What sessions should Facilities / Operations attend at AECTechCon 2025?

Ah, another AEC conference... and I'll bet it's all geared toward Architects and GCs... or is it? 

Register for AECTechCon 2025 here. 

Spoiler alert... it is not. AECTechCon runs May 7th & 8th in St. Charles, Missouri, not too far from the STL airport. I've been to this conference many times over the years, and it just keeps getting bigger and better (Also? We were in this same venue last year and the food was EXCELLENT for all meals, way better than stale muffins, dry sandwiches, and salads in a shot glass like I've experienced at other places).

Coming from the owner's side, I know it's hard to find classes with our peers that actually apply to facilities, so I did the leg work for you and put together a list of classes that actually apply to our part of the lifecycle. Apologies for making multiple recommendations for some of the time slots, but there is a lot of good content, even for those of us who are not on the design, production, and construction side. 

There are different official tracks, but obviously the folks in operations can span such a wide variety of skills and tasks, that we would want to attend across multiple themes:

·       BIM/VDC

·       Innovation & Emerging Technologies

·       IT & Infrastructure

·       Safety

·       Workforce Development

DAY ONE

BREAKFAST – registration and food

Conference Opening – Leonard Teonjes, Alex Belkofer, and Travis Byerly

Keynote: Empowering the Next Generation of AECO - Dustin Burns

Democratizing Digital Maturity through Discovery - Eveart Foster

BREAK – Exhibit Hall Opens

The Power of Low-Code Automation – Carl Storms

OR Enhancing Construction Safety with QR codes – Joe Shyrock

BREAK

Modeling Sustainability: Embedding Data for Reduced Embodied Carbon in Architectural Design – Ryan Taube

OR Women in Construction – Kendra Brown (DFW Intl. Airport), Gwen Arenberg, Jamie Berzon, and Leticia Lago

LUNCH

Digital Twin (Design Data Management) for Operations – Melanie Stone (yes, plugging my own class, but for obvious reasons)

OR Reality Capture to BIM in Critical Environments – Aaron Johnson, Marc Cady, and Aurore Fournier

BREAK

Using Existing MEP Systems in a New Project – Ray Blowers and Geoff McCally

OR Getting Along: The Importance of Interconnectivity within your Systems – Victor Zhang and Jacob Shavel

OR The AI Advantage: Tools, Techniques, and Truths – Carl Storms

BREAK

General Session: Apps for Mental Health / Construction Safety

Closing Keynote: It’s Still Construction: Restoring Faith in Tech with the Craft Workforce – Sal D’ambrosia

HAPPY HOUR – Food, drinks, networking, and asking exhibitors questions

DAY TWO

BREAKFAST – Registration and food

Opening Keynote – Paperless Buildings: How, What, & Why of ConTech – Hamzah Shanbari

General Session: Bridging the Gap from Office to Field – Paul Hedgepath

Safety Talk with AGCMO’s – Brandon Anderson

BREAK

Enhancing Operations through Digital Delivery and Digital Twins – Mark Mergenschroer

OR Practicing AI using the fundamentals of Data & Processes in Construction – Juan Nunez and Jason Jiang

OR Building Trust and Innovation: Psychological Safety in AEC – Karen Taylor-Liggins

BREAK

Building Operations: Addressing the 95% of Wasted Construction Data – Mark Mergenschroer

LUNCH

Using Augmented Reality to Add Life to the Model – Tom Colyer and Nick Landzettel

OR Utilizing Technology to Minimize Incidents & Orchestrate a Culture of Safety, Efficiency, and Engagement – Tyfoom & VeeJay

OR Data-Driven Insights: Leveraging Dashboards for Effective Cost Analysis – Ryan Meyer

OR Leading Change: Empowering Teams for a Tech-Ready Future – Jeff Visnic

BREAK

Leading Digital Transformation Across Diverse Teams without Direct Authority – Brian Myers

Strategizing AI: From Blueprints to Algorithms – Cindy Baldwin & Scott Yates

Building Your Future: A Comprehensive Guide to BIM Career Development – Katie King and Adam Lega

BREAK

General Session: Boots on the Ground Embracing Field Tech – Jeff Montgomery & Panel

CLOSING – Alex Belkofer & Travis Byerly – Closing Remarks and Prizes 

Watch a video recap of past events: LinkedIn video

Digital Twin From the Owner's Perspective - AUGI Con 2024 Video

A few weeks ago, I was honored to be one of the few speakers chosen to present at the first ever AUGI Con 2024.

