Day 1
Posted by Joseph Wurcher on November 29, 2006
What a difference 24 hours can make – after over 7000 participants checked in for AU, the hallways of the Venetian look a little different then during AU move-in. Between classes the hallways of the different campuses are rather full and lunch time was a pit of a “rush-hour” moment but otherwise, the first day went over well. Walking the hallways, I heard lots of positive comments and speakers are very excited and energized about the turnout of this years event. Almost everyone I talked to was happy that we are back in Las Vegas. The Venetian meeting space layout is getting great reviews from everyone I have talked to. Although I think Vegas is a draw for some of our attendees, the great majority are not here to just party, juding from attendance count in all sessions we had today. The Revit PowerTrack was set for 600 and the two classes I visited were packed, with people standing in the back – and some sitting on the floor in the aisles.
bert sult said
Vegas is goodbut we need to be considerate of us east coast people too. It was a long trip out. And the people from europe , what about them? I know , I know what about people from oz and nz? well we should flip flop every other year. But not back in orlando. We were prisoners there. How about Chicago or NYC? Or Dallas or Miami. I myself have no interest in gambling. San Diego would be nice too.
bert sult said
It may get so big you have to split it up and do two. one east and one west. There is a mob here.
Joseph Wurcher said
Like you Bert, I am no big fan of Las Vegas. However, Las Vegas just knows how to handle large groups – like AU. I would like to see AU in San Diego, but moving AU into a convention center would change the DNA of AU – something we are very mindful off. I could see us do a geographical split, or have a BSD AU, or have an AU-Extension (different focus) at a differnt time. All just ideas right now – but are things we consider.
AU next year will be back at the Venetian. We are requesting more space for next year – and very likely we will have change schedule so that BSD folks get out of their classes at a different time then ISD classes.
Steven Morse said
If you remember 1999 AU, then you will understand why splitting it up is a bad idea! That year they did four and it was not good.
I also remember 1998 in Philly, and all the tour busses to haul folks from the hotels to the conference center….Not a pretty site. Talk about prisoners…
Joseph Wurcher said
2000 was my first AU but ‘99 was talked about a lot during the planning process. This years survey will be very helpful to figure out where to take AU.
Wes Macaulay said
I think Vegas is a good place for AU — it’s cheap to get to, and the rates they give for the hotels are great, and there are lots of places to socialize. The Vegas experience gets old, but AU completely overwhelms that and I found myself looking forward to going to Vegas in spite of Vegas!
Christopher Herr said
06 was my first AU. Great experience. I didn’t like being schlepped from Mandaly to the Venetian, especially on Monday night when it was a 50 minute walk, but the content on T,W,R,F was great. Personally, I did not see any benefits from being with the other software directives (architecture using Revit here) so I wouldn’t mind splits along those lines (civil 3D could be a completely seperate convention without affecting my experience [unless they got better food]) to reduce crowding. My wife and two year old daughter came also, and Vegas was was poor for them to find entertainment/things to do in the vicinity. There are only so many wild animals to look at… Perhaps that was just a bad idea.
I did find myself wishing there were more opportunities to turn screen names from AUGI newsgroups into faces. That only happened with a few folks.
Joel said
This was my first year at AU and I was really impressed. I thought the Venetian did an awesome job hosting this event. I think my only complaint would be the lack of larger size vests. I registered first thing Tuesday morning and they had nothing larger than a small available.
I was really disappointed that I paid all that money for AU and I can’t wear the vest that was provided. Well at least my wife has an AU vest to show off. Maybe in future AU events you can get everyone’s sizes beforehand. Then there will be enough sizes available.
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