Letter from the President: 2011 July
Greetings, AUGI member! This month I have some newer news to share with you!
The first Revit Technology Conference (www.revitconference.com) held in North America just completed at the end of June. It started off with a bang, the keynote presentation by Autodesk CEO and President Carl Bass. Carl spoke about the emerging technologies surrounding BIM, IPD, clouds, and, of course, Revit. It should be no surprise that his presentation was a success, but even more so was the event in general. The classes presented exposed the latest insight and knowledge to be had about the Revit platform.
AUGI was a major sponsor to the event, both with our booth staffed by perennial AUGI mom, Donnia Tabor-Hanson, and Mark Kiker, our Executive Director. Add to that R. Robert (Bob) Bell and myself, who are both on the AUGI Board of Directors and the RTC North America Conference Committee. We were also joined by Stephen Stafford, who is a former member of the AUGI Board of Directors. I very much hope that AUGI can continue to support and help RTC grow eastward!
In the June 2011 issue of AUGIWORLD, for which I am acting Editor-in-Chief, I exposed a secret related to the AUGI Library. The secret is less of a secret now, although you will have to read AUGIWORLD to get the solution. The secret is that we have built new functionality in our website library archive that allows for articles to be fed direct to your inbox via RSS. It is very á la carte—you can take as little or as much content as you want. I'm not going to get into the technical aspects here; read my Editor's Note in June 2011 AUGIWORLD here: www.augi.com/publications/augiworld/issues.
Also in June 2011, AUGI conducted a survey related to the needs and desires of the membership with regard to training. This brief, seven-question survey will help AUGI develop training resources that are wanted by the membership. Click this link (http://www.augi.com/surveys/archived-surveys/AUGI-Training-Survey-2011/) to see the results of this survey. I think the key takeaway from the results are that video training is highly desired and that a high percentage of members feel it would be worth a modest fee.
To that end, we have begun to populate a YouTube® channel with videos provided by the membership. As the library of available material grows, we will split the material into product channels and list it specifically on www.augi.com. So where do these videos come from? Members like you! This level of grass-roots effort may not be the classiest, but it is very true to our “members helping members” mantra. Do you have something to contribute? If so, contact scott.wilcox@augi.com for more information and requirements.
One of our prime publications is AUGI HotNews. In a few months, HN will publish its 100th monthly issue! This is quite a feat, to be sure. To further reinforce the importance of HN we are making a few changes in management, by assigning Brian Benton of Fort Myers, Florida, USA, to take on the helm of this publication. Brian's official title is AUGI HotNews Manager, but don't expect too many changes right away. I'm sure Brian will take care good care of our monthly newsletter.
But because of Brian moving over to HotNews, he has stepped down from the AutoCAD Content Manager role for AUGIWORLD. He is being replaced by Curt Murano of Houston, Texas, USA, (he is known as Kung Fu Drafter). People! This is *exactly* what AUGI volunteerism is all about. Why have you not gotten involved yet?
While on the topic of HotNews, recently AUGI member Ladimir Abdala of Porto Alegre, Brazil, translated the June issue of AUGI HotNews into Portuguese! We then sent this HotNews to all members in Brazil, Portugal, Angola, and Mozambique. In total more than 8,000 members got another language version of HotNews for June. If you are interested in reading one of these translated articles, just visit the AUGI Library and assign the Portuguese category.
So why do this? Because we can and it is needed. There is no reason not to provide more content in other languages, other than what is in the Forums. All it takes are members willing to spend some time creating new articles and/or translating other articles. We will continue to develop Portuguese, but we soon plan to add Spanish as well. Is your preferred language next? It can be—if you step up to help!
Also new is that Richard Binning of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, has formally taken on the role of AUGI Webmaster. This isn't a far stretch—Richard has done this in some capacity for years. Welcome, Richard! And we have a new officer joining the Executive Committee. Desirée Ratley of Denver, Colorado, USA, has been appointed to the role of Treasurer. She is an AUGI member, of course, and very smart, which that position certainly requires.
Hopefully by now you can appreciate the many aspects of AUGI, all of which is guided and developed by the Board of Directors. Because of the strides we have made this year so far, the Board is going to have a face-to-face meeting at Autodesk headquarters in San Rafael, California.
In early August, all nine members of the Board and the Executive Director Mark Kiker will meet to discuss, debate, and strategize what is working, what is not, and what should we do next. The AUGI Board has not met at HQ since 2008, so we will also set aside time to meet with Autodesk staff and expose them to what we are doing as an organization.
Alrighty! That should do it for this month. See you on the Forums!
David