There were so many great questions and discussions from the attendees. 

The recording of that presentation is now live!

AUGI Con 2024 area - Digital Twin from the Owner's Perspective video 

(EDIT: Now also available on YouTube! Though you still need to go through the Community App to access the slide deck and handout.)

You do need to be registered as a member at AUGI.com first, and then the AUGI Community (available desktop and in an app) which will be checked against your AUGI membership (there is a free membership level available, so there is no cost involved). 

I was worried about going over on time and talked pretty fast, so it's probably only about a 30 minute presentation, with about 15 minutes of Q&A. (If this presentation sounds familiar outside of AUGI, I gave a very similar talk at AECTechCon here in St. Louis the following week.)

In addition to a video recording of the session, my slide deck, as well as a 10 page course handout that provides almost as much detail as the talk itself, are also available in the mighty AUGI Community. 

First it was "BIMwashing", now it is "TWINwashing".

Before we try to sell Digital Twin services to facility operators, let's discuss how owners are using your design data today. 

Understanding what an Integrated Workplace Management System, or Computerized Maintenance Management System, is will be vital to determining what your client actually needs from your construction documentation. 

Learning how few people will actually interact directly with your models can bring perspective of how facilities/operations curates technical documentation and makes updates throughout the lifecycle of their campus.

Who is the Owner

• Who are the stakeholders?
• How will they access your data?

IWMS

• What is an Integrated Workplace Management System?
• How does my data get ingested & updated over the lifecycle?

Project Closeout

• What handover mistakes are commonly seen from the AEC side?
• What mistakes are commonly seen from the Owner’s side?

How does Digital Twin fit in?

• What real world problem would a ‘Digital Twin’ solve?

In addition to giving definitions and background data, real world examples were also provided at each step, from my 20+ years of experience working in Facilities, networking with other Owners, and being a consultant who implements and supports facilities operations and management around the world.

Thank you to my team over at R.O.I. Consulting Group for highlighting my Digital Twin for FM session to our blog readers!

2011 - Finally

2011 is the year I was waiting for... looking forward to finally completing my Bachelor's degree at age 31. Not quite as soon as I would have liked to do it, but, I'm happy for the opportunity to finish what I'd started so many years ago.

I have been rather busy with my studies and wrote a couple of posts on how I was doing, earlier this year, as well as back in 2009.

If you'd like to know a bit about the coursework I went through during my time at Saint Louis University, feel free to check out this list I put together as an additional page of the blog. There were certainly some fascinating subjects, and some useful and satisfying ones.

Of course, I could not have even dreamed of this without the support of my amazing husband, Mike, and the tolerance of our sons. I also benefited from the support of my boss and coworkers and fellow working students... you are all amazing people glowing with positive energy, Thank You!!!

AGC's St. Louis BIM Expo

The AGC hosted a BIM Expo at SIUE last week (I found out about it through the STCCC.).

Pretty good time, I thought. There was an exhibit hall with over a dozen software and hardware vendors. Some folks I had used, some folks I hadn't heard of. (I appreciate all of the vendors, since this was a great seminar, which was offered for free to the approximately 140 attendees, and the food was decent as well.)


I only attended 3 of the 4 sessions I'd intended to, because I'd gotten caught up talking with a lot of interesting people in the exhibit hall.


