After what has been a very busy last couple of weeks recently; I was able to rebound from my recent departure from where I was working for the past 8+ years. The recent job change was not going to stop me from attending AU this year as I committed to teaching a class this year. It was my first year as an instructor and it seemed to go well, after the slight A/V problems were resolved.
I assisted in a one class this year; along with teaching a class called "What's New in the ActiveX API?" which covered the many changes in the API from 2002 through 2005 for those that haven't used them or have not migrated to the newest version of AutoCAD yet. The same day that I was teaching my class I also had to appear in the finals for AUGI's Top DAUG contest as I scored the highest score during the first phase of the contest. I had 28 out of 35 questions correct with the fastest time. Over the last couple of years I have placed in the Top 10 for questions, but have never done well on the final drafting portion. I was close to third place after the finals, but came in about fourth instead. This year was much more promising than the past couple of years.
This year was a very busy year in general at AU because there were events on each of the nights. Monday was the ADN/ATC Conference with many different topics being covered. The ADN group had a guest speak from Microsoft talk to us. It was Bernard Wong and he talked about .Net now and the future of it. Monday night was a party at the ESPN Zone at New York New York for the ATC and ADN members. This was a great party to network and just have some fun. Even caught some of the Monday Night Football game which the Packers beat the St. Louis Rams.
Classes started on Tuesday morning with the night being filled with the opening of the Exhibit Hall and the AUGI Beer Bust. The Top DAUG contest also kicked into gear with a total of just fewer than 400 people taking place in the event from Tuesday through Wednesday night.
Wednesday was a day of classes and in the past was a night off from events; this year unlike past years had no open night. The BSD (Building Solutions) group had a Mad Scientist themed party while the GIS group held their own reception. After the BSD party everyone was invited to attend the GIS after party with live music by Dr. Ruth, they played at AU during the Autodesk Event two years ago.
Thursday was another day of classes and the Autodesk Event. This years Autodesk party had a Magician and an Engineer turned Comedian. The event was a lot of fun with many great laughs from both entertainers.
Friday held one last class and then it was time to say good-bye to AU for this year. Like years in the past it is both hard to say good-bye, but I was ready to get back home to my family. Autodesk once again put on a great event that about 4,400 people attended and AU 2005 should be another great event next year. AU 2005 will be in Orlando Florida at the Swan and Dolphin Resorts on Disney property.
I learned many new things, networked with a lot of AutoCAD users out there and received some great feedback on this blog and my website. Of course with the good comes some bad... I typically like to do my very best at everything I set out to do. Before my class I was going to make some changes to my handouts due to recent changes in my career. I went to Kinko's to have the handouts reprinted, but decided not to make changes to them in the end. On my way back to the hotel I thought to myself; What would my
attendees think of the current handouts? It was a very long walk back to the MGM Grand Conference Center.
So I learned that one doesn't need to be perfect or near perfect all the time, it is about doing a good job no matter what the situation is. My classes went well even though I knew of a couple minor imperfects in the handouts. Like I mentioned earlier it was my first time so I was being extra difficult on myself. Hope you enjoyed yourself at AU this year if you attended and hope to see many old/new faces at AU 2005 in Orlando.
Sincerely,
Lee
