SolidWorks’ Regional Offices

During a discussion with Jon Hirschtick, while at SolidWorks World 2008 in San Diego, CA, I mentioned I was going to the Santa Monica / Los Angeles / Long Beach areas for a few days after the conference.  Upon hearing this, Jon recommended that I stop in and visit the SolidWorks Regional Office in Santa Monica, CA while I was in the area. So I did.

Upon arriving, I identified I was a SolidWorks customer and a SolidWorks blogger, and I would like to learn more about what goes on in one of these offices.  A short time later, a Sales Rep took me on a tour of the facility.  The Santa Monica office contains over 50 personnel in a space that they may soon be grow out of.  While I was there, many of the people were still in San Diego, attending meetings and packing up after the conference. 

Many people are aware that these SolidWorks Regional Offices contain Sales Representatives, Technicians, and additional personnel to support local SolidWorks Resellers (VAR’s) in each area, but many of these regional offices also contain personnel who develop and test SolidWorks products.  The Santa Monica office contains a team that develops and tests the COSMOS Analysis software that is used in SolidWorks. 

Because this visit was unannounced, I would like to thank Vinay Shetty, an Inside Sales Rep, for taking the time to show me around the office and answer a few questions I had.

SolidWorks World 2008 – Sunday

Even though Sunday is considered “Pre-Conference”, it was still a very busy day at the conference center. 

Greg Jankowski did a 4-hour marathon session called “CAD Manager’s Boot Camp”.  This is a must attend for all CAD, Engineering and IT Managers because it helps them get their heads around all of the issues for deploying and supporting SolidWorks and it’s add-ins.

CSWP and CSWA exams were also completed on Sunday.  This is where SolidWorks users could prove their experience and earn a certification.  This certification identifies their knowledge level and proficiency in designing products in SolidWorks.  There were 20 people earned their CSWP Certification while 30 people earned their CSWA Certification on Sunday.  Jeremy Luchini (Director of Certification) had explained theat “These numbers don’t accurately represent the talent of the attendees.”  I agree.  These numbers only represent the people who signed up and took the test at SolidWorks World in 2008.  There are hundreds of about 1000 users who have already earned their CSWP’s, that are in attendance at SolidWorks World, and I’m sure there are thousands of SolidWorks users who could easily earn this certification if they just sat down and took the test.

Sunday was also “Press Day”.  This was the first time that SolidWorks’ reserved 1 day just for the press in attendance at the conference, because the press asked for it.  Some of the things discussed were:

• The smooth transition from John McEleny to Jeff Ray as CEO of SolidWorks.
• SolidWorks’ executive tam doing customer visits to observe how the customer uses SolidWorks.
• The expansion of sharing of technologies between Dassault and SolidWorks.
• Products in the Product Showcase in the Vendor Pavilion.
• New advances in Rwanda.
• Focus to improve the performance, stability and ease of use of SolidWorks products.

Because of the many comments, a question was raised “Why did SolidWorks change the interface in 2008?”  The response was that due to all of the features in SolidWorks, the old interface was getting crowded.  The change also shows that the R&D Department at SolidWorks is not afraid to challenge themselves.

Marie Planchard (Director of Worldwide Education Marketing) presented information on SolidWork’s involvement in programs to get students (as early as middle school) interested in engineering field.  The press was also introduced to the VEXplorer robot by Revell, which includes a Student Edition of SolidWorks.

The press also sat in and listened to a panel consisting of the SolidWorks R&D team that discussed SolidWorks’ focus on performance, quality, user experience, lighter footprint and system architecture.

Just 3 more days to go!

Take the CSWP at SolidWorks World

You can register for, and take, the Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP) exam at SolidWorks World 2008 in San Diego.  To learn more, check out Jeremy Luchini's (Certification Program Manager) Podcast about the CSWA and CSWP exams.

Who are these guys?

Do you recognize any of these guys?

