It was a busy 3 days in San Francisco last week. In spite of the bad economy, AIA reported that around 21,000 architects attended this years Convention and Expo. For us at Orange Loft, it was a big deal. We were lucky enough to have Ron Patrick, the creator of the VW Beetle with a jet engine, allow us to display his amazing car in our booth. It was fun to watch unsuspecting passerbys notice the enormous jet sticking out of the back. Many thought it was fake. Most asked us “why is this car in your booth.”

The answer to that question is easy. And once understood, everyone nodded in agreeement. We believe software should be easy to use, but deliver power when a user needs it. Unlike some other management software solutions, we constantly strive to provide appropriate tools for our users, and make it easy to use and understand.

We all know how to drive a car. Not many cars are as easy to understand as a VW Beetle. However, when a user wants serious power, we deliver it. Just like this car. Most other software programs require users to be trained like an airforce pilot in order to get the kind of power from their software. The moment people see the user interface of our software - it all becomes clear.

Enough promotion.

I had a special treat at this years Convention since I was also elevated into the AIA College of Fellows. The Invocation ceremony was at the beautiful Grace Cathedral. More pomp than I’ve ever experienced! My wife flew in to attend the ceremony and the black-tie dinner the following night. The best part of the dinner was bumping into one of our ArchiOffice customers (also a member of the College of Fellows), who told me they had stopped by our booth and were given a demo of our soon-to-be-released major update to ArchiOffice. They called it “kick-ass.” I loved that.

Thanks for all the Orange Loft staff who helped out with the convention again this year. I hope your voices have returned to normal and your feet are no longer swollen. Check out the video of the booth.