Letter from the President - January 2015
A GREAT AUTODESK UNIVERSITY FOR AUGI
I write this letter while still recovering from this year’s Autodesk University. No, it’s not what you think... I didn’t stay up too late at night nor did I overindulge. You see, this was my first year attending Autodesk University as the president of AUGI. And let me tell you, there is a lot that goes on.
I did present one class. Thankfully, it was only one class! Those who know me well can remember when I would present four to six classes year after year. Those days are behind me now as I focus more on AUGI while at AU.
There were many highlights for AUGI this year at AU.
Our booth was as popular as ever. There was great participation in both the Top DAUG contest and the AUGI Scavenger Hunt. The overall winner of the Top DAUG contest was Tracy Chadwick and the winner of the AUGI Scavenger Hunt was Ashley Otomo. Congratulations to both winners of a free pass to Autodesk University 2015!
Another highlight for AUGI this year was the Annual Meeting held on Wednesday. I would personally like to thank Ignite Shanbaky of Autodesk for providing AUGI with a professional venue and excellent AV support for the meeting.
The meeting was lively and fun and even included an appearance by the AutoCAD Genie, played by the willing victim, er, volunteer Shaan Hurley of Autodesk. My first two AutoCAD wishes, intentionally selected, were already granted in prior releases. But my third wish, the actual #1 wish this year, has not yet been granted (only time will tell if it makes it into the next release). The skit between Shaan and I was a fun way to show that AUGI’s Wish List system is a valuable resource for Autodesk and that our wishes do come true. This year’s Wish List participation was much higher than last year’s, so keep up the good work.
We presented the top wish for each of the products we have in the Wish List system, which was sponsored by HP|Intel this year. Don’t forget to check your AUGI profile and make sure the products you use are selected in your profile. This is the only way you can participate in the AUGI Wish List.
We gave away a free pass to next year’s Autodesk University to one lucky attendee at the Annual Meeting, Kurt Tolliver. We also surprised people who arrived early to the meeting with AUGI-branded items.
At the Annual Meeting we recognized our benefactors for the year: Autodesk (Olivier Le Pord), HP (Sean Young), and Dell (Andy Rhodes).
We wrapped up the Annual Meeting by sending everyone out the door with a beer mug to be filled with whatever refreshing beverage they wanted at the AUGI Reception held in the exhibit hall immediately after the meeting.
There were many other things going on at this year’s AU—too many to list here. But hopefully reading about the great things that went on at the event will inspire you to attend next year!
