AU

For most people, Tuesday was the starting day although there are several events on the days preceding Tuesday. As a disclaimer, I was invited by Autodesk as a media/blogger and Autodesk covered my registration and hotel costs. Special thanks to Angela Simoes, Senior Manager, Public Relations, Autodesk, for offering me this privilege.

One of the first signs in the hall that you are at AU.

Day 0 (Monday) started out with lunch,

It's getting close to that time of year again. Yes, I'm talking about Autodesk University 2011. The first classes are about 4-1/2 weeks away, so there is still plenty of time to register. As the image on the left indicates, I'm fortunate enough to be attending myself this year.

There are over 650 classes from which to choose, covering a wide variety of topics. If traveling is not an option for you, consider AU Virtual, which is free to all AU members and includes 250 classes in multiple languages.

If you are on twitter, keep an eye on the conversation with the #AU2011 tag. If you are already signed up, make sure to check your class schedule every now and then for changes. During the conference, consider taking one of the many Autodesk Certification exams for FREE. Certifications are offered for AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Inventor, Revit Arch, 3DS Max, Maya, Moldflow, and Alias. Check the link above for more info.

You can also find more info at the AU Facebook page, and you can RSVP while you are there on the event page. Last but not least, check out the AU videos on Youtube.

It takes forever to get here and then it is over in a flash. AU 2010 is in the books. More than 7,000 attendees at the conference in Las Vegas, another estimated 40,000 virtual attendees, 500 on site classes, plus 150 virtual classes, and the 120 exhibitors make this one of, if not the most successful AU.

AU2011 will return to the The Venetian Hotel Resort Casino, where I may try my hand at teaching a class next year... we'll see. I want to give my thanks to Shaan Hurley and Autodesk for inviting me to the many media events and events like the Bloggers Social held on Monday night at the House of Blues.

From L to R: Mistress of the Dorkness Melanie Perry, The Kung Fu Drafter Curt Moreno, Cadalyst Senior Editor Cyrena Respini-Irwin, myself, and The CAD Geek Donnie Gladfelter. (Hidden behind Donnie is Cadalyst Editor-in-Chief Nancy Johnson) Read more about AU 2010 is over

The Augi annual meeting was held Wednesday night, starting with an introduction by who else but Augi sweetheart, Lynn Allen. Outgoing president Mark Kiker took over going over some of the highlights from 2010, including recognition of Ray Eisenberg, an Autodesk employee who has provided Augi with much support throughout the year. Tom Salomone from Hewlett Packard was also recognized. Mark mentioned Augi's move into the social media such as Facebook and Twitter, the 12 Cad Camps held around the U.S., the expansion of the wish lists, the addition of Drop.Io, (which coincidentally is going away due to its purchase by Facebook), and finally the Augi web stats which are up 22% in 2010, with over 9.6 million hits. Read more about AU 2010 - Day 3.5

$2.2 trillion. How much is that? Consider that one hundred, $100 bills is about 6 inches X 2-1/2 inches X a bit less than 1/2 inch thick. So you could carry around this $10,000 in a coat pocket without showing any sign of it. So now get yourself 100 of these $10,000 stacks for a cool million dollars. You could still fit that into a duffel bag and walk around without much notice. Now multiply that times 1000 to get a hefty $1 billion and you are going to need a fairly large room to stack this up. Now multiple that by 1000 again to get to a trillion (remember, we are talking about 1 million X 1 million now) - and you'll need something like an airplane hanger to hold all of this cash. Remember, these are $100 bills we're talking about, not ones. Double that one more time and you're getting close to $2.2 trillion. A few more ways of looking at this can be found here.

So what is so magic about this figure? That is the rough estimate in 2009 from the American Society of Civil Engineers as to what it will cost to replace or repair the aging infrastructure in the United States alone. Jay Bhatt, Senior Vice President, Autodesk AEC, led off the Infrastructure Keynote address titled "Critical Tools for Critical Infrastructure" with this fact, noting also that the ASCE gives the US infrastructure an overall grade of "D". Read more about AU 2010 - Day 3

Autodesk University, Day 2 started out with breakfast as usual followed by the always impressive general session, this year held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

This year's general session was kicked off by Autodesk Technical Evangelist, Lynn Allen, followed by Autodesk CEO and President, Carl Bass.

Instead of the general focus on new technologies, this year an emphasis was placed on people and companies answering Mr. Bass' question "Why do we do what we do?". Read more about AU 2010 - Day 2

Autodesk University 2010 has started. No x-ray machines and no pat downs at the airport was a good starting sign. Arrived this morning and checked into the Mandalay Bay and AU2010 without any problems. Everything looks first class as usual. This place is as large as the Venetian, at least it feels like it inside.

Here is an empty hall that will be full of visitors and guests for the next 3 days.

Here is the AU 2010 complementary bag

More as the week goes on... Read more about AU2010 - Day 1

Autodesk University 2010 begins next week. If you did not receive an email titled AU 2010 - News You Can Use, then pay attention...!

1. Be sure to print your personal schedule and bring it to the conference. AU will not provide you with a printed personal schedule in your conference registration packet.
2. Be sure to print your class handouts. AU will not provide printed handouts except for hands-on labs.
3. AU will not provide printed copies of this year’s show guide. Instead you can either download and print the show guide, or download a mobile app and view an interactive show guide on your mobile device. Mobile apps will be available by November 27.
4. There will be a complimentary shuttle bus that runs approximately every 20 minutes between The Mandalay Bay Hotel and The Venetian if you need it.

If you did not receive this important email and you need more information, contact the Autodesk University Team at 1-888-371-1722 (toll-free in the United States), or 1-415-446-7717 (outside the United States), or by email at autodeskuniversity@autodeskevents.com Read more about AU 2010 important information

Autodesk University 2010 is three weeks away. Are you attending the live conference in Las Vegas? Are you planning on attending AU Virtual instead? What about AU Extension?

If you are going to AU in Vegas, what do you think of the 60 minute classes? Read more about AU 2010, 3 weeks away.