Hi, I'm Matt, and I work for SolidWorks

I've moved!

For those of you who may not have noticed, I got the SolidWorks blog back up and running, and I'm posting over there now. Go take a look!

And the SolidWorks World Mystery Guest is...

Sir Richard Branson.

 

Congratulations to Ricky Jordan, who was the first person to guess Sir Richard correctly. I'm personally a big fan of Mr. Branson, and I tell anyone who will listen about how I think Virgin Atlantic is the best airline in the world.

He'll be speaking in the general session on Feb. 9, 2009, which begins at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Here's a bit more info from his official bio:

Richard Branson is founder of the Virgin Group, consisting of more than 200 companies employing over 50,000 people in 30 countries and recording more than $20 billion in 2006 revenues. An entrepreneur since the age of 17, Branson has built a variety of brands into global successes. From record stores to airlines and mobile phone service providers, the Virgin brand epitomizes market leadership, elite customer service, and widespread customer loyalty.

And a few more links you might be interested in:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Group 

http://www.solidworks.com/world09 

 

 

#SWW09 Twitter widget

OK, so I I think this works. What we have here is a widget you can put on your site that will display Twitter posts that include the #SWW09 hashtag.You can embed it on your own site if you're interested. Just click on the link that says "Get this."

Guess who the guest speaker at SolidWorks World will be

So I know who the special guest at SolidWorks World 2009 is going to be. And you don't. At least, not yet.

But you will soon.

Yep, this year we're doing something different. Rather than making it a big surprise, we're going to let you know who the guest speaker is in advance.

So here's what I'll do. If you're the first person to guess correctly between now and the time we announce it, I'll send you something nice. Post your guess in the comments section. Maybe you'll get lucky.

Here's a hint: The person is on this list

Are you interested in learning about social computing at SolidWorks World?

Last week, someone posted a question on Twitter asking why I wasn't doing a session on social media/social computing at SolidWorks World 2009. Now as far as I know, everything at SWW except for the general sessions are 100% technical, I and I really wonder if anyone would really be interested in attending something like this. If I were to try for something, it would probably be an overview of some of the different spaces out there, and an explanation of how each can help the average SolidWorks user be more productive in his/her job.

So tell me, is this something you'd be interested in attending, or something your coworkers might be interested in? (Matt Lombard noted that I may be reaching to the converted somewhat by posting this question on a blog.) If I get enough positive responses, I'll look into setting something up.

Free SolidWorks SimulationXpress online training

As I'm sure most of you are already aware, every seat of SolidWorks includes SimulationXpress, formerly known as COSMOSXpress. It can provide basic analysis functionality for those of you who don't use FEA tools regularly, or who aren't ready to upgrade to the Pro or Premium versions yet.

In any event, I've heard a lot of people say that they don't really know how to use the analysis tools, or that they're not sure what's important and what's not. Like they say, garbage in...

Evidently some other folks around here have heard the same things, because SolidWorks has teamed up with the SolidProfessor team to create this free online training seminar. Take a look and see what you think.

Who do you want to see at SolidWorks World?

What do Steve Wozniak, Orange County Choppers, Leonard Nimoy and The Myth Busters guys all have in common? They've all appeared as special guests at SolidWorks World. As many of you probably know, SolidWorks World 2009 is taking place in Orlando this coming February, and our events team wants to know who you want to see. No idea is too out there. So who do you want? Stephen Hawking? Lindsay Lohan? William Gibson? Keith Richards?

Leave a comment and le me know.

OK, so I know this is just a bit after the fact...

Who would have guessed that trying to cram all kinds of activities into one event would mean that I'd have zero time to update this like I promised. And then, who would have guessed that I'd be so busy afterward that it would be three weeks before I could finally get around to it.

In any event, sorry. But to make up for it, I thought I'd let everyone know that I posted a lot of video clips to YouTube last week. You can all of the major presentations from Jeff Ray, Bernard Charles, and others on the SolidWorks channel. I know I also promised pictures for Flickr, but to be completely honest, the agenda kept us all so busy that there wasn't a lot of time for picture taking. And both of the evening events were so dark that what video I was able to capture looks grainy and somewhat horroshowesque. But que sera sera and all that. Take a look and what I managed to get--you might find something interesting.

On the topic, if anyone out there has anything they'd like to send me to put on the SolidWorks YouTube or Flickr sites, let me know. Could be a good way to get your name out there.

Anyway, I'll try to get into the habit of writing on this thing more often. Promise.

Here are a few other things I managed to dig up.

Checking in from Barcelona

Hi everyone. I'm here with Josh, Mike, Jason, Brian, Devon, Matt and Gabi at the press event in Barcelona. Right now I'm recording everything as it happens, so check in later today for lots of videos, including some from the press dinner last night atop Mont Juic. For now, I'll leave you with a picture of Josh.

Next stop...Barcelona!

OK, so summer is over, the new website is up, SolidWorks 2009 has been officially launched, and I've finished my presentation for the marketing conference on Monday. That means there's only one more thing standing between now and getting a few moments to breathe.

Many of you already know about this, but I'm guessing a lot of you probably don't. On September 18 and 19, we're packing up shop and heading across the pond (does that still count if we're not going to the UK?) to Spain, where we'll be conducting our annual press event. This gives the "traditional" media a chance to see the new software up close, get interviews with internal staff, and generally find out what's going on with the company. And this year, that's happening in Barcelona, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

One of the more interesting things about the event will be the inclusion of some of your favorite SolidWorks bloggers at the event. These guys (and girls) will be there to provide a real-world user perspective, and will be reporting back to you from their own individual blogs. And I'm guessing there will be plenty of Twitter activity too. But no Plurk. Please, no Plurk.

But here's something else you might not have guessed. I'll be there too. Complete with camera and computer. Ever wonder what might happen when Mike Puckett and Matt Lombard sit down and drink beer together? Well, you just might get to find out next week. Will Josh geek out and blog the whole time? If he does, I'll get it on...memory card. Will I post it? Probably not. I mean, really...who wants to watch a guy sit there with his nose in a computer typing? Maybe if he does it while Mike and Matt drink beer behind him. But I digress. Look for lots ot pretty pictures and interesting videos to show up here, and on Flickr, and on YouTube. That's right, we're finally going to put up some new stuff.

So stay tuned for updates. And if you're curious, here's the place where the event is taking place, the Hotel AB Skipper.