This coming weekend, most of the MCAD press will turn up in New Orleans for Solidworks World. I will be there too. I assume that most of the attendees will turn up in time for the Superbowl on Sunday, where we will be able to watch the commercials - and the game I guess - on big screens in the exhibit hall.
Readers may recall the postings from January 2006, where several in the industry reported on the event, and Autodesk's attempts to divert attendees to their own mini event at the back of another hotel, somewhere in Las Vegas. In an attempt at levity in the editor community, I tried to collect bets on a repeat of this experience at the 2007 event - no one was taking...the general feeling is that under the guidance of Carl Bass as Autodesk CEO, Autodesk will have risen above such things.
I hope so. First off, i will have to buy a steak dinner at COFES if Autodesk does pull some kind of stunt. And i really hope that the tricks are over. Last year's Innovator of the Month effort was in pretty bad taste, especially when the Autodesk team placed a PR person in the SolidWorks Conference area to try and divert attendees to the Autodesk event. Everyone, editors and users, found it distasteful.
rest assured, we will report from the event, hopefully with bright news and great joy. As for us in Denver, we are simply ooking forward to being 'above freezing' in New Orleans!
see you there!
rach
"the general feeling is that under the guidance of Carl Bass as Autodesk CEO, Autodesk will have risen above such things."
Are all talking about the same Carl Bass shown in the "Who's the loser?" article by Evan Yares?
http://www.evanyares.com/display/ShowJournal?moduleId=399489¤tPage=6
If the past truly predicts the future then I'm sure the game is on.
Posted by: rob rodriguez | February 01, 2007 at 05:58 AM
And yet when I talked with Autodesk executives about the pr stunt, they thought it was pretty brilliant.
I guess it depends on the flavor of Kool-Aid you drink.
Posted by: ralphg | February 01, 2007 at 07:29 AM
Writing from the PR team at Autodesk, we will not be at Solidworks World this year. No events planned or PR staff placed at the elevators hoping to lure people away - we're busy planning for our World Press Day event taking place February 12 & 13 in San Francisco. Hope everyone has a great week in New Orleans - I think it's a great idea to host such a large event in a city that is working hard to rebuild its self.
Heather Kernanah
Posted by: Heather Kernahan | February 04, 2007 at 07:32 PM
ROFL! Looks like you were out of the loop heather!
Posted by: Rob M | February 05, 2007 at 09:42 AM