What Happens at a CAD Convention Stays at a CAD Convention — Or Does It?
30 October 2023
Sometimes, unexpected things happen in unexpected places. And sometimes these things, while somewhat embarrassing personally, are highly amusing to your colleagues. But before we tell you about that, we wanted to share news from the CAD convention in question.
Setting the Scene
Cocoa Beach, Florida, lies south of Cape Canaveral and is the gateway to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It’s a town with stunning beaches and vibrant nightlife. It is also home to the annual Florida Local Users Group (FLUG) event, where hundreds of CAD professionals from across the US gather to share knowledge of their industry. It is here that our tale begins.
Every year, we send a couple of guys from the office to represent our company and demonstrate our time-saving tools for CAD users. For the sake of their reputations, we’ll call the guys Chuck and Bob.
The Main Event
FLUG 2023 was fabulous. The convention offers classes on industry-specific topics and presentations regarding the applications upon which users rely, effectively checking the box for those with continuing education requirements.
The convention offers classes on industry-specific topics and presentations regarding the applications upon which users rely.
With the excellent attendance rate this year, both Chuck and Bob delivered well-attended and successful technical presentations. One presentation covered Axiom’s Title Block Manager™ and RefManager™ tools, while the other covered Microsoft Office Importer™ for MicroStation. The well-received presentations were followed by lively audience interaction and Q&A sessions with the attendees visibly impressed by the tools presented. This is always a great opportunity for us to interact with industry insiders and potential end-users.
Many FLUG attendees are seasoned CAD vets, but what was notably different this year was the growing number of younger users, many of them women. It’s encouraging to see the youngbloods — the next generation — moving into our industry.
And now we’ll share the amusing incident we alluded to above.
Why Is He Ignoring Me?
It happened after the convention center fell quiet one evening and the sun readied itself to clock out for the day as darkness waited to envelop the tropical coastal town.
Chuck and Bob tidied up the company booth as the last of the convention attendees trickled out for the night. They headed to their respective hotel rooms, agreeing to meet up for dinner later. Chuck thought he’d like to put his feet up for a while. Bob said he might take a stroll on the beach.
It happened after the convention center fell quiet one evening.
After relaxing for a couple of minutes, Chuck decided that maybe a walk on the beach was more appealing than watching lousy reruns on a slightly fuzzy TV, so he changed into shorts and a t-shirt and hurried to the beach to catch up with Bob.
Sun and Silence
Down at the beach, Chuck spotted Bob way ahead of him, briskly walking the sand as the sun began its fiery descent into the sea. Chuck picked up his pace to catch up. Closing the distance between them, Chuck called to Bob to slow down so that he could catch up. Bob, unfortunately, seemed not to hear him, and Chuck realized that Bob was probably listening to music through his earbuds, so he picked up the pace even more and sent Bob a text message: “Slow down, dude. I’m trying to catch up with you.” No response, so Chuck yelled out loudly, “Dude! Slow down!”
Bob glanced over his shoulder briefly and seemed to pick up his pace, which annoyed the hell out of Chuck, so he sent another text message: “Dude, what’s the matter with you? Slow down!” His calf muscles were on fire in the soft sand, but he was now determined to catch up.
However, it seemed as though Bob was hell-bent on staying just out of reach. Chuck was walking as fast as his aching legs could carry him, but the closer he got to Bob and the more he called out, the faster Bob walked. Chuck was getting seriously annoyed.
Suddenly, Chuck’s phone pinged with an incoming text message from Bob: “What are you talking about?”
Frustrated, Chuck texted back. “I’m right behind you, dude!”
“Impossible,” Bob texted back. “I just got out of the shower and I’m lying on my bed watching TV.”
Chuck froze in his sandy tracks, and glanced from his phone to the frantically speed-walking man up ahead, as the reality of the situation struck him. He’d been chasing a total stranger down the beach the entire time. “I’m sorry!” he yelled at the stranger. “Wrong guy!” As darkness fell, there was nothing but silence in response.
Attendees were visibly impressed by the tools presented.
Chuck and Bob later debated whether the stranger on the beach could, in fact, be a fellow FLUG attendee, and as luck would have it, on the last day of the convention, Chuck spotted the man in the crowd and began pushing his way through a sea of bodies to reach him and apologize, man to man.
It’s unknown whether the man spotted Chuck in the crowd and took off in a hurry, or whether he was simply rushing to catch a flight. Either way, a contrite Chuck was denied the opportunity to apologize.
If you happen to be the gentleman in question, Chuck says he’s sorry. It was genuinely a case of mistaken identity in dusky lighting and he apologizes if he alarmed you. There may be some small degree of satisfaction for you in knowing that Chuck has endured endless teasing from his coworkers, so you can consider him well and truly chastised.
Overall, Chuck and Bob had a great time at FLUG and enjoyed the opportunity to shake hands with old friends and make plenty of new ones before packing up and heading home. Of course, no matter how awesome FLUG was, 2023 will forever be remembered as the year Chuck chased a startled stranger down Cocoa Beach.
Want To Save Time?
For more information on the tools presented at FLUG — plus much more — visit AxiomInt.com or call 727-442-7774.
We hope to see you at FLUG 2024 — and we promise that if Chuck attends, we’ll make sure he wears his glasses when he goes down to the beach …
