Gateway AUG Fall Announcements

Well, as usual, my messages are bouncing, so I'll copy this quarter's announcements here for those in whose spam bims I am forever lost. ;)

Dear GAUG Member,

I hope those who made it to our March meeting at Vatterott Technical College in Sunset Hills enjoyed the Overview of AutoCAD 2008 features, as well as the General Tips and Tricks Session.

http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/2007/03/report-from-gateway-aug-tips-and-tricks.html

We also had some very stimulating conversation on BIM in June at the Masonry Institute on Big Bend. I know I normally attach meeting handouts on the following emailing, but, I was so caught up in the conversation that I didn’t really take very good notes. We discussed everything from who should pay for the model and who should have access to it after building, as well as ‘lowest common denominator’ file formats for archiving, how easy or hard it is to train and retain and upgrade and convert. Tomislav Zigo sort of led the group, and he showed a few slides roughly defining BIM, and listing different BIM software programs. ‘Thanks’ to him and Rudy Beuc for putting that gathering together. And ‘Thanks’ to Seiler Instrument, as always, for their financial support of our meeting refreshments. It is much appreciated.

This is one last reminder of the meeting we’ve all been looking forward to for the last 12 months… the pre-CAD Camp gathering!

http://gatewayaug.com/

http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/2007/09/st-louis-meeting-on-17th-cad-camp-on.html

http://www.tenlinks.com/events/eventlist.asp

http://www.cadcamp.com/stlouis/default.asp

http://augi.typepad.com/augi_news/2007/09/st-louis-multi-.html

This is a free meeting, with food provided by the joint reseller sponsors (Seiler, Hagerman and D3) and presentations by the out of town instructors. As per our norm, we do not allow selling by presenters, but, you can pick up contact information from tables they’ll have set up. Anyone can show up, whether you’re a member of GAUG and SLAMSUG or not, so feel free to bring friends.

Remember that you can still register for CAD Camp, the one $179 day regional training event up until the 17^th (Monday), for a full day or a half day of classes on the 18^th (Tuesday). There were over 100 attendees last year, and I’ve heard we’ve far surpassed that for this year (fees are lower if you registered early).

Also remember that with that CAD Camp registration, you will receive a code entitling you to $150 of an Autodesk University registration. A week of training offered annually, allowing you to hand pick 13 advanced classes in your chosen field taught by the best instructors from around the world. www.autodesk.com/au

This year will see a repeat of the Local Chapter program, where, if we register at least 3 people from our group, we can be eligible to win a free AU Conference pass, which will be given away to a lucky member by an email drawing like last year.

http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/2006/10/gateway-aug-drawing-winners.html

So, I’ve already registered, all I need is information from at least two other registrants to send in our request for a free pass. If you’re already signed up, please send me the following information, which I will use only for the request for this free pass: name, email address, phone number that you registered with.

Remember that AutoCAD has just come out with a Service Pack fixing some irritating bugs, so make sure you’re up to date!

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/index?siteID=123112&id=2334435&linkID=9240618

And don’t forget that October is AUGI Annual Salary Survey time! I hope that everyone enjoyed the improvements I made to last years magazine spread. I know that everyone loves to read the Salary Survey results to see how they stack up or which industries are paying the most these days, but, in order to provide this information, I need a lot of (totally anonymous to me) members to sign in and take a couple of minutes to participate in the survey. The survey is scheduled to be pushed live on October 1^st, so please take the time to take it and mention it to your coworkers. Results will be published in the first issue of the free AUGIWorld Magazine of 2008. http://www.augi.com/surveys/default.asp?page=51 (to check out the results from all past salary surveys, you must log in)

Our next quarterly meeting will be in March, as we all tend to be so busy during fall and winter months that we don’t get together. Please check my blog and the Gateway AUG website for details, announcements and tips (you can even add the rss feed to the InfoCenter in AutoCAD 2008).

I’ll be happy to answer any questions about Gateway AUG, AUGI, Service Packs, Autodesk University training, the Salary Survey, etc… BUT, I must warn you, the moment that CAD Camp is over, I’m on vacation for two weeks, so I won’t promise a response anytime in the next three weeks.

Thank you!

Melanie Perry Gateway AUG - President AUGI - Salary Survey Manager, ACAD Community Chair AutoCAD and ACAD LT 2008 Bible - Contributing Writer Applying AutoCAD 2008 - Technical Editor