I saw Tad Fry give a talk 'From the Owner's Perspective' on his experiences with BIM overall, but, as applied at A-B-InBev (this guy was just a really engaging speaker, too, expertise notwithstanding, fantastic.).


I missed Jim Scott (GHG), Donovan Olliff (HOK) and John Limbaugh (Jacobs) discuss legal perspectives surrounding BIM.


Then there were two panel discussions in the afternoon that were quite good, covering many viewpoints:


BIM in the Real World:
Tad Fry - Owner
Mike Hartmann - Engineer
Kevin Cook - Subcontractor
Brok Howard - Architect
Scott Green - Contractor
Chris Gordon - Educator


Future Trends of BIM:
Jason Steele - Autodesk
Andy Dickey - Tekla
Rob Riley - Bentley
John Rodolico - Graphisoft


I did tweet from the event using the hashtag #BIMExpo , but, of course, my ancient phone's battery couldn't make it through to the end of the day.

We were out in the middle of nowhere, so there weren't too many people hanging around chatting afterward.

I've heard they're planning on holding another event next year, and I asked that it be in a more convenient location to allow for an early evening mixer, giving more of a chance for folks to network. I really would have loved to hear more about what people are doing these days with their technology.

(There was also a lot of talk by various attendees about the draw of the RTC - http://www.revitconference.com.au/ )


It was really great to see a lot of folks I hadn't worked with in awhile, and to reconnect with a few folks from GAUG.

If anyone else attended, feel free to share your thoughts, please (here or in the GAUG forum)! I'd love to hear about the session I missed

Two Autodesk events in St. Louis this week 4/29/10

I was a little late hearing about these, so I wanted to make sure I shared... These FREE events are both this Thursday, April the 29th.


http://www.hagerman.com/upcoming_Events/2011_launch_stlouis-aec.asp
There'll be one out at Hagerman's offices. Kate Morrical and Joe Gould from Autodesk, and our very own Tomislav Zigo will be presenting at that.
They're covering AutoCAD 2011, Revit Architecture 2011 and BIM for Construction.


https://solutions.seilerinst.com/NewsandEvents/tabid/143/vw/3/ItemID/103/d/20100429/Default.aspx
This one is put on by Seiler but will be held at the offices of the Lawrence Group downtown.
William Spier from Autodesk will be speaking.
"BIM for Buildings Retrofit & Renovation- Autodesk 2011 Seize the Opportunity Special Event"
This live event is exclusively geared towards Executive Management, Owners, Building Owners, Architects and Structural Engineers who want to discover all the ways new Autodesk® 2011 BIM solutions for Buildings can help turn their business challenges into opportunities - so you can profit more and waste less.  Additionally, in this unique event setting you will see first hand a demonstration and discussions how utilizing 3D Laser Scanning Technology for Building Retrofit & Renovation is being utilized in many BIM models today.


I hope that if anyone is interested in attending, there will still be some open spots available.

Obviously I'll be attending the one on Building Retrofit & Renovation, hope to see some of you there.

OT: School Update

Well, if you're a subscriber you've probably noticed that my posting rate has gone down a bit here on my blog lately. I've got three or four posts in the queue and just can't seem to find the time to sit down and flesh them out properly.

In addition to the little bundle of joy and his precocious older brother, I have been taking more classes to complete my Bachelor's Degree.

I finished an Associate's Degree back in 2002, but, devoted the next couple of years to financing quality childcare for number one son. ;)

I mentioned last year that I had the opportunity to return to college through a program at work, and I've been very grateful for the opportunity. I have, however, increased my course load. It would take forever to finish if I stayed with taking only one course at a time.

As it stands now, I should finish by the fall of 2011.

I only recently declared my major officially. Organizational Leadership and Technology.
I believe it's sort of a new program in St. Louis University's School for Professional Studies.
Originally, I assumed I'd complete a Mechanical Engineering degree (a second Associate's I'd started years ago when still working on my Drafting Technology degree), but, an education in Management and Computer Science will be sure to prepare me for some very interesting projects, so I'm somewhat happy that it's an option.

