August 19, 2008

AU Beat: Chris Cheung Talks about Industrial Design

Chris Cheung, Product Manager for Industrial Design at Autodesk, shares a sneak peek at some of the star attractions for industrial designers at AU this year, and gives a quick overview of the Industrial Design track. [7:04]

Listen now or subscribe to the AU Beat.

For more information, go to the Industrial Design and Industrial Design PowerTrack pages on the Autodesk University website.

by Joseph Wurcher August 19, 2008 7:33 pmShare:         | 0 Comments | Add Comment

AU: Much More Than Software Training

At this year's event, we expect over 10,000 users from all over the world. Most would list software training and professional networking as the primary reason for attending AU. We know this and we work very hard to make sure those aspects are covered. Attendees too generally recognize this since they've given us a 95%-97% approval rating on those aspects of the conference in the past.

I believe the 600-plus sessions, taught by 400-plus instructors will satisfy the product training needs for most who are coming to AU. We have also adjusted the class schedule to allow for more opportunities for professional networking, and we have programs scheduled to create a target-rich networking environment. More about those in a future post. Today I want to focus on the "more than software training" aspect of this year's AU. 

Two years ago, we introduced the Business track to AU. This year, topics in the Business track focus on management skills, green processes, employee development and principles of the digital design workspace. This track was designed for CAD managers and those "office experts" that others turn to for help and information.

This year, AU Keynotes are replacing industry sessions. They are a little difficult to find in the session catalog—but they are well worth looking for since we have quite a few interesting and inspiring presenters lined up. Kicking things off will be Tom Kelley, General Manager of IDEO and author of the book: The Art of Innovation. Patrik Schumacher from Zaha Hadid Architects will present as part of the AEC Keynote. Eddie Paul, a stunt designer will take attendees through two decades of AutoCAD® shark design. Burt Rutan, SpaceShipOne Designer, Bob Berkebile from BNIM, and Barry Weiss from Sony Pictures Imageworks will be presenters for some of the other Keynotes. Keynotes are scheduled throughout the week and you can register for more than one.

Brand new this year is the Design Leadership Program, and I am very excited about it. The Design Leadership program will pick up where the Business track leaves off and is designed with business managers and decision makers in mind.  Currently, this program is made up of 12 sessions and more may be added later. The topics range from the Gensler Program to sessions on Sustainable Design Leadership, Visual Collaboration, Wall-E, and the Future of Vehicles. The Gensler program is very interesting in that Gensler has held similar meetings at AU for their staff the last few years.  This year, any registered AU attendee may join those sessions and learn about Gensler projects, delivery methods, and best practices. Ken Sanders, Principle & Managing Director at Gensler, put together a total of five 90-minute panels that will focus on best practices and how the Gensler approach is intended to accelerate the industry's transformation.

Yes, there will be a lot of software training at AU—but there is much more. I encourage you to sign up for some of these sessions and I am sure it will have an impact on your overall AU experience.

by Joseph Wurcher 7:29 pmShare:         | 1 Comments | Add Comment

August 14, 2008

AU Beat: Justifying AU - Tips from Lynn Allen

Can't quite convince your boss to send you to AU? Listen to Lynn Allen, Autodesk Technical Evangelist, as she discusses why attending AU is important in both the short term and the long term. Lynn provides useful tips on how you can justify it to those who matter. [6:56 min]

Listen now or subscribe to the AU Beat.

For more information, read Lynn Allen's "Justifying Autodesk University to Your Management" on the Autodesk University website.

by Joseph Wurcher August 14, 2008 6:30 pmShare:         | 0 Comments | Add Comment

Session Updates and Waitlist

With 600-plus sessions and 400-plus presenters at this year’s event, changes are bound to happen. Although I will communicate major changes on the BLAUG, you can also find out about them on the Class Additions and Updates page on the AU website. Currently, there are 4 hands-on lab sessions listed that have filled up, and so we are repeating them. New sessions are listed with Session ID, Time, Date, and Title to make it easy for you to find it in the Scheduler.  With the General Registration invitation going out tomorrow, I am happy to report that virtually all classes will have availability.

I have been looking into how the Waitlist feature works. Be aware that if you waitlist your 1st choice, you cannot book anything else. Of course, the reason for this is that if your waitlist clears, the system will confirm you automatically. This waitlist feature makes good sense for lectures as it gives me a truer sense of a session’s popularity and this helps with room-size management.  For labs, it is less helpful. Labs are fixed in size—I cannot move them to a bigger room and if we repeat, it would of course be at a different time. And it would most likely create a scheduling conflict. Your only chance to get into a lab off a waitlist is if folks cancel (and our cancellation rate is less than one percent).

