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!
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