So, currently being swamped with homework has hampered my creative writing ability for a bit. When I do get some time off between classes, I'll polish up what I've got (hang in there for me).
You will, of course, be hearing more about the Salary Survey soon as I work on that.

I do have to give major thanks and appreciation to Mike in all of this. He's been really supportive of my desire to complete my education and has picked up my slack around the house (yes, he's actually been cooking, I know!). Seriously, it takes a lot of time and effort to keep a household running smoothly, as well as keeping two growing boys happy, so he's really gone above and beyond.


If you don't have the time or finances (try filling out a FAFSA next fall, who knows what you might be eligible for?), but, still want to educate yourself a bit, try searching for some Open CourseWare. MIT and Yale are two big ones who've been publishing lectures, videos and course materials for the public to enjoy, I'm sure other colleges and universities have some great classes too. And, for those unemployed CAD folks out there, don't forget about the Autodesk Assistance Program if you want to make the most of your time off by making yourself more marketable.

Gateway AUG Summer Meeting June 17th

The Gateway Autodesk User Group will meet next week. New features of Autodesk Software will be presented.

When: 17^th June - Wednesday - from 6 to 8:00 pm

Where: Clayco, Inc. Forum Studios, 2199 Innerbelt Business Center Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63114. (google map).

What:

· "New Features in Revit Architecture" by Brian Myers, Seiler Instruments.

· "New Features in Ecotect and Green Building Studio" by Tomislav Zigo, Clayco.

What else: Pizza and Drinks – sponsored by Seiler Instruments

You can RSVP here so that we can make arrangements for food and drinks.

If you need additional information, please email us.

For information on what's new with AutoCAD 2010 and other programs, please see your AUGI resources: http://www.augi.com/education/schedule.asp?page=292 http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=1958 http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=1936 http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=1922 http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=1905 http://www.augi.com/publications/default.asp?page=63

Also, the AutoCAD Insider, Heidi Hewett... she's posted great videos as well:

http://heidihewett.blogs.com/files/autocad2010videos-1.htm

(she has links on her blog to videos on new features from AutoCAD 2006-2010, so check out some of the older ones as well if you haven't used them yet)

OT: Really staying busy

Well, it's been a busy time in the Perry household.

We were thrilled to have hosted our dear friends Bill and Karen from Australia for a week. It's fun playing tourist here in St. Louis, especially in the beautiful springtime.

While at Grant's Farm, we did get caught in a pretty heinous downpour. But, rather than run for the meager shelter with the rest of the human cattle, we stayed standing below the umbrellas on the dining tables. Offspring Alpha, having been placed standing on the table by Bill, stayed pretty dry with the exception of his feet. Alas, we adults were cursed with soaked backsides. But, at least we had some breathing room. I always love feeding the baby goats and watching the other animals on the farm (some animals from each continent, except Antarctica).

Their tour included the Arch, the floods, the St. Louis Zoo, the Science Center, Antonio Winery and Schlafly bottleworks as well as some of our favorite restaurants. We also spent some much-needed relaxation time at home with them. Gosh, what big kids we all are!

Mike and I got to see Offspring Beta for the first time via Ultrasound two weeks ago. MAN has that technology gotten even more impressive in the five years since I first saw Alpha in his! Oh, and of course, this means TWO BOYS! A girl would have been lovely, too, but, I have so much fun with our son that I'm really looking forward to another.

I recently started a new course in my Bachelor's studies at SLU (they're compressed classes, one four-hour course per week for nine weeks). It's technically a Biology course, but, with more of a medical slant, since most of my classmates are in the medical field. It's about how cultural and ethnic differences can affect the care medical workers give to patients and how patients communicate with their caregivers. Really thought-provoking. I'm in the midst of doing a group project with a couple of sharp women from the group. It's a challenging class, but, I really like it.

