President’s Letter: Things Are Heating Up in May
It’s hard to believe May 2011 is already here, a full third of the year has passed. You may wonder, “Didn’t I just see a HotNews article from this guy?” Yes, you did! We have been somewhat late each month with the release of HotNews and so are trying to move up the launch of the newsletter to the beginning of each month. To do that, at some point a couple of HotNews issues had to be fairly close together. From now on, look for your issue of HotNews to hit your inbox in the first week of the month.
There’s always something to talk about in my monthly message because there is always activity at AUGI. Here’s the latest news I have to share.
Forums
Last issue I mentioned that the forums were being restructured. Well effective May 1, 2011, it has happened. The big change was moving of the non-English forums up—on par with English. So now French, German, Japanese, and others are equal in the hierarchy. The next task will be to get the naming of some of the forums in sync and developing new forums for some new Autodesk products.
Also new is the variable forum page width. One of the user requests was to be able to widen the forum display in the browser. At the lower left of your browser window you have a Quick Style Chooser where you can switch between AUGI Fixed Width and AUGI Fluid Width. Try both and see which you prefer. We are still collecting feedback on the forum implementation. Here’s the link to the forum discussion: http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=129120
Revit Technology Conference 2011
You may have noticed on the AUGI.com home page and elsewhere that there is an RTC event happening in North America. AUGI is a proud supporter of the event and will actually have a presence in the exhibit hall. If you are going to the event in Huntington Beach, California (near Los Angeles) in June 2011, please stop by and say Hi! A number of AUGI directors will be at the event to represent the organization and raise awareness. If you are interested in Revit technology, you can get more info about the event at http://www.revitconference.com.au/rtc2011us/index.htm.
CAD Camp 2011
Yep, the events are back! We are again partnering with AMI to conduct AUGI CAD Camps http://www.augicadcamp.com in the USA market. These events, which will be spread around the country, will follow the same format—one-day, high-intensity training events focused on Autodesk products. The schedule of locations has just been released, click the link to find out more! If there is an event in your area, you really ought to try and make it! These events are for you, the AUGI member!
Autodesk University 2011
AU already? No, not really. AU is still a half-year away and registration is not even open yet. This is really about just keeping you informed of the main AUGI event of the year. Our Annual Meeting is held during Autodesk University and we are working with Autodesk this year to provide the best AM ever. In addition, our exhibit hall booth will have activities such as the popular Top DAUG contest. A lot more is planned as well so stay tuned to this channel!
Can you write this in another language?
I’ve mentioned before that over 50 percent of the AUGI membership is outside North America. For example we have more than 4,500 French-language members; 4,300 German-language members; 9,000 Portuguese-language members; and 8,700 Spanish-language members. Wouldn’t it be great to have these and other languages represented in more than just the forums? Well the first step is actually having material to share in non-English languages. For that we need bilingual members to lend a hand in the translation of a variety of messages. We have web announcements, web pages, library articles, forum announcements, and even this letter from me. Can you help? Please contact Shaun Bryant shaun.bryant@augi.com.
Do you know your Autodesk products?
AUGI has had a long history with training internally to the organization, peer to peer and one to many. The AUGI Training Program (ATP) has been offline for a while but not for long! Scott Wilcox scott.wilcox@augi.com is gathering interested members to discuss and plan a new and better version of the ATP. Helping in this program is one of the best ways to expand your personal skill set and increase your technical worth. Join the discussion and let's see where it goes!
See you in June!
