ArchiCAD Summer School: 2006: Feedback Page 1: General

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2006 ACSS: General comments, Testimonials

Frank Hollinger has put together a charming little Quicktime movie of the whole event: you can view it on Frank's iWeb site. or here, via YouTube

General testimonial/impressions of the whole event:

I got so much information, that it would take me a couple of days before my head starts to work normally again! I liked the big difference in the lectures. Maybe the plenary with the quick presentation of the programmes and of Archicad in general should have been at the beginning - that would have made it easier to chose what you would like to hear more about. But I loved meeting all this people, some I've met before and some new faces, and everybody was as informal as at the winter school. Easy to talk to everybody and make some good discussions with. Mette Mikkelsen

The summer school was a fantastic event, rewarding on so many levels, for me the highlights were each of the case studies. David, Tom, Michel and Ben each had marvellous stuff to present. Andrew King

I love the whole event and wonder how it could be improved. Richard Payne

Thanks David for all the hard work and for finding the time during the event to chat individually with probably every participant. Kim Harris

As usual David has pulled it of again with all his time constraints and other commitments he has done a marvellous job, Thank you David It was great to see everybody with all that incredible dazzling work. Thank you Graphisoft for listening and giving the Mac platform the credit that it deserves since you started on that platform and we the mac customers (Not to say the other haven't) have been faithful. I think with all that is going on and this event becoming more popular every year we need an extra day for all the events. The structure David has worked out is great but we still need more time. As I mentioned last year we are certainly not getting any younger. This was an wonderful event. I got a lot out of it and again Thank you David for all that energy and enthusiasm, believe me in those two day it's contagious. All the best and hope to see you all next year. Essie Djafarian

Thanks for a great event - it really worked out without a glitch this year. Pavol Elias

David, what can I say! Another great great success. I always feel like I'm meeting up with old friends. It is simply the best way to find out about ArchiCAD, practices using ArchiCAD and how they work and related issues. Ben Wallbank

Thank you for another well run and instructive event - all I have to do now is to find time to put it all into practice ! Nick Smith

'If you use ArchiCAD and want to know more, you should be at ACUE' Thankyou for David for all your hard work in putting the event together and making it a great success. Paul Domville

Very useful few days that i imagine will be a personal success. My aim was to become sufficiently knowledgeable to see a project through with ArchiCAD, which i now feel i am, and can do so without compromising time designing for time learning how to use the package. Was also a helpful experience in the wider sense, seeing practising architects and their views, needs and intentions. Matthew Wingrove

As a new visitor to the event, I was totally blown away by the atmosphere and learning environment which greeted me the minuite  I walked in the door. A great weeked both educationally and socially. Ray McNally

Overall it was great fun and i did pick up quite a few tips. I look forward to the next one! Phil Oldfield

Very well managed, with a good selection of speakers and workshops. Ben Hopkins

We all had a blast of a time! Superb lectures, fantastic people, great fun and a troublesome trip getting home. The ACUE 06 really inspired my ph.d studies in several ways and it was great to meet old tribal members in the old casual ACUW way. Meeting DNC's better half saterday was the cherry on the top! Jacob Lanng

Thank you David for organizing this great event. This was lots of fun besides the good feedback we got for our work. It's my first ArchiCAD University, but as the others told, this was the most pleasant one as far as the number of attacks on GS employees are concerned. It means that AC 10 is not too bad after all... The highlight for me was the Friday night out with Michel Rojkind who taught us to spice up Mr. Porky with some lemon juice. Greg Kmethy, Graphisoft

Great organisation of all events! Good job! I am looking forward for another event! It was lot of fun and a great opportunity to learn more about ArchiCAD!Przemek Gajowiak

It was a great event. Thanks for all of your efforts putting it together. Phil Green

Such a great initiative ! This is the only real 'training' that I do in the year , so for me as a solo user ACUE is invaluable in keeping in touch with the endless possibilities of AC, learning how people use the tool and indeed how other solo and small practices work in general, not to mention the importance of remaining inspired and motivated - a really galvanising event. And always good to see old and new friends, of course ! Peter Bennison

As I am new to Archicad, I was impressed to see what can be done in Archicad. I found the introduction workshops really useful and picked up a few tips.
Some of it was too advanced for me because I did not know enough about Archicad to be able to understand and participate more. The international speakers gave some interesting insights to architecture. After attending the summer school it definitely made me want to get on with learning Archicad so that I can come back to the next workshop with some knowledge and beable to interact and share a bit more. A good experience and I will be coming back for more. Thanks to David N-C for arranging summer school 2006. Kim Richards

I always enjoy meeting what are now old friends and just comparing notes and concerns. It helps me through the rest of the year with dealing with non-believers. Chris Phillips

Another very worthwhile event - thank you. GS was disappointing, both in style and content, the latter perhaps because of the development cycle. ACUE continues to be a hugely worthwhile investment of time for us, keeping us up to date with what is possible, helping to refine the workflow and office procedures. This year for the first time I brought another member of our team, to expose him to 'the culture'; very helpful. Nigel Walter

It was a joy to attend the event. It was a great break from all the pressures of home and work, and to able to immerse myself in a subject that fascinates me more and more. Nice people to meet, no ego's on display, open minds and a willingness to share. DNC's own drive and enthusiasm was remarkable. Great sense of camaraderie. Less of a them and us attitude that I have en-counted at other events. Opened up new doors as to what ArchiCAD could do for our company. Very inspirational. Martin Kelly

DNC pulled it off again without a hitch. Very smooth. This is my third year and still learning something. Thanks David. Daniel Dusoswa

Graphisott Team ready for action - actually everybody likes Archicad 10, so they are happy!

