Since this post was origianlly posted to the DOT Communities Blog, I thought I would include it here as well.
Although it was colder in Charlotte than it was in central Iowa, this year's Roads and Bridges Conference was a pleasant surprise. As most of you know, the venue was moved to Charlotte because of commitments Bentley made for a BE Conference and then dropped due to the economy. It didn't seem to make a difference to folks attending, there was still a great deal of learning and networking going on. The Bentley events staff did this one up right.
This year's conference was the first official conference for all Bentley Civil users and it was a great opportunity to see how others work and interface with them. The InRoads users are a great bunch and were more than willing to share template data. That was a plus for us Geopak users just starting down the Corridor Modeler path. I was again stunned by a few comments made and attitudes held by InRoads/Bentley employees. We are an inclusive Civil group now and yes, CM is a great product, but the attitudes really should stop. They are certainly not as professional as they should be. You don't hear Geopak/Bentleyemployees having an attitude about adding Site to the InRoads products.
BrIM continues to be a nice addition to the conference. Bentley has spent a lot of time making sure all their new Bridge products work together and by the looks of it, they will continue to put resources toward these technologies. Coming from a DOT background, I am exposed to one of the most resistant groups to automate Bridge Design, Analysis and plans production. It's refreshing to see how many consulting firms are using automation and getting tremendous results.
The agency meeting was hosted by North Carolina DOT. They did a fantastic job. Again, it was great to have users of all Bentley Civil products at the meeting. Being able to put names to faces and seeing what others are dealing with is always an asset. The only regret was that the new time slot caused some problems when we only got about halfway through our discussion. I guess some is better than nothing. With any luck Bentley may provide a teleconference where users of all Bentley Civil products can discuss things. Maybe even quarterly. (Hint, hint)
Another comment I heard was we could have more information about what we can use right now. There was a lot presented on what is coming in the future and what it will do. That is great for planning purposes but to be able to get our users information they can put into action when we get back from the conference, that would be a nice addition. In talking with some of our consultants, there is another CAD package that is having a meeting soon. I understand they have presentations on how users can use their released products and how that usage can be streamlined. More sessions with that type of information would be nice.
This conference is still the best resource for information and networking going. Attendance was a little sluggish but with the economy as it is, it is very understandable. Additionally, hats off to our account manager, Bentley should really get more AMs to attend this meeting. I heard from more than a half dozen states that they only hear from their AM when they need to make a sale. With the economy the way it is, now is the time for Bentley to build better relationships with their customers. Face to face at conferences like these is a great way to make those contacts. See you all next year.