AU Leadership Forum: Opening Night

There’s always a lot of necessary last-minute preparation going on behind the scenes before AU begins, and this year is no exception. Rooms are being set up, signs placed, computers and printers connected, and introductory announcements are being recorded.

A few early birds are wandering around getting the lay of the land. Meanwhile, many speakers are rehearsing their presentations.

But even as all these preparations are being completed, many technology and business leaders representing a variety of industries have joined over 100 Autodesk executives at the Venetian in Las Vegas today to attend this year’s AU Leadership Forum (AULF).

Over 500 attendees, hailing from more than 30 countries from as far away as Australia and South Africa, as well as other Asia-Pacific nations, Europe, Peru, Argentina, and Mexico, met at the forum’s opening reception this evening.

Rich Uphus, Program Manager, opened the forum with some background on how the AULF was conceived and planned, emphasizing that this new event developed in a unique way—through the desire of design technology leaders to share their knowledge, expertise, and experiences and talk through challenges and ideas that only this group can understand.

Next, Joseph Joseph, Managing Director, BIM/CAD/Technologies at SAIC, who was instrumental in helping the AULF team develop this event, took the stage and addressed how those in attendance have become more than just the individuals in a firm who make sure the network is running. He emphasized that they are now business leaders who drive change up and down the corporate ladder and make critical decisions that impact the bottom line of their firms.

But these same individuals, he said, often work in isolation, and therefore lack the opportunity to be challenged by someone who understands what they are doing and can help them sort out how new technologies, like the cloud or mobile devices, can be used in new ways.

He encouraged attendees to be open to sharing ideas and what they are working on, to engage in two-way conversations, to start new relationships tonight, and ultimately to gain from the synergy that interacting with others can create.

--sandy