Pre-conference marketing, Admin, Website, Information etc, delegates
information pack, bedrooms, helpers, building, and food.

Maybe the pricing on the website could be easier to understand (drop down menus and an automatic calculation?) Saying that this is probably more work than it's worth, and the costs didn't really take much understanding. The food was also excellent. Ben Hopkins

I found everything very good! Perfect place fore such an event. Only the bar was too small, but maybe we are just too many beer-drinking people... Mette Mikkelsen
All the above were excellent - food so much better at Nightingale. Beer dismal. Richard Payne

Nightingale is the best of the ACUE venues. Comfortable and good food etc. Ben Wallbank

The location, building, etc are all the best that ACUE have put on. The food was the best ever, brilliant. Paul Domville

Info pack was very useful, hadnt got access to the web at the time so having it all printed was a life saver. Only complaint is that the food was too good, why couldnt we have had that when were first year students in halls?! (throws toys out of pram). In all seriousness, very nice! Matthew Wingrove

Very well organised. Accomodation was good, Food was excellent. Ray McNally

Food was good - i've never been so well fed. It was good that there was lots of coffee too. Would have been nice to make use of the gardens more, tho obviously with the equipment that probably wasn't possible. Phil Oldfield

The hall is great as usual. It's no secret that missing WiFi in 2006 at a software conference is not OK, and I know it will be better next year. I do enjoy the days off from the news; maybe we could put a block on all news sites. ;-) James Murray

Everything was put together perfectly. The information prior to the event was spot on, the halls were great, clean, tidy, the food was great.
The only criticism was there could have been a little more variety in terms of food. Phil Green

Real beer and proper wi-fi access would be good. Nightingale Hall is certainly the best location, love that 50's feel, spaces were generous in those days. Real espresso coffee (not Nescafe) would be good too, I miss my fix ... Peter bennison

Excellent food, web site is a bit of a mess (more clients have told me), information pack very good, bedrooms nice, helpers was not needed, building need wireless Internet. Frank Hollinger

excellent. Ross Cahill-O'Brien

Was great to be back in Nightingale hall. The food was a treat with so much choice. The rooms were fine, better than last year. Daniel Dusoswa

All good stuff! Chris Phillips

Great all round. Nigel Walter

No complaints on any of these items, they all did their appropriate jobs, functions extremely well. I felt comfortable during my entire stay and was able to concentrate on absorbing as much information as I could. Martin Kelly

Suggestions for Improvement, in any way....?

One more day would be good - maybe I'll join you earlier next year! I know that the time was short but a few 10 min breaks between the lectures
would have been nice - to get some air in the room, toilet visits and just to stand for a second. Mette Mikkelsen

Demand that some proper beer is provided in the bar and that (at least) for a short while when we all flood out of the last session that they have at least two people serving. THE BAR IS THE WEAKEST ELEMENT OF ACUE! Richard Payne

NONE!! Ben Wallbank

Get rid of the Encounter session, sorry David but I do not like this session which is why I did not arrive until 6pm on Thursday. I understand that is a good for new people who have never been before, but not for us old timers. Paul Domville

1. More workshop time for key presenters, ie Tom/ Michel, 2. Move GS Technical stuff into workshops only, to avoid loosing the1st timers/ new users. Mike Willey

Give those GS guys some laughing gas or something. I tend to wander the workshops because I'm basically familiar with everything. The only place I'm soft is in the QS area. I would actually like a workshop on real calculation. I know you were busy, but I might have liked the workshops to take form sooner. James Murray

My only other comment was where there were a number of workshop going on within one room it was a little too easy to get distracted, but I'm sure that's more a problem with my concentration levels. Phil Green

More presentations of real project, large scale projects from around the globe. Frank Hollinger

Perhaps more and better internet access. Aladar Kish

A more solid session from GS. Otherwise great. I would be interested in giving a brief session on QuickTime VR walkthroughs, which we use as the presentation medium for all projects; this allows us to tell a story at the client's pace, and if necessary adapt the script as we go along. With Meander falling by the wayside, we now produce Cubic panoramas in ArtLantis and stitch them together into a scene with CubicConnector - like Meander this allows the user to view a plan beside the walkthrough. Nigel Walter

Could the sessions and workshops be arranged in a way that the presenter can finish their presentation before questions take the meeting in different directions. Maybe there could be a questions and answer session. All presentations and demo's made available for download. A wireless connection to the internet. Martin Kelly

I wanted to get around more of the workshops and I was not able to see all of them .  There was at least another four that I would have enjoyed. Ross Cahill-O'Brien

Summer School was an excellent event I really enjoyed it the only aspect of it that I would like to see is amplification for the speakers as it was diffecult at times to hear them clearly at back of hall. K K Kenny

As it is my third time I would like to see next year a few more workshops for advanced users. Also the Thursday could be used better with a full day seminar on an advanced topic, joining the newcomers again after the encounter. Daniel Dusoswa

Email: ArchiCAD University Secretariat for further information