New Blog

Over the next few days, I will transition my blog over to it’s new home. I will start a year round blog on everything AU related in the AU Online site. Please add http://au.autodesk.com/blogs – I will write full time there as soon as I can find a better picture

Survey

Every year we ask attendees for feedback on AU.  Over 2000 folks reponded – here are some highlights.   We asked if attendees were very satisfied with AU.  94.44% agreed.  1.06% (22 out of 2072) did not agree.  Only 16 out of 2100 would not recommend AU.  Only 15 out of 2105 think AU is NOT a good value.

More survey results are coming in but if I was an election offical and had to call this one, I think it is fair to say that AU 2006 was a huge success.  Not only did we have record numbers of participants (7438 when I checked last Thur.), it also looks like the event delivered what attendees expected.  Last Thursday was also our first meeting for AU 2007 – and I am looking forward to repeating this years success.

What happend to Day 3 and Day 4?

I had every intention to post every day – but then AU kicked in.  Working 16 hours and afterwards socializing and networking at the different AU functions took it’s toll and my blog did not get feed.  Chatting with attendees, speakers, and  all other participants at those functions was very helpful to me and I have a TON of ideas for next years AU.  The energy at this years AU was unbelievable. I don’t remember how many times I heard that this was by far the best AU.  One speaker shared that AU 99 in Philadelphia was always his favorite – but we far outdid our-self this year. WOW.

Seeing the back-up at lunch time on day one had me worried.  I was afraid of another logistical blackeye as we had in Orlando with transportation.  However, our staff and the hotel made adjustments and things went much smoother for the rest of the week.  Plan for next year is to stagger classes so not everyone goes to lunch or breaks at the same time.

AU party on day 3 was great.  Lynn Allen was MC and she was in best form.   I work with Lynn  closely but have seldom seen her better on stage then that evening.  Easy to see why she is such an AU favorite.  Powerpoint comedian [insert name here / can't think of it] was just as funny as he was last year in Orlando.  I believe HP sponsored him – and it was very funny how he (and Lynn) plugged their sponsor.  Blueman group was good – just not the same when you see them in their home theater.

How did AU Connect help you?

Here are the stats:  2870 AU 2006 attendees logged into AU Connect at least once.  On average, every user logged in 5 times and spend 8 minutes on the site.  From what I have seen of the online survey that was filled out on-site at the event, AU Connect users are more satisfied with the AU Connect experience then it is important (4.0 vs 3.8 out of 5).  This are the stats. Now, I would really like to hear your experience with AU Online.   Is this something we should have again for next AU?  What make it more useful to you?  How many folks did you end up meeting at the event that you made contact with on AU Online?