Mike has also been insanely busy with his work with the AUGI Board, and just returned yesterday from his tri-annual face-to-face meeting with the other volunteering BoDs. It's obviously good to have him back home helping to keep things running smoothly.

Oh, and thanks to those friends who saw my interview in the June issues of CADalyst Magazine about online networking in the design world and gave me positive feedback about it. Obviously it's an interesting subject that is changing the way that we work (especially how we find work).

Also, the Salary Survey is ending right now, so I'll be delving into that starting tomorrow and will be immersed in it for the next couple of months.

And, St. Louis is getting another CAD Camp this year (September 23rd), so keep an eye out to see when classes are posted and registration opens up (don't forget, in year's past, you could get the cost of your CAD Camp discounted off of your Autodesk University registration fee).

If you're interested in all of the little things going on in the CAD world, check out all of the announcements, press releases, favorite resources, etc that I post for the benefit of the Gateway AUG in their discussion group.

I'm also busy tackling some other things in my personal life, so it's really never a dull moment with us.

That's okay, evidently, that's the way that I like it.

Cheers!

Stray Rescue of St. Louis Wins $1M

Congratulations to Randy Grim, Stray Rescue and the St. Louis community for winning a recent contest that earned them one million dollars for a shelter makeover.

ZooToo sponsored this makeover contest and searched the country looking for the most worthy program and gave financial gifts to the top three.
This looks like a really great resource site, which was founded by the former CEO of Meow Mix (Richard Thomas).

A.G. Edwards has apparently donated a warehouse to Stray Rescue which will house them and other services including Pound Pals (Randy's ultimate goal is for them to be able to offer 5,000 free or low-cost spay/neuter services to the poor each year to help reduce the number of strays who need rescuing).

With this contest combined with funds they've set aside, they've got roughly half of what they'll need to fit out this new space for occupation and use. So, as they enter into the Design and Development phase, I wish them luck toward the successful completion of this project.

~a round of applause~ Great job and keep up the good work!

Rock and Roll... that old familiar feeling

Well, some residents of the Midwest are talking today.

Evidently overnight, there was a 5.4 Earthquake (or 5.2) on the border between the states of Illinois and Indiana.

Now, the Perry household resides in Missouri (over 130 miles away) but, we felt it. Near 20 to 5:00 this morning, both myself and my husband woke up. He didn't realize what woke him and fell back asleep.
But, past Californian that I am, I recognized the feel and sat up to see how long it would last and see how strong it was. It probably lasted half a minute. It was strong enough to shake the bed, but, not hard enough to knock anything over. After getting up to check on Mini-Mike, I went back to bed.

I do have to call my Mom over in Illinois later... she's got quite a collection of glass, metal and porcelain bells, so I'm sure the ringing noise was enough to wake my parents up.

There was a big to-do here when I was about ten years old, maybe a mild tremor with some guy predicting 'the big one' for the New Madrid fault. But, nothing came of it (except the wasted effort of packing away all of my Mother's bells).

The really memorable one for most people was the year prior, in 1989 I remember only that we were at DisneyLand and had to leave early because it was shut for inspections after a sizable quake. My Grandparents were fully woken, but, said that my Dad, my Sister and I slept right through it (so, sue me... a kid is pretty tired after a day at Disney!). Although what most folks talk about was a canceled baseball game, and the horrifying freeway collapses.

As for today's results... I haven't seen or heard of much damage around here (but, there is some elsewhere) but for a rickety old bridge on Kingshighway Blvd. It's been partially shut down until it can be further assessed (personally, I think the whole bridge should have been shut down long ago... I like to compare the appearance of it to a half eaten Windmill Cookie but, I'm not a bridge inspector, so, what do I know?).
This wasn't directly in our route on the way in, but, we did pass by it. I heard that it was shut down totally, but, now the center two lanes are open to traffic. That is a major artery for the South part of St. Louis city, so I can't imagine what a total shutdown would do to our roads (and tempers).

