. Boy was i wrong! 1 hour waiting in line to check in, 1 hour waiting to go through US customs and another hour waiting in line to be frisked by a US customs agent as well as have my hands swabbed to check for gunpowder residue! I barely made it to the plan on time!!! My advice to anyone trying to fly to the US in the near future-DON'T. Perfect way to start the perfect week! I didn't even mention the cab driver that thought that Pearson International Airport was in Scarborough...yes, he drove me to Scarborough while i was busy writing emails on my Blackberry and didn't notice what direction he took. Grrrrr...another reason why i almost missed my flight.
So i get here and grab another cab from the airport to our hotel, crossing my fingers the entire time in hopes that he knows where to go and doesn't take the scenic route to my hotel. He got me there just fine, but what made the cab ride so interesting was that my driver was wearing a hat and scarf and a heavy jacket. He had the heat pumped up in the car so high, i thought i was in a sauna! First you must know that the temperature here is about 10 degrees (C) so being from Canada, i thought that the weather was so warm! He kept saying how cold it was there...i just laughed and thought of all my fellow co-workers back home (especially in Alberta).
Our Hotel: Amazing. I'm staying at the Venetian. My bathroom is bigger than my entire Condo. I have 4 Flat screen TV's in my room...even one in the bathroom! I have nothing bad to say about where we are staying...i feel like a movie star! The only negative thing i have to say about where we are staying is that it is sooooo far from the Convention Hotel! AU is at the Mandalay Bay convention centre and the Venetian is at the other end of the Vegas strip! There is a shuttle that brings you to the convention, but the line ups are so long that you're better off taking a cab to the conference, otherwise, you'll end up being late for breakfast or for your first seminar! Next years DIALOG team to AU should book really early to avoid getting put up in the furthest hotel from the conference AND to ensure that you get the classes you want because they fill up quick. I was only able to register for 60% of the classes that i really wanted.
Checking into AU was pretty painless since we were there a day before the conference actually started. We got these really cheap laptop sleeves and a wired mini mouse. Standard cheap give aways for this type of conference. Meh...
Opening remarks by Autodesk: Felt like i was at a Tony Robbins motivational speaking conference. I was not expecting it to be this HUGE! We were in this giant arena and they had the CEO of Autodesk welcome us and a few other guest speakers. They had a huge projection screen, 2 video screens and flashing lights. Quite the production. Kinda felt like i was being programmed or brainwashed..."must use Autocad....must use REVIT...." haha, guess i've seen too many movies :)
Breakfast was pretty good, but it just felt weird being herded like cattle into this giant convention room/dining room. I must admit, coordinating 10,000 people is quite a task and the autodesk staff/helpers are doing a pretty good job at it!
Lunch was pretty good too! Lots of food. Lots of variety. Good quality!
Which brings me to now. 1 day down, 2 to go. It's tiring, but all in all, it's a great experience. I'm not happy about some of the content of the classes and some of the 'teachers' should not have been chosen to give lectures. I keep forgetting that the people teaching the classes are not teachers/instructors. They are just people in the industry that have submitted a 1 hour seminar to Autodesk hoping to be a presenter. Kinda like the Wikipedia for Autodesk products. Taught by the people and edited by the people! I'm still learning things though, which is a good thing!
I guess that's it for now. Going to meet up with the DIALOG gang to have an evening out. Hopefully something epic happens...like find a tiger in my hotel room or find an abandoned baby or even get Andrew Fowler married at the Little White Chapel. It's his first time EVER in the United States of America and he chose Las Vegas to be his first time??!!!?! Oh boy...i'll make sure to have my camera ready!
The Keynote
AU's keynote started with Lynn Allen firing up the attendees. She through out a challenge... Pass 8 or more certification exams at AU this year and Autodesk would send you to AU next year for free. We shall see if any of our group will be brave enough to try.
The theme this year, Impact.
Some of the highlights included a presentation of a designer turned school teacher who teaches the design concept to high school students in one of the poorest counties in the US. The students learn how to design on projects which have a direct impact on their community. They, then, spend the summer building the design, while earning university credit at the same time.
We saw the Teslas model S car, an electric car which can travel up to 300 miles on one charge and can be charged in 45 minutes. I will see if I can get photos.
My favorite part, the TRON preliminary demo reel. In one word, cool.
The keynote completed, we scrambled to our classes. First up for me, Conceptual Massing in Revit.
The theme this year, Impact.
Some of the highlights included a presentation of a designer turned school teacher who teaches the design concept to high school students in one of the poorest counties in the US. The students learn how to design on projects which have a direct impact on their community. They, then, spend the summer building the design, while earning university credit at the same time.
We saw the Teslas model S car, an electric car which can travel up to 300 miles on one charge and can be charged in 45 minutes. I will see if I can get photos.
My favorite part, the TRON preliminary demo reel. In one word, cool.
The keynote completed, we scrambled to our classes. First up for me, Conceptual Massing in Revit.
Tuesday morning
After meeting this morning, we headed to the conference hotel for breakfast. At our table, we meet 3 programmers from he UK, and some designer from the southern US.
Although the other guys didn't believe me that we were beating the rush, we joined the crowd heading to the main keynote assembly hall.
Reggie: "This is bananas!"
Chris: "what do you mean? This isn't the rush?"
Although the other guys didn't believe me that we were beating the rush, we joined the crowd heading to the main keynote assembly hall.
Reggie: "This is bananas!"
Chris: "what do you mean? This isn't the rush?"
Monday, November 29, 2010
Live From Las Vegas... it's AU 2010!!
The pre-AU day has come to a close - finally.
