Advice on getting to AU 2008 - PERSUADING MANAGEMENT

[jbscott2121]

Any stories out there on how one went about approaching and convincing their management to foot the bill for AU Convention.
Its like as soon as you bring this up heads are shaking, and budgets are maxed out. But if there is a 2-3 day long marketing convention in MIAMI, then the whole Sales/Mrkt group is off to the beach.
I would pay for it myself,,,but,,,,yeah.

[JDMather]

http://au.autodesk.com/event/experience/attend/justify/

http://aubeat.podbean.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/podpress_backend.php?podPressPlayerAutoPlay=yes&standalone=yes&action=showplayer&pbid=0&b=78747&id=298794&filename=http://aubeat.podbean.com/medias/play/aHR0cDovL21lZGlhMi5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS83ODc0Ny91L0FVQmVhdDA4LUFsbGVuLm1wMw/AUBeat08-Allen.mp3

http://au.autodesk.com/event/experience/attend/

[Anonymous]

A 5% increase in productivity per year ($40,000.00 x 5% = $2,000.00) would
more than cover your expenses. I just picked a number as an example.

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wrote in message news:6034706@discussion.autodesk.com...
http://au.autodesk.com/event/experience/attend/justify/

http://aubeat.podbean.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/podpress_backend.php?podPressPlayerAutoPlay=yes&standalone=yes&action=showplayer&pbid=0&b=78747&id=298794&filename=http://aubeat.podbean.com/medias/play/aHR0cDovL21lZGlhMi5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS83ODc0Ny91L0FVQmVhdDA4LUFsbGVuLm1wMw/AUBeat08-Allen.mp3

http://au.autodesk.com/event/experience/attend/

[RockyBrown4134]

Not only do you get information from the presentations, but the peer-to-peer experience is priceless.
1) You find people having the same problems as you do, and you find people who have overcome those problems, and are willing to share their results.
2) You also can find additional vendor contacts, that you never knew existed.
3) You find people willing to listen and help. From Autodesk employees to AUGI members, Intermediate users to Power users. Attend some of the social functions. Meet new peers. Meet new peers at the intermission between classes.
4) HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

Someone else posted that if you gain 5% productivity, it was worth it. How true. There are alot of different work flows, processes, techniques, and tricks of the trade that can not be accessed anywhere else.

And about the cost, if I am not mistaken, depending on if you have certification hours require for your job position, AU may be a tax education (Continuing Education. You will have to check.

Rocky Brown
Stingray Boats

AU Attendee - 2006

[jbscott2121]

Thanks guys, Im writing all this down. Plus, I printed out everything off the AU site.
Getting my attack plan ready 🙂

[JDMather]

The Power Track classes fill up in a hurry.
Lab classes might already be filled.

[Josh_Petitt]

>2,000.00
say what? The four day all-inclusive pass is $1,845 (early bird). The cheapest flight I found from the midwest (KC) was $300 after taxes. Since the company will not have the worker for the week they are gone, that results in 40hrs lost productivity (~$750 for a 40hr week). Thats roughly $3000 cost to the company. So you better guarantee at least a 7.5% gain in productivity to make up for true costs.

Of course you could also just ask to go to AU as part of your compensation package.

[j_madison]

Of course, the productivity gain we're talking about here applies only to AutoDesk related activities that you do at work.

Suppose you spend 50% of your time doing Autodesk related things, and 50% doing other activities (filing, meetings, emails, reports, ISO certifications, etc). Now that 7.5% needs to become 15%