AU 2007

Having attended three of the last four Autodesk Universities - I missed the 2005 edition in Orlando - I can attest to the fantastic opportunities to learn from and network with the best of the best. Even if you could afford to have Matt Dillon or Paul Aubin fly in and give you three-and-one-half days of one-on-one training, you would still miss out on all of the informal learning opportunities and the chance to meet fellow users, any one of whom might have a solution to an issue that has been giving you problems. Not to mention being able to "corner" members of the AutoCAD^® Architecture development team, and provide some direct feedback.

If were thinking about going this year, but you have not yet started laying the groundwork, there is no better time than the present to start. Registration opens in "August", according to the Autodesk AU website. That is likely to be early in August, going by past years. If you need to make the case to your employer or a spouse, you will want to do so well before October 8, when the fees go up $500. Many of the more popular classes may be filled by that time, anyway.

If you need an additional incentive, and were hoping to be able to take a class that goes beyond the basics of the ACA Schedule feature, I am pleased to announce that my class proposal titled Get Fully Equipped in AutoCAD Architecture (90-minute class) has been accepted. I will be presenting a method of creating and scheduling equipment that I have used for several health care projects and which could easily be used on laboratory projects or adapted to any other project type where you need to show equipment or furniture in plan, with identifying tags and then create a schedule to list those items and related data. If that sounds interesting to you, and you are going to AU this year, I would appreciate you taking this class into consideration when selecting your classes.

If you are looking for a course that covers the basics of the ACA Schedule feature, Matt Dillon will be presenting Schedule Anything in AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD MEP in a 3 1/2 hour tutorial. If you have never taken Matt's Schedule Anything class before and are looking to master the basics of the Schedule feature, I can assure you that it will be well worth your time.

I do not know where on the schedule either of these classes fall at this time, but I hope that Matt's class is offered first, so that anyone wanting to take both, but who would benefit most by learning about the overall feature first, can do so.