So, here's hoping everyone came through the excitement unscathed. And, here's to me being cautious and adding earthquake coverage to my home insurance policy last summer.

ADDA Education Conference is in St. Louis in April

Some of you may or may not be familiar with the American Design Drafting Association, so feel free to check them out here.

It looks like they will be hosting their 49th Annual educational conference here in St. Louis. The Gateway to the Wet (that was intentional, because we're flooding a bit right now).

The conference runs from April 14th through the 18th,

It looks like there are a few opportunities for attendees to qualify to receive some free software. They also encourage you to bring a laptop because many vendors will be offering free downloads? Interesting.

Here are some highlights mentioned: CAD Academy, LEED (green certification and implementation), NCS (National CAD Standard), BIM (building information modeling), AutoCAD, Dynamic Blocks, Annotative text and scaling, CUI, Solidworks, PTC Pro-Engineer, Google Sketchup, the General Aviation Space Group, Digital Photography and Documents and Inventor.

Wow. Sounds like there will be a lot going on.

I don't clearly see the conference location listed... I'd have to guess it's at a hotel on 9th street downtown?

Anyway, yet another education opportunity to enjoy for those that are interested.

Here's one to put on your calendars for next year: the National Organization for Minority Architects will be hosting their 2009 NOMA conference here! You can check out NOMA's 2008 conference details here. It will be held in Washington D.C. this October.

Back to School Time!

I mean me.

Yes, at the same time that I'm going through the fun of getting my offspring registered to begin school, I am getting ready to become a student again myself.

Not to his school, of course.
Although, elementary might be a bit easier than university.

I'll start my first class on Thursday though St. Louis University's School for Professional Studies. I've been wanting to complete my Bachelor's degree, and am thrilled to be able to start back up on it again.

The thing that is different about the Professional Studies curriculum is that it is comprised of evening, weekend and online courses as opposed to the traditional full-time daily classes.
I'll be doing night classes for now, but, might end up seeing if I can take some online courses later in my degree.

Looking over the history of SLU; it is the oldest university west of the Mississippi, founded in 1818. (Given the fact that they've been around twice as long as my hospital, I'm sort of relieved not to be on their Facilities staff ;-p... okay, their midtown campus wasn't opened until 1888, but, still, old is old.)

So, anyway, wish me luck with this challenging opportunity!

Gateway AUG Spring Meeting April 4th

The Gateway Autodesk User Group (serving the St. Louis and Metro areas) is going to have it's Spring quarterly meeting on April the 4th from 6:00-8:00pm. We'll be meeting at the Masonry Institute. Google map here.

We'll have some tips and tricks for various disciplines, as well as a quick showing of AutoCAD 2009 so you can take a peek at some of the interface changes and other tweaks.

As always, food and drinks will be provided (by our sponsor, Seiler Instrument, thanks to them!).

I hope to see you there, bring a friend...

If you have any questions/comments, pop over to our Google Discussion Group to share your thoughts.

New St. Louis Downtown Bridge Finally Moving Forward!

Finally! Some great news commuters have been waiting for! Missouri and Illinois have finally reached an agreement enabling them to move forward with the plans to add another bridge across the Mississippi River.

An official announcement (press conference with MoDot?) is evidently planned for Thursday.

The sigh of relief is over the fact that we've had $$money$$ approved from Congress for like two years, and hadn't moved forward yet.

As a reformed Illinoisan, I have spent many a long rush hour on the Poplar Street Bridge. Four Interstates converge on this one bridge between St. Louis and the Metro East. (check out this cool collection of information on other area bridges)



For some extra span-loving fun, check out this Nova page describing the strengths and weaknesses of different bridge types (Nova did a great special on the construction of the Clark Bridge, a cable-stayed design located in Alton, Il). More PBS building fun here.

Job Fairs in St. Louis

Well, I will confess that I'm not the biggest fan of Monster. You sign up for those job notifications, and, in my experience at least, they rarely match up with my skills or my industry at all.

