Specific details are still sketchy. Google says there will be no attendance fee, although attendees will be on their own for lodging, food, and travel. The program will include workshops, presentations, and hands-on sessions (hands-on if you bring your laptop).

On April 15th, the SketchUpdate newsletter, SketchUp Free Newsletter and Official Google SketchUp Blog will include a link to a website where readers can request an invitation. Google will randomly select up to 250 people to invite to the event from the requests received. The link will be open for seven days. “Since space is limited and we expect interest to be high,” says a note in this week’s SketchUpdate newsletter, “we think this is the fairest way to decide who will be invited to attend.”

AECnews attended the first SketchUp Basecamp in 2005; our coverage of the event was at that time our most highly read work. Since then, only our coverage of the Google purchase of SketchUp and some of Autodesk’s legal troubles have generated more page views. The total user base (both free and professional versions) is now in the millions thanks to the increased visibility SketchUp has received since the Google acquisition; I expect Google will be inundated with requests for a seat at the conference. (An opportunity to visit the legendary Googleplex will no doubt also stimulate interest.)

Here’s a summary of relevant dates:
April 15—Link to invitation sign-up announced in SketchUpdate, SketchUp Free Newsletter and SketchUp Blog
April 22—Sign-up ends at 11:00 pm US Pacific time (GMT-7)
April 25—Email notifications (invitation or waiting list) sent out
May 6—Email to invitees asking to confirm attendance
May 7-14—Second-round invitations extended to people on the waiting list
June 11-13—Google SketchUp 3D Basecamp 2008 in Mountain View, California

  --RSN