Training Menu & Schedule

Let’s talk about my training …
For on-site training sessions, I hook up my laptop to your projector or flatscreen, and off we go! For hands-on classes, the ideal class size is 10 or less … but I’m flexible.
For virtual training sessions, send me a Teams (preferred) or Zoom link, then I’ll Share my screen. No need for a camera since we’re just looking at my screen.
For every training, each student receives a training workbook covering the topics presented, and I make every effort to present application-specific exercises.
FYI Training Bits …
- You can have as many folks in the training as you would like.
- Invite your customers/associates; requesting a fee to offset your cost is up to you.
- If your city is close to, or one served by Southwest Airlines, all the better.
- Recommend someone for training!! If I train ’em, you receive $100 credit on your next session.
Onsite Training Fees
1-2 day(s) $1,175/day + expenses
3+ days $1,125/day + expenses
International Training US$ 1,500/day + Business Class expenses*
All California training $1,900/day out-the-door
*3 Day minimum for international sessions
Webinar Sessions
Customized Content* $225 per hour
Payment by Visa/MC will require a 4% processing fee.
*You can pick and choose the topics from the listed Webinar topics.
Sessions can be held anytime between 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM Eastern time. Payment for the sessions will be due upon completion of the training.
Training Schedule
Onsite & ‘Socially distant’ when necessary … but still entertaining & informative!
November 2023
December 2023
January 2024
February 2024
March 2024
If you would like to be contacted regarding training when I’m in your area, please let me know!
michael.beall@cadtrainerguy.com
502.500.2267
Michael’s Training Menu
01
CET Training
Yes, I’m now training the most popular Furniture Visualization and Specification software for our industry! At the moment, I’m doing manufacturer-specific training for Herman Miller and HON dealerships [Currently scheduling sessions for Intro and Advanced training after Labor Day 2018].
For all other manufacturers, CET Designer Intro sessions will be done using CET Designer’s free Fika generic symbol library.
CET Designer Intro for Herman Miller Table of Contents [HON similar]
CET Designer Advanced Table of Contents
These workshops are for the CET champion who just wants a deeper dive into a particular topic.
Before signing up for any workshop – and because I don’t know everything there is to know about each Workshop topic – I encourage any questions regarding content as well as suggestions for the Workshop. This will ensure that you get the most out of your investment. Each workshop includes a 3‐5 pp handout.
Cost for each 90‐minute workshop is $300 per group (limit 12 attendees per group).
MEMO: These Workshops are intended for folks who have been actively using CET for at least 3 months.
At this time, these Workshops are not ‘open to the public’ and only available to Dealerships or corporate users such as Manufacturer application‐specialists or technical resource teams.
Got new users? Need a refresh?
My CET Commercial Interiors: Level One has been updated with Version 12.5 of CET – including coverage on the new Dimension feature, automatic Part Tagging, Schemes, and View Clip insights.
The CET Kitchen A Gold Star Menu of Need‐To‐Know Topics
Each furniture extension in CET Commercial Interiors is unique … but we all have to cook in the same CET ‘Kitchen’.
When learning CET Designer, understanding the subtleties within each extension comes with its own learning curve, (not unlike cooking). But once you have your stations, private offices, and conference rooms laid out, it’s all about presentation … and the work begins.
Below is a menu of over 50 topics everyone encounters sooner or later, whether you’re doing Live Design, preparing Install drawings, or simply a Presentation for the team. And although not a complete list, if you’ve mastered these, you’re well on your way to ‘CET Champion Chef’ status.
So, pass this around to your CET crew, check the topics you’d like to dig into (or add your own!), then send it back to me and we’ll fire up the grill!
Install Insights (90 minutes)
Even though not every Dealership has the same look to an installation drawing, there are common threads in all the drawings, and it comes down to visibility and content. This workshop takes the Filter and Categorization commands and applies them to creating install drawings, focusing on annotation as well as tagging. We then switch over to Paper View and review where we can use favorites, and best practices for the Visibility properties.
Blocks & Favorites (90 minutes)
If you’re going to need that workstation more than once, make it a block. If you’re going to utilize that square footage in multiple configurations, make a Component block. And if you think you’ll need any of those on more than one drawing, you best save it as a Favorite. You’ll also learn how to Clone ‘em, Replace ‘em, and Edit ‘em.
Material & Rendering (90 minutes)
Tips on expediting applying material to components with a quick review of Schemes. Of particular interest will be the application of a COM on a standard part. Fundamental tips on Rendering in Photo Lab will also be presented, including the use of the Characters extension and Office Accessories and images on a laptop screen. [Requires the Characters, Lights, and Office Accessories extensions]
MEMO: The content for the Material & Rendering workshop is expanded upon in the Photo Lab workshop.
Calculation (90 minutes)
Initially intimidating, this session begins with drawing comparisons between what we know – 2020 Worksheet – and where the equivalents are in Calculation. Saving and Loading an Article View (‘Template’ in 2020), sorting by Tag or Catalog, and applying Discounts will all be presented.
Picklist and Seed Files (90 minutes)
The Picklist is particularly useful for what I call ‘Workstation Giblets’; things we need on the truck but not necessarily graphically placed in the drawing. The Picklist is also an excellent way to bring in the same parts for another floorplan, but in a different configuration, such as in a private office. And we’ll look at a few ideas on what you need when you launch CET and set up what’s commonly referred to as a ‘Seed File’. Yes, similar to an AutoCAD template (.DWT).