They are the panel for the Stump the Chumps session at SolidWorks World 2008.  For a little fun, while learning, be sure to stop in and check out Stump the Chumps session on Tuesday morning.

Can you guess which one is me?

Get ready for (and survive) SolidWorks World 2008?

SolidWorks World 2008 User Conference and Exposition will be the largest 3D CAD event in the world.  Here are a few tips to help you prepare for, and survive, SolidWorks World 2008.

TOP TIPS:

Wear comfortable shoes.  The San Diego Conference and Convention Center is a huge facility, this means you will be doing a lot of walking during this conference.  Wear the most comfortable shoes you have. There is no specific dress code for this event, but consider “Smart Casual” attire as appropriate.

Be ready for information overload from the content of the great technical presentations to the demonstrations in the vendor pavilion and the size and energy of what is SolidWorks World. You will be overloaded with information.  See my next tip.

Be smart when taking notes.  If you are registered for the full conference, you will be able to download most of the technical presentations, a month or two after the conference.  Because of this, you don’t need to take notes on everything that appears in the presentation slides.

Arrive early for the presentations because they tend to fill up fast.  If the room is already full, you may not be able to get in.  Pick alternate presentations ahead of time in case this happens.

Attend technical presentations on SolidWorks features you normally don’t use.  If you create a lot of “blocky” parts, go and see a presentation on surfacing or sheetmetal.  You never know when you may be able to use what you will see at these presentations.

Talk with other users at the “Birds of a Feather” lunches. This is a great way to meet others from your region, technical area, or SolidWorks interests.  This networking may lead to learning better ways get things done in SolidWorks, or lead you to additional resources that can help you in your job.

SolidWorks World is also a great place to meet users you talk with online, whether it is in the newsgroups, forums, or other emails.  If you want to meet with someone specific, make arrangements for meetings before you go to the conference.  At the conference, they will be as busy as you are, and they may be harder to find.  If they are giving a presentation, catch them at their presentation after they are done.

Meet with, and talk to, SolidWorks personnel.  They want to know that issues you, the users, are facing.  SolidWorks uses this information for developing product features and improvements.

Get involved by participating in SolidWorks surveys.  SolidWorks Corporation uses the information from these surveys to improve the SolidWorks software, the SolidWorks Community, and SolidWorks Corporation. You may even get a free gift for participating. 

If you have to support SolidWorks installations, or other people using SolidWorks, attend the CAD Managers Boot Camp on Sunday afternoon.  There is a lot of information in this session that you need to know, and this boot camp pulls it all together in one place.

Check out the Countdown to SolidWorks World Podcasts and other Blogs to get an idea on what to expect at SolidWorks World.

OTHER TIPS:

Have fun at the off-site party on Tuesday night!  This is a great place to meet up with some friends and have a good time.

If you are planning a vacation in conjunction with SolidWorks World, do it the weekend before the conference so you can enjoy the vacation, and relax (somewhat) during the conference.  The SolidWorks World website has many links to attractions you can see while you are in the San Diego area.

Paper notebook, PDA or TouchTablet PC?  Which one is better?  I have tried the PDA a few times and found that I was losing time trying to find the specific info I need at that moment.  I am not very good at entering in notes using shorthand.  There is also the issue of the weight of the Laptop/Notebook/TouchTablet PC.  Because of a concern about battery lifetime, I still needed a paper notebook anyway.  This year, I’m trying something new.  I picked up a 5x7 (a size that fits in my pocket) spiral notebook.  I removed the spiral and printed out my agenda and other specific notes I will need on a few of the pages of this notebook.  I then reassembled the notebook and the spiral.  This gives me a quick reference guide to where I need to go and what I need to do.  I’ll let you know how it works for me after the conference.

Looking for me? I will be doing 2 presentations (SolidWorks API on Monday morning and Design Tables on Tuesday afternoon) and I will be on the Stump the Chumps (Tuesday morning) panