The Be Communities was rolled out just over a year ago as way to bring together on one site infrastructure professionals to discuss, learn and get support on Bentley's many products in a casual, some say social environment. Judging by the daily traffic the success of Be Communities has been an overwhelming success. However, as good as it is, Be Communities - the social web site, can't replace good old one-on-one "face time" a real user conference gives you. Recognizing this, Bentley brings to you the Be Together event in May 2010. So, just what is Be Together? Think of it as Be Communities Live! In fact, that's the tag line of the event. Just as you have many resources in Be Communities - the social web site, Be Together brings you a LOT of content in one short week.
First and foremost Be Together a learning event where you are given the opportunity to stay current with the latest Bentley software and its application to your design environment. Afterall, in a lifetime working with any product do you ever really master it? Through both a series of hands-on workshops and lecture-style seminars you get into the real nuts and bolts of many Bentley products. Don't confuse this with a sales pitch or just a high level overview of Bentley products but that much needed information for applying your newly-gained knowledge to your needs.
One obvious reasons to attend a live event like this is the great opportunity to meet with both your fellow users and the many Bentley colleagues that will be at this even. In this hectic world of texting, twittering, emailing and social media interaction it still is nice to put that "face to a name." Be Together gives you plenty of opportunity to do this in both structured events and more casual get-togethers.
Although you can often glean what Bentley is up to by reading news releases, product descriptions, Be Communities' forums, blogs, Twitter and Facebook there is nothing like hearing directly from the people who are "in the know." Be Together is a great opportunity to not only hear about the latest released products but what's coming soon. This time around, to steal a popular phrase "Failure is always an option" as you get to see a snapshot of what is being developed and why. Bentley's never been shy in letting you know what's coming but this is a chance to really see where some of the next "wow" factor capabilities are in the development process.
If learning workshops and seminars are the "one-to-many" type interactions, roundtable and panel discussions is the "many-to-one" opportunity to have a two-way conversation with key Bentley colleagues. Seriously, this is your chance to get answers on what Bentley is thinking and possibly influence the direction of Bentley products moving forward.
Let's not forget, that this is also your opportunity to hear from Bentley's highest executives. Knowing what they are thinking provides that high level view fo where Bentley has been, what it is doing now and where it is going in the short term and long term, all very important information as you, the loyal users and champions within your companies continue to support, influence and integrate Bentley into your work environment.
This is not your Bentley conference of recent years. It harkens back to the days where you got up close and personal with your peers, the people behind Bentley, product training and services vendors. Everyone benefited. And the best part is it doesn't stop when the event ends but continues, once again, in the virtual world on Be Communities-until the next time we meet Live!