Lighting & Photo Lab (90 minutes)
Will the immersive light work just as well as sunlight, or will you need to add an Omni light …and where? Before getting too wrapped up in complicated lighting, we unpack a few of the simpler approaches that may do just as well. Along the way, we’ll look into some of the key settings under the Advanced sections in Photo Lab such as the benefits and adjustments for the Outline Overlay, where to ‘stand’ when doing the rendering, and adding the customer’s watermark/logo in the corner. Flowers and Office Accessories and a terrarium may be necessary to ‘add realism’.
Environment & Movie Studio with a Fly‐Thru (90 minutes)
Before you do a fly‐through, you’ll need an environment to, well … fly …through. We’ll start with the fundamental steps in creating walls with windows and doors to create an environment with a city/landscape scene out the window. Then we’ll bring in a couple favorites to populate the space, then lay out a path and go from there. [Requires the Movie Studio extension]
Categorization & Visibility (90 minutes)
‘Categorization’ is basically the equivalent of AutoCAD’s Layers … and is often a moving target. It is also manufacturer‐specific, so what you may find in one extension’s settings, you won’t necessarily find in another. Implemented most commonly in a viewport, this workshop unpacks the fundamentals to enable you to create what you know as ‘Layer States’ in AutoCAD or View Modes in your view ports/view clips.
The Whole Package Workshop (14 hours)
Every Dealership approaches a project differently. I’ve also found that Install drawings needed for a project at Dealership A may be different than the Install drawings needed at Dealership B. This workshop takes what you may currently know about CET and offers some expansion upon that understanding. Using relevant bits from the other nine workshops, we use your Extension to build and edit several workstations, incorporating Blocks, Favorites, Part Tagging as well as generating different categorized views in Paper
View. Cost for this session is $2,730 (14 hours @ $225/hour).
Customization (90 minutes)
You can customize your Ribbon in AutoCAD … and you can customize your 2D and 3D toolbars in CET! Choose which tools are displayed, add other ones, then you can create a ‘Work Group’ to toggle between custom arrangements. The Custom Tools toolbar may also be something you would want to consider. And although my Level I training covered how to edit your Extension tabs using the Configurator, we’ll go back over that, too.
‘In Development’ … Specials (90 minutes)
Taller, wider, more shelves, add a leg, ad infinitum. And although I can’t cover all scenarios, I can introduce you to (most of) the tools in Edit Graphics (Meshes), and Edit Graphics (Symbols). There’s still more for me to learn, but I can show you everything I know, and I’m finding that’s what most of my Designers simply need. We will include smart‐parts from your MFG Extension, as well as from ProjectSymbols
02
AutoCAD
The AutoCAD 201x Review
[A2018 – A2022]
Regardless of your version, there are certain Need-To-Know commands, settings, and features that will improve your productivity. This 7-hour course is review of the most important features, customized to your version – AutoCAD 2017 through AutoCAD 2019 – so please specify your version.
AutoCAD 3D Review for Designers
Materials, Lighting, and Visual Styles
Why take a drawing into SketchUp when you have immensely more power in AutoCAD? This 7-hour session will get you looking at AutoCAD in a whole new light. We cover the creating and editing of 3D Surfaces and 3D Solids, applying materials, positioning lights, and how to create your own visual style.
Customizing AutoCAD for How You Work
This 7-hour training includes the Autodesk University® 2013 award-winning customizing exercises. You create a custom Panel on the Ribbon and also see how to add the same command to the Quick Access Toolbar. Editing hot keys, how to create a one-line lisp, and how to edit the ACAD.PGP file are also here. Even customizing of Rollover Tips and the content of Quick Properties! In addition to some quality time in the Customize User Interface [CUI], ‘Gold Star’ tips are also presented along the way.
AutoCAD: From the Beginning to Productivity
From the Facility Planners in Manila, to steel mills in Tennessee, to an island in the Caribbean, I’ve presented AutoCAD fundamentals to thousands over the last 30 years. Whatever your application, knowing the basics will vastly improve your productivity. Although typically recommended for at least two days (the fundamentals training for Chevron in Angola, Africa was two weeks!), I’m flexible! Always presented using your drawings or projects, whatever you can make time for, it will be time well spent.
Autodesk Revit for Designers
Over the last several years, dozens of your peers have already partaken of my 7-hour, Revit for Dealership Designers onsite, hands-on seminar. Covering the fundamentals of when you first launch Revit, through importing Families, at the end of this session, you will feel much more confident in navigating through and speaking about this forceful software in our industry.
The 42 ‘Must-Know’ AutoCAD Concepts for Designers
When I sorted through the hundreds of topics in the Index of my book – The AutoCAD Workbench, Final Edition – I came up with seven “Must-Know” concepts from each of the six chapters of the book. For those of you wanting to ‘know-what-you-should-know’ if you’re a Designer at a contract furniture dealership – or in any discipline requiring fundamental AutoCAD skills – take a look at my list of the 42 topics I consider ‘Must Know’ concepts and features everyone should know if they’re using AutoCAD in a production environment.
03
MEMO
[2020 Cap, 20-20 Worksheet, and Visual Impression are all premier software products from 20-20 Technologies, Inc.]
2020 Cap Training
This 7-hour course is customized to your primary product line of systems furniture. For product lines with tile/skins/elements, Panel Builder is presented with a focus on your specific catalog. This session covers the creation of CAP Parts, CAP Standards, and CAP Boundaries, and creating a Worksheet [.SP4] from the drawing.
2020 Worksheet Training
My 2020 Worksheet training is a 4-hour session and is equally helpful for Sales & PMs, as well as Designers.
Visual Impression for Designers
The training is a 4-hour review of this powerful rendering software. If you’re interested in more information, please let me know!