Reviving the travel blog.. getting ready for a BIZZY summer!

Hello!

It's been ages since I updated the Soft travel blog, and there are actually several reasons for that, which are not that interesting and mostly to do with me not making it a priority. BUT - we are looking towards a BUSY summer filled with SIGGRAPH action, so its time to get back in the habit again!

So where have we been since my last post February? GDC was in San Francisco in February this year, and we didn't have a booth this time. We chose to have private meeting suites on the show floor, and directed our energies to our Education Summit and Softimage Student User Event, which were both firsts for us. It was a good week - a different GDC experience, but a good one!

Student User Event at AI San Francisco..

.. where Mark really enjoyed the demo he gave!

After GDC, there were a couple of small customer trips, until I got to spend 10 days in Los Angeles and Las Vegas this April for NAB, and a few LA-based events. NAB was interesting for us, since Avid didn't have a booth on the show floor. I have to admit, I thought it would be an easier week. Typically, NAB is filled with partner meetings to go over roadmaps and co-marketing planning sessions squeezed between hours of booth duty. This year it was crazier than ever - how does THAT happen?? Everyday started at 8am and finished at 7pm. We met resellers, customers, partners, educators, Avid counterparts. It was a ridiculously busy schedule, and as a result, a relatively lowkey week in vegas. Although I did have time to go to the AJA party at the Bank at the Bellagio, which gave me some inspiration for our SIGGRAPH 2008 User Event. More on THAT later!

I actually do not have ONE picture from Vegas this year. I had misplaced my camera, and only found it when I left. Honest.

After leaving NAB, I headed back to LA for a User Event at Gnomon. We held the event to kick-off the class that started on May 5th, and got to see some familiar faces!

Pam Hogarth (Gnomon) with Michael Isner & Colin Brady

Long time XSI user and friend Anthony Rossano and his colleague William, who won a copy of XSI Essentials!

Mark with Rudy Sarzo, Softimage user and rock legend. Trust me. Google him.

Darren Krumweide of Gnomon (left) and Gnomon staff member.

Heather Hughes and Pam Hogarth (Gnomon) with Kath Hayes of RFX (R).

From left: Peter de Lappe, Javier von der Pahlen and Jeff Wilson of Softimage, Ron Frankel of Proof and Ken Knobel, Softimage.

and even though the Gnomon event wrapped at 9:30pm, our day wasn't done yet! Mark and I headed downtown to do a walkthrough of the location of the 2008 Softimage SIGGRAPH User Event. We found an excellent location, and are feeling pretty pleased with the way it's shaping up.

Softimage SIGGRAPH User Event - Tuesday, August 12th from 8pm-1am. Put in on your calendar - it's going to be a good one. Invites will go out mid-to-end of June.

That's it for now - happy memorial day, America!

Note the huge smile on Mark's face. The event is going to be very COOL.