BUT, each job search service has it's strengths and weakness, and I will declare, I do love networking events, and Monster is hosting another job fair on February 25th. It will be at the Marriott by Lambert Airport.

Monster also has many articles with advice on how to make your resume and yourself look good and make the desired impression. Follow the links from those pages to check them out.

~~~~~~~

Now, just for the ladies, Women for Hire is hosting another St. Louis Career Fair.

Yes, we did just have one of these in October of 2007, but, it must have really gone well if they're ready to have another on March 4th, 2008. It will be held at the Frontenac Hilton (double-check your route for detours caused by the I-64/40 closure).

So, head up to the site to see a list of the employers who will be soliciting resumes there. While you're up there, check out the other Women for Hire resources, articles, recordings, etc.

~~~~~~~

And, even if you're not a St. Louisan, check around Monster and Women for Hire to search for career expos and events a little closer to your home.

~~~~~~~

If you want to explore other job notification sites, I recommend Indeed.com (check out the job listings and search box over there in the right column of my blog, sign up for specific email alerts through their home page ->).

Yahoo is another option. Sign up for custom searches and check out some advisory articles (resumes, interviews, salaries, networking, education, career mapping, etc).

You can also check out Craigslist for your city. This wouldn't be the first place I'd think of looking, but, you might find something great.

Other sites:
CareerBuilder
CareerJet
Dice
TechJobsCafe
iHireConstruction
AECWorkforce
CADTalent
Science Career Net (Science, Technology and Engineering Jobs)
JustCADJobs
CADClassified
Autodesk Discussion Classifieds
AUGI Career Corner (must be logged in to view)

(find additional services on this list by TenLinks)

Good luck!

Dirty Jobs is in St. Louis

Yes, that title is, in fact, grammatically correct.

The popular Discovery Channel show, which has star Mike Rowe working in various dirty jobs around the country, is back in St. Louis. Tonight's episode shows "Mike Rowe get dirty in St. Louis as he works with a river barge demolition team and then melts down the scrap steel into molten metal."

Cool, huh?

I first saw mention of the episode on the Post Dispatch's website, StLToday.com, in a story titled 'Barging In'.

Times like this almost make me wish I had cable. But, let's face it, I don't get away from the pc enough to watch enough television to make the expense worth it.
If I really feel the need to veg, I can just pull up joost.

St. Louis Women's Career Expo Oct. 30th

Alright, ladies of the St. Louis metro area...
Polish up your resumes, print off plenty of copies, get out your business best, and head down to the Sheraton Westport Chalet to find your next job.

You don't have to pay for admission and you can register on-site. Check out the Women for Hire website for a partial list of employers who will be there to see you. Many of these companies have profiles pages with additional information like which positions they're hotly recruiting for.

IS, Security, Engineering, Customer Service, Administrative, Light Industrial, Development, Accounting, HR, Management, etc. Many positions are also willing to train if you'd like to try something new and you fit their personality and skills requirements.

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

St. Louis Meeting on the 17th, CAD Camp on the 18th

Joint Gateway AUG meeting with SLAMSUG on CAD Camp Eve.

Come one, come all... whether you're a member of the Mechanical User's Group, SLAMSUG, or the multi-disciplinary group, GAUG, or neither, come along for some free food, good presentations by world-renowned experts and fabulous networking opportunities with local designers.

The meeting will be held at the Orlando Gardens Banquet center Webster Groves location at 8352 Watson Rd. approximately one mile from Highway 44 and the Elm Ave. exit in General Grant Shopping Center.

Food and beverages will be provided by the meeting sponsors Seiler Instrument, Hagerman & D3.

Registration for the JOINT user group starts at 5:45 - 6:15

St. Louis Metro area User Group meeting starts at 6:15 pm

Timeline:

• AUGI Update: 10 minutes
• Each technical presentation will be 45 minutes
• Total run time: 100 minutes or 1 hr - 40 minutes (can vary slightly)

AUGI Update - Matt Murphy Learn about the new and existing programs and initiatives that AUGI is working on to support the user community.

