Our History

1998: AUGI in the Software

From his first day as President, Don Spencer's main focus was to get AUGI into the software. AUGI had depended on literature (brochures) included in most Autodesk software to get the word out that the organization existed, but too many users never saw the boxes of software. The only common denominator every Autodesk product user in the world had .. was the software itself. So the Board of Directors worked feverishly to get each Autodesk product to integrate AUGI representation in the software. It happened, and AutoCAD 2000 beta was shipped January 1999 with AUGI represented in the Help Pulldown.

The Board also examined several revolutionary changes in the organization's structure including a website membership level, regular surveys throughout the year, a continuous wish list process through the website which was implemented primarily through David Harrington's efforts, total involvement on the beta programs (500 AUGI members were shipped the AutoCAD 2000 beta product), 4 road shows throughout the country, 1 road show in Canada and 3 road shows in Latin America (the organization's first true international events), and President Don Spencer and User Group Manager Lynn Allen traveled to Europe to meet with the officers of several European user groups in an effort to establish AUGI relations. This term went rather smoothly, all things considered, and i'd have to say a big part of that has been due to the fact that Release 14 had been pure joy to work with and Autodesk has done well by it (as has AUGI).

The following officers were voted in for the 1999 term:

President: David Harrington / Walter P. Moore & Assoc.
President-Elect: Emmanuel Garcia / Garcia & Garcia
Secretary/Treasurer: Donnia Tabor-Hanson / Designer's Alliance
AEC IG Chair: Stephen Cotton / Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.
Mechanical IG Chair: David Kingsley
Programming IG Chair: John Gibb / CFI
Multimedia SIG Chair: Craig Reed / CMT Inc.
GIS IG Chair: Barry Owens / Sumter Electric Cooperative
Education & Training IG Chair: Charles Bell / Las Vegas CADD House
Local User Group Representative: dave espinosa-aguilar / Toxic Frog Multimedia
Senior Autodesk Rep: Lynn Allen / Autodesk
User Group Services: Rebecca Bell / Autodesk