Category Blogs

Happy 2015

Happy New Year! It will take another few months before I get used to writing and saying 2015, but it offers all of us another fresh start if only on the calendar. If you had a less than stellar year…

AutoCAD 2015 News

The word is out today on many new Autodesk new products including the new AutoCAD 2015! I spent the early part of this crazy busy week with several AutoCAD bloggers and Autodesk employees. The press release was just announced: New…

Autodesk University 2013 Blogger & Social Media Meetup Sign Up

For many years Autodesk has been holding a blogger reception the night prior to Autodesk University.The event will be a social meetup for 200 people made up of invited bloggers, social media, Autodesk discussion groups Expert Elite, some top Autodesk Beta and Autodesk Labs participants as well as some Autodesk employees. The main goal is to network and make connections to use throughout Autodesk University.

As popular as the event had been we always had to limit the amount of attendees due to space and of course costs. This year we want to expand and allow more to socialize and network before AU begins.
This meetup will be on Monday December 2nd at 8pm. We will have a larger space in the Venetian conference center area for a meetup to accommodate 200 people to network and meet others in real life before AU begins. It is also a small token of thanks from us for all you do year around in blogs, social media, Autodesk discussion forums, Autodesk Beta programs and Autodesk Labs.

So how do I sign up for an invite?
I was thinking of placing golden tickets in chocolate bars like Willy Wonka but that is just too much work and I don't have a chocolate factory, so I built an online survey. Sign up on this tasty chocolate flavored survey from now until November 15th. During the week of November 21st we will email everyone who signed up and let them know if they pulled one of the 200 golden tickets.

AU Blogger, Social & Forums Meetup Survey http://svy.mk/HfczTv

Looking forward to seeing you at AU2013!

-Shaan

10 Years Between the Lines

It is hard to believe but this blog has just turned ten years old. I want to simply say thank you for all the millions of unique readers, thousands of commenters, several guest authors, fellow bloggers, and Autodesk employees that contributed to this blogs success and reaching this rare blogging milestone.

I would especially like to thank Autodesk management for allowing and encouraging Autodesk employees to be engaged, transparent, and actively participate in social media like blogs (http://blogs.autodesk.com) and twitter. It takes a great deal of confidence for a company to place the trust in its employees to do the right thing and Autodesk has always has. I want to also thank the two Autodesk employees that opened my eyes to what a blog was and got me started back in 2003, thank you Bill Johnston and Eric Wright.

Thank you Bill Adams for the annual birthday cakes, cup cakes, and this years digital birthday wishes to Between the Lines.
http://blads.blogspot.com/2013/08/happy-birthday-between-lines.html

A Blog is Like Having a Baby

I have been blogging continuously for 10 years as of next week August 21st, 2013. I get asked by internal Autodesk employees as well as external people about starting a blog. I usually ask them what is motivating them to blog and what do they know about blogging. You really don’t want to start a blog on a whim or just to satisfy some short term goal as starting a blog is like having a baby. It really is as you have to give it life and feed it regularly even when you don’t feel like writing a blog post, and occasionally change its diapers. I have seen far too many blogs start and then go silent for multiple reasons and that is why I ask people to think long and hard about the long term goals and plans before launching a blog. Remember that if your blog goes silent it lives pretty much for ever on the Internet and people will see the stagnant blog and you will have some subscribers and regular readers that feel jilted. One suggestion is to guest author articles on existing blogs like this one (email me) and get your feet wet before jumping in with both feet for the long commitment.

Trying a New Blog Writing Software on the iPad

After relying years relied on Live Writer the free blog writing utility from Microsoft even after trying several other I am trying a new one for Tablets. Live Writer was so easy to draft blog posts with fie attachments, complex formatting and media, as well as options for keywords in SEO, but I am not always on my laptop running Windows.