Happy New Year and welcome to 2013.  It seems like just yesterday the North Carolina Local Users Group (NCLUG) was formed.  In reality we are starting on our fourth year as an officially sanctioned Bentley Users Group.  From our original founding group of a dozen or so people to our current membership total of almost 300 members our growth has been steady and pretty amazing.   As the current chairman of the NCLUG I wish to take the time to thank you for joining the NCLUG, attending our meetings and helping us grow into the organization we have become.

Last month we held our 3rd annual training conference with our biggest turn out ever (150 attendees).  Not only was the conference a huge success but the NCLUG was able to fill a panel van full of gifts donated to Toys for Tots. Thank you for your generosity, it helped make Christmas a little bit better for a lot of deserving children.  Since this year’s collection was so successful we have decided to make it an annual event and with your help I’m sure we can continue to help the US Marine Corp with this great program.

With the beginning of the NCLUG’s fourth year the NCLUG Board of Directors would like your help in continuing to expand and grow our organization.  We would like to create the following sub committees to assist the NCLUG with providing varied, current and relevant information to our members and insure that the NCLUG is fulfilling our member’s needs.  We would like for people to volunteer to either be a member of or chairman of one or more of the following sub committees.

·         MicroStation – anything and everything MicroStation

·         GEOPAK/InRoads/MX – applying Bentleys tools to highway design 

·         Civil – Roads, sites, bridges, dams, etc., etc.

·         ProjectWise/EDMS – engineering document and project management,

·         Buildings/Architecture –BIM, Design and modeling

·         Plant Design – PDS, piping and 3D

·         Construction – using Bentley products in the field

·         Visualization – 3D rendering

·         Geospatial – GIS and mapping

·         Interoperability – getting MicroStation to work with other programs such as AutoCad

·         Miscellaneous  - anything else

Volunteering is as simple as contacting any NCLUG officer or visit NCLUG.com and sign up on the subcommittee page.  Being on a committee doesn’t necessarily require a lot of time though it could involve monthly conference calls and minor tasks.  It is hoped that these subcommittees will help the NCLUG to put on meetings and conferences on topics that are important to our membership.  Please feel free to sign up for more than one subcommittee and if you think there should be other ones by all means let us know.  If you need assistance in soliciting your participation from your company, we will be glad speak with someone to discuss all the benefit NCLUG can provide.   

Additionally the NCLUG would also like to expand to include additional parts of the state (Charlotte, Asheville, Winston-Salem etc.).   If you live or work outside of the Raleigh area and would like to be involved in trying to make this happen please email me (rjrobinson@ncdot.gov) so we can get started.

The NCLUG goal is to continue to expand and provide our members with the resources to make better use of their technology.  You can visit our website at www.NCLUG.com to learn more and if you have any comments, questions or suggestions we would love to hear from you.  The North Carolina Local Users Group is here for you, the member. We hope to see you at out next event.

Sincerely,

Rande Robinson

Chairman North Carolina Local Users Group



 
 
Hope this letter finds you doing well and trust that you had a great holiday season and enjoyable New Year!

As the Chairman of the North Carolina Local Users Group (NCLUG), I wanted to take the time and thank you for joining NCLUG and your continued support of the group and its endeavors. When we started NCLUG, the founding members hoped that NCLUG could become a valuable resource for the many Bentley product users in North Carolina. We also wanted to provide an avenue for fellow users to network and communicate with each other about the Bentley suite of products that is offered. I think we have more than succeeded in doing that and now we feel it is time to take NCLUG to the next level.

This past Fall NCLUG reached its ONE year anniversary and in doing so has now become an officially sanctioned Bentley User Group. What that means is NCLUG now has the backing and support of theBentley flagship. NCLUG has the capability of tapping into the many Bentley benefits and programs. As a member you should see more opportunities to increase your knowledge and improve your skills as a user. In addition to those opportunities, NCLUG will be providing a wider variety of training sessions with hands on training as well as general informational sessions that will benefit you as a member in your professional career. These topics will be based on feedback that we are receiving from members.NCLUG is also exploring the possibility of expanding the group by starting local subchapters in other parts of the state.

With this future growth and ambitious plans in the works, NCLUG welcomes and encourages you to join us as a volunteer, serve on a committee or become a board member. If any of this peaks your interest or you just want to find out more information about the opportunities that NCLUG offers, please contact us at nclug@membership.com . We would really like to have you join us and be a part of this exciting journey that NCLUG has embarked on. We need your talents and expertise to take NCLUG to that next level.

As I mentioned before NCLUG hopes to be bigger and better.  You can visit our website atwww.NCLUG.com to learn more and if you have any comments, questions or suggestions we would love to hear from you.  North Carolina Local Users Group is here for you, the member. We hope to see you at out next event.

Thank you for your support!
Jim Austin
Chairman North Carolina Local Users Group