Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group First Meeting (Part I)

Wednesday evening, I had the great privilege of attending the first meeting of the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group, in Pleasanton, CA. This was a first for me, and a very enjoyable experience to say the least. I arrived early, way before many of the other users. Being as bashful as I am,  I must confess that I was a bit nervous, but I felt much better after introducing myself to Kenneth Barrentine (our fearless leader) and my fellow blogger, Matt Lorono, who came to the meeting to talk to us a bit about SolidWorks World 2008 and, together with Kenneth, to offer the group a few tips and tricks that will allow us to use the software in a more efficient way.

So, after signing up, making some short conversation with other attendees, and enjoying a slice of pizza, we listened to the special guest, Vic Leventhal, Group Executive from Dassault Systemes, as he told us about the ( often unknown and many times hilarious) history of SolidWorks. This part I enjoyed tremendously! I don’t know why. I guess I find great pleasure in learning about how huge companies got started from humble beginnings, about their struggles and even about their lucky coincidences. Some stories are so amazing that they almost seem like taken from that movie, Forrest Gump, where the guy happened to be in the right places at the right time all throughout his life!

Anyway, I took my camera with me and filmed for a while, until I ran out of battery (nobody is perfect!). There was so much more going on at that first meeting and I’ll tell you about it, but I also wanted to share part of what Vic Leventhal said at the meeting, so I put together a couple of videos, and well, I hope you’ll enjoy  listening to this guy as much as I did. I apologize in advance for the crappy resolution and for  all the times it seems I was FUI (filming under the influence), because the image moves so much. Next time, I shall take a tripod with me. I'm really not good at making videos. I guess it's a good thing that I'm not trying to make a living as a journalist or video producer, otherwise I would starve to death. OK, so here goes the first part...

And here you got the second part...

Comments

[matt]

Hey Gabi,

Thanks for posting the stuff with Vic, some of that stuff was news to me!

[Gabi]

Thanks for the comment, Matt! I just loved the part when he mentioned that AutoDesk tried to buy the company and wouldn't pay more than 38 millions for it. This shows you never know what the future holds... :-)