In the Pipes

Under the Tuscan Sky

Another Autodesk University in the books.  It is the Wednesday after and I *think* I’ve recovered.  I’ve spent the last few days thinking about all the events and trying to digest the experience.  My sources indicate 9000+ participants all told.  As always there was so much going on that I regret not being able to attend more sessions and functions.  In particular, I regret missing Pete Kelsey’s Pecha Kucha talk about Easter Island and sustainability.  I’ve always thought Easter Island is an interesting and special place, and enjoy learning more about it.  Maybe Pete will attend Daratech again this year and I can grill him about it in person.

Each year AU just seems to get better and better.  This year I both remembered not to Karaoke and also to escape the admittedly impressive fake Venetian sky in the casino mall to see the real Vegas sky a time or two.  (Yes, I know Venice isn't in Tuscany.  Hush.)  And I also remembered to eat before the social events.  Woohooo!  Well, at least I remembered to eat most nights.  Wednesday is pretty much a blur – hanging out at the booth, teaching Intro to P&ID to a packed room, attending the equally packed Preview of AutoCAD Plant 3D class, and that awesome Plant Cocktail Reception – I don’t recall if I ate or not!  Despite the blur, I do have lots of photos of everyone cutting loose – so be nice to me or I’ll post them.  (Aceri, can you lose that photo of me in the wizard hat please?)

We gave out 3000 Plant Solutions T-Shirts – 3 designs were all a big hit -- designed by our favorite designer-comic-artist Damian.  My favorite is the Nice Tee one on the right.  I’m going to go on pretending that everyone loved the shirts because they love Autodesk Plant Solutions, not just because they were free.  I showed a bunch of people how to apply the Plant temporary tattoo (quality stuff - mine still hasn't come off.)  We met lots of great folks and got a lot of great feedback.  Mostly the feedback was “Nice work!  We’d like more more more.”

    

I did get some comments encouraging me on my blogging, which is always nice to hear.  My very first posts were from AU last year.  It is nice to know people are still reading!  I sometimes forget that features I’ve been seeing day in and day out for a year may be new to y’all, so I plan to make an effort to introduce more bit and pieces of the functionality in the future.  Stay tuned . . .

Vegas regrets

So normally I don’t smoke. At least not much. I never smoked much until about 2 years ago just after Katrina, and that was a stressful time. I know it is a disgusting habit, so when I moved out to San Francisco I resolved to stop smoking. Every year now I resolve not to smoke. Actually, the resolution is more “I’ll only smoke in states that have an E in the name somewhere”. You know, like TExas, DElaware, NEw York -- but the important thing is NOT California where I currently live – no E in California. (FYI, last year it was states that had a S in them – TexaS, LouiSiana, WaShington . . . but again NOT California.)

Some people find this resolution terminally weird, but it works for me.

Anyway, I’m in Las Vegas at Autodesk University. I taught a packed class yesterday for Introduction to P&ID and it went well.  I hope this afternoon’s advanced class goes as well. There is a lot of interest in the P&ID product and the Plant solutions effort here. We are getting a lot of questions and traffic in the booth. All that traffic can't just be for the temporary tattoos we are giving out, can it?  I’ve heard numbers like 9000 attendees at the event this year – and the energy here is phenomenal. I love this conference! I’m sure I’ll blog more about it in upcoming posts.

Last night we had a reception for Plant clients at a swanky club here called Tao. And somehow before the night was up I had smoked 4 cigarettes. (Nevada does have an E in it after all.) Now I’m seriously regretting that decision. Maybe I should eat something.

Well, at least I’m up $80 from the craps table. I think that means I need to go shoe shopping.

Most wonderful time of the year

So, the second most wonderful time of the year has just passed, seeing that Halloween is over. But on its heels comes and even more wonderful event -- Autodesk University 2007.  It is our premier user event, taking place again in Las Vegas this year.  There are over 8000 registered attendees!  And over 600 sessions!  It the most wonderful conference I've ever been to. (And I'm not just saying that because I work here now.  Nor just because I'm presenting two sessions.  I'm serious!)

Plant has a number of process & power focused events and classes.  Here's a list of our sessions:

Code	Session	Date	Time
PD205-1	AutoCAD® P&ID in a Multi-User Environment	Wed, Nov 28	10:30am
PD215-1	Introduction To P&ID	Wed, Nov 28	3:30pm
PD219-1	Preview of AutoCAD Plant 3D	Wed, Nov 28	5:30pm
PD305-1	Customizing AutoCAD P&ID: Tags, Annotations, and Symbols	Thurs, Nov 29	10:30am
PD311-1	Diving Deep into AutoCAD P&ID Data Manager and Reports	Thurs, Nov 29	1:30pm
PD315-1L	Customize AutoCAD® P&ID to Your Needs	Thurs, Nov 29	3:30pm
PD319-1	How to Execute AutoCAD® P&ID Projects Successfully	Thurs, Nov 29	5:30pm

Other plant things to note: 

• Plant Industry Session - Wednesday 8AM - Lando 4302
• Plant Solutions Lounge, 5th floor of the Venetian (I imagine not the entire 5th floor, just up there somewhere).  This is an informal space to meet your peers, play the WII, get on the internet, or just hang out.
• Exhibit Hall - Booth #100.  Meet Autodesk Plant Solutions team and check out the plant software first hand.

Also, for all you Plant clients who will be in attendance - we have a cocktail reception at 8:00 PM on Wednesday.  Come to the booth or a class to get your invite and a tattoo (tattoo optional).  If you want to catch up with me, I'll be at the booth Tuesday evening during the AUGI beer bust and of course at the cocktail reception.  How exciting!  I look forward to meeting everyone!