AutoCAD 2008 Annotation Scaling: Intelligent Text -David Cohn Annotation Scaling lets you create text, dimensions, hatch patterns, blocks and other annotation objects that automatically change their size and placement to match the scale of the viewport. See how easy it is to apply annotation properties and create annotative styles. The new annotation scaling tools can save you hours of time previously spent calculating scale factors and creating, editing and managing drawing annotations at multiple scales.

AutoCAD 2008 Productivity Secrets Nobody Told You about Dynamic Blocks and Palettes - Matt Murphy Who has time to build all new Blocks? Can you really be more productive using Palettes? In this presentation you'll learn the "three-click" method to making your existing Blocks into Dynamic Blocks. You'll also learn the secrets to managing Dynamic Blocks as well as the untold techniques to control the roll-up display of all AutoCAD Palettes. Gain instant productivity with techniques you can apply immediately to your AutoCAD projects.

Women in Design at Lewis and Clark

I've been chatting recently with an instructor at Lewis and Clark Community college over in Illinois. Joel Hall is a member of my Autodesk User Group, and is starting a networking group for Women in Design in the Drafting program at his facility.

Last Thursday was the first meeting, and Joel invited me along to introduce me to some of the female students and women in industry (previous graduates from L&C), and have me say a few words about the Gateway AUG and AUGI and the value of networking.

It was quite the drive (during rush hour) from Jefferson County, Missouri, but, I wouldn't have missed the chance meet up with other 'minority' techies to let them know that they're certainly not the only ones out there.

So, as both a speaker, attendee and networker, this was a GREAT time. I enjoyed the other speakers and really loved meeting the super-talented ladies this program has produced.

I hope to add a photo to this posting at some point, but, for now, I'll just go over the agenda.

Joel and his lovely wife welcomed everyone, there were nice snacks and drinks, and some door prizes to give away.

Mary Hales spoke about additional programs and classes that L&C has available to continue growth in the workplace, such as a business management certificate program, which prepares students for supervisory roles.

Previous graduate, Keturah Jordan, read a poem about how it feels to walk into class being the only girl and how things changed over time. It definitely expressed feelings all of us could identify with.

Shane Callahan's presentation was not quite what I expected, but, it certainly added a lot to the presentation. He spoke about fitness for professionals.
Excellent.
Obviously this is important with rising obesity rates in this country for women going into mostly sedentary design jobs. He touched on many things: ideal weight (body composition), law of energy balance, the fact that strength training can guard against osteoporosis. It was a great topic and provoked some discussion on how different disorders can affect your diet and exercise regime.
Two of the door prizes were fitness consultations with Shane.

And, I could kick myself for this, but... I didn't catch the name of the next person. One of the women in industry was asked to come up and give a Revit Architecture demo while Joel Hall was discussing BIM. Evidently they'll be getting Revit MEP soon, and will begin to instruct on that. Joel says he can't keep up with demand for Revit-product-trained students from the local design community.

That's awesome.

And, the best part of these learning events is always the networking afterwards. You can stay around all night trading favorite resources, lecturing the instructor about not having his FREE subscription to AUGIWorld magazine, trading workplaces experiences and reactions, etc.

It was almost midnight before I got home after my long drive back, but, it was worth a little lost sleep.

Why not chat with some of your college (and high school) drafting and design instructors and see how you can become involved in speaking to, networking with, educating and/or mentoring up and coming technical students?


Oh, and don't forget about the upcoming Gateway AUG/SLAMSUG User Group meeting the night before the St. Louis AUGI CAD Camp (that's only two weeks away!). I'll be sending out an email to the group sometime soon reminding them about registration and the AU discount if you do attend CAD Camp.
If you can't make it, pass it on to a friend anyway. Everyone is welcome to the User Group meeting whether they're members of either group or not.