The last leg of the Australian Autodesk University Summit took us back to the beautiful city of Melbourne for the last event. What I have loved about this trip is the actual face time with clients half way around the world. What our clients have loved about this event is the new perspective Scott and I have brought over the Pacific with us. I also had quite a few clients that mentioned that other resellers in the area were actually having their customers PAY to come to this type of shin-dig. When I asked what these other events were about I was told they just played recordings off the website and then sat around and talked about them. Wow, how awesome is it to actually talk to the presenter of the class and other experts in the field rather than watch the recording online which anyone with the free account can already do. Oh did I mention we did free Autodesk certifications at these events and got some new Australians certified in Autodesk Inventor at the same time? Who loves ya?
What I found out about the Australian market is that users of Autodesk CAD products are just as thirsty as this little kangaroo here I got the pleasure of meeting. Just like the rest of us back home in the states too but with a smaller economy and tighter deadlines and competition, you can't skip on the training and most efficient methods.
Having events like these really helps user break away from the routine and experiment with other methods of design such as Multi-Body design. I can't tell you how many folks in the three events I presented at had never thought of doing Multi-Body design in Inventor to the point where I was introducing it to the users for the first time in most cases even though they have been using Inventor 2010 and 2011 for some time now.
On that note, here is another hand out we discussed at the event on just that topic...
Download MA126-1R That's Solid! MB
Did I also mention that we had a ton of fun at the Vegas style events too? Here is some of the extremely valuable money we used during the blackjack, roulette, and poker tournaments we had at the Adalaide and Melbourne events.
This next picture has been edited for all audiences. I heard somewhere you should hide alcohol with cats or other domestic animals. Here I chose a local varmet. Say hi to John, Grant, and Max from our Melbourne office playing some good old Texas hold'em. And yes we had to teach a few of them how to play that.
So as the sun sets on the Australian summits, I just want to thank all those that helped put this together for our clients as well as Autodesk for providing the free certifications. To my Australian conterparts, the next shout is on me.