One more thing:  this year we are planning to record close to 400 sessions at AU and they will be posted to AU Online, and accessible only to AU attendees and Autodesk subscription customers. You may want to review your schedule once we have posted the recording schedule to make sure you are getting the most out of your four days in Las Vegas.

by Joseph Wurcher 6:14 pmShare:         | 6 Comments | Add Comment

AU Beat: An Interview with Carl Bass

Join Bill O'Connor and Autodesk President and CEO Carl Bass as they discuss the concepts and trends that attendees should watch for this year at AU. Carl also shares what he likes best at AU. [8:54 min]

Listen now or subscribe to the AU Beat.

by Joseph Wurcher 11:55 amShare:         | 0 Comments | Add Comment

AU Beat on the BLAUG! Don't miss a single one...

AU Beat is the podcast series that premiered at last year’s AU. Response was very encouraging so we will continue keeping you on the AU Beat. Starting this week, watch for 2 or 3 weekly podcasts right here on the BLAUG, featuring interviews with experts who help shape AU, that understand the design industry, and with customers who are as passionate about the event as I am.

Kicking it off is Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, in a conversation with Bill O’Conner from Autodesk. In the weeks to come, you will hear from PowerTrack leaders, key presenters, Design Leadership participants, Autodesk executives...and me and my boss.

You can access AU Beat podcasts via the BLAUG (watch for the AU Beat logo shown above). You can also subscribe to them. Although this podcast series is produced and managed by others on my team, I will post them. I look forward to reading your comments and answering your questions.

by Joseph Wurcher 10:59 amShare:         | 0 Comments | Add Comment

August 13, 2008

"Back Door" Registration Update!

The AU registration website is made up of two sites. One hosts all the event information, including class schedule and hotel bookings. The other one hosts all AU Online information, including user profiles. 

For most of the almost 3000 currently registered AU 2008  attendees, this back and forth between two sites has been invisible. Using the"back door" link, however, has made it impossible for the two sites to synch up and this is the source of the frustrations some of you are experiencing.

To get this problem resolved, YOU NEED TO CONTACT THE REGISTRATION TEAM AT 888-371-1722 (or 415-446-7717). They will get your registration synchronized with an account that gives you access through the front door (i.e. http://au.autodesk.com/login/).

Some of the issues reported by the team handling those calls are:

• Caller only has a registration record, but no AU login
• Caller has multiple accounts and cannot be synchronized
• Caller cannot remember username/password

Of the approximately 300 "back door" registrations, most could be resolved by the team on a first call. A few unique ones required a bit more work, but they are all being worked on and are getting resolved.

With this said, if you do have difficulties logging in, please contact our registration team and they will get you squared away.

by Joseph Wurcher August 13, 2008 3:35 pmShare:         | 8 Comments | Add Comment

August 11, 2008

Early Registration for AU Going on Now!

As of Friday at 5pm, registration for AU 2008 is officially open. Traffic to the AU website has been ten times its usual volume, and as of this morning, we have almost the same number of registrants as our final count for AU 2001. 

Early registration this year is open to AU Alumni only; that is, all those who attended AU in the last two years or have downloaded content from the AU website. Those individuals have a username and password as of August 5th for logging in to AU Online.

If you do have an AU Online (AUOL) account, you should have received a message from us, inviting you to register for AU. However, of the 40,000 current AUOL accounts, a good percentage have opted out from receiving emails from Autodesk. This, combined with some overzealous spam filters, may have resulted in your not having received your invitation. View a copy of that email message.

If you did not receive the invitation, don't worry. The site will recognize your username and you will be able to register for the conference and secure your preferred classes—and confirm your preferred hotel. 

General registration opens August 15th.

by Joseph Wurcher August 11, 2008 11:51 amShare:         | 12 Comments | Add Comment

August 7, 2008

Free AU Passes for Groups of 8 or More

Receive free Autodesk University 4-Day All-Inclusive or 4-Day Conference Only passes when 8 or more people register from the same company. Eight or more people must register for either the 4-Day All-Inclusive or 4-Day Conference Only pass in order to count toward free passes. All registrations must be completed and paid in full by November 14, 2008. Discounted fees do not apply. Free passes will be determined by the majority of passes purchased.

• 8 people = 9th qualifies for free pass
• 15 people = 16th and 17th qualify for free passes
• 20 people = 21st, 22nd, 23rd qualify for free passes
• 25 or more = 26th - 29th qualify for free passes

Please have a company representative contact the Autodesk University Team as your group reaches the 8-attendee minimum (paid in full) to advise as to whom will be the main contact person from your company with regards to group discounts.

by Joseph Wurcher August 7, 2008 6:41 pmShare:         | 0 Comments | Add Comment