My day started at 5am, which is like any other day for me - except I was off to the airport instead of the C-Train. Security screening at the airport was painless. There was only one 3D scanner and it wasn't in the line I got sent to so I didn't have to decide if I should get an abnormal dose of radiation or get groped by some disgruntalled security guard. Believe me, that is a great start to your day when it's 7am.
Mike briefly touched on how ridiculous getting the DIALOG group together was. After a half hour, I felt that herding a room full of cats would have been quicker. Let's put this into perspective - I don't have a cell phone, Andrew has a cell phone but it's not a Blackberry, and Reggie has a Blackberry but the only person who's met him previously is Mike.
After walking for what seems like eternity at the Mandalay Bay, we arrived at the AU regstration area. I was quite impressed with the registration process and thought it was painless. You hop onto one of a dozen laptops available and punch in your email adress you signed up with. Hit go and the next thing you know, your picking up your badge. One more line and we're getting some free Autodesk swag. If it wasn't for Mike holding us up, we would could have easily been done in 5-10 minutes.
The rest of the day involved some shopping, good food and lots of laughs. This will be an interestng week - we'll see how it turns out.
My day started at 5am, which is like any other day for me - except I was off to the airport instead of the C-Train. Security screening at the airport was painless. There was only one 3D scanner and it wasn't in the line I got sent to so I didn't have to decide if I should get an abnormal dose of radiation or get groped by some disgruntalled security guard. Believe me, that is a great start to your day when it's 7am.
Mike briefly touched on how ridiculous getting the DIALOG group together was. After a half hour, I felt that herding a room full of cats would have been quicker. Let's put this into perspective - I don't have a cell phone, Andrew has a cell phone but it's not a Blackberry, and Reggie has a Blackberry but the only person who's met him previously is Mike.
After walking for what seems like eternity at the Mandalay Bay, we arrived at the AU regstration area. I was quite impressed with the registration process and thought it was painless. You hop onto one of a dozen laptops available and punch in your email adress you signed up with. Hit go and the next thing you know, your picking up your badge. One more line and we're getting some free Autodesk swag. If it wasn't for Mike holding us up, we would could have easily been done in 5-10 minutes.
The rest of the day involved some shopping, good food and lots of laughs. This will be an interestng week - we'll see how it turns out.
Registration
After meeting up with the rest of the group from DIALOG, a process I am certain I made more difficult than it had to be, we headed over to the Mandalay Bay for registration.
For those of you who have never been to Vegas, from the Venetian/Palazzo, the hotel where we are all staying, the Mandalay Bay may seem only a few blocks away, about 6 blocks, I think. But this is Vegas, and those are some huge blocks. My GPS pegged the distance at about 2 miles. All I know is that walking it the night before sure got me warmed up for all of the walking required in the days to come.
We took the Deuce, a double decker bus which I remember being substantially cheaper the last time I was here. The Deuce dropped us off "in front" of the hotel. After meandering our way to the main door of the casino, some 5 to 10 minutes of walking later, we eventually found ourselves in the casino looking for the conference centre. Thanks to Chris' keen yes in spotting the signage, we found our way.
The other three had few problems checking in. I, meanwhile, proceeded to spell my last name repeatedly. This is something I am very used to. Finally, badges in hand, we proceeded to the next line-up to pick up our materials. The materials, this year, consisted of a miniature USB mouse and a very much maligned bag (I think they called it a sleeve.)
Having finished registration, and after some interesting comments regarding some of the more prominent architecture, more on that later in the week, we headed out to see more of Vegas and have dinner.
Interesting fact for the day:
The Palazzo at the Venetian, according to this fancy room card I have here, is the largest LEED silver Building in the world. The hotel is trying to update the Venetian to become the largest LEED certified resort in the world.
For those of you who have never been to Vegas, from the Venetian/Palazzo, the hotel where we are all staying, the Mandalay Bay may seem only a few blocks away, about 6 blocks, I think. But this is Vegas, and those are some huge blocks. My GPS pegged the distance at about 2 miles. All I know is that walking it the night before sure got me warmed up for all of the walking required in the days to come.
We took the Deuce, a double decker bus which I remember being substantially cheaper the last time I was here. The Deuce dropped us off "in front" of the hotel. After meandering our way to the main door of the casino, some 5 to 10 minutes of walking later, we eventually found ourselves in the casino looking for the conference centre. Thanks to Chris' keen yes in spotting the signage, we found our way.
The other three had few problems checking in. I, meanwhile, proceeded to spell my last name repeatedly. This is something I am very used to. Finally, badges in hand, we proceeded to the next line-up to pick up our materials. The materials, this year, consisted of a miniature USB mouse and a very much maligned bag (I think they called it a sleeve.)
Having finished registration, and after some interesting comments regarding some of the more prominent architecture, more on that later in the week, we headed out to see more of Vegas and have dinner.
Interesting fact for the day:
The Palazzo at the Venetian, according to this fancy room card I have here, is the largest LEED silver Building in the world. The hotel is trying to update the Venetian to become the largest LEED certified resort in the world.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
DIALOG at Autodesk University
Welcome to the blog of DIALOG at Autodesk University. We started this blog as a way for Andrew, Chris, Mike and Reggie to share their experience at AU 2010.
The group will be blogging from the hallways, the escalators, even the lunch room, as they learn from the best in Las Vegas. We're hoping to hear about some of the fun they have also, just no tigers!
We'll be transferring the posts to the internal BIM Blog once they're back. Check back often during the week of November 29 for more news!
The group will be blogging from the hallways, the escalators, even the lunch room, as they learn from the best in Las Vegas. We're hoping to hear about some of the fun they have also, just no tigers!
We'll be transferring the posts to the internal BIM Blog once they're back. Check back often during the week of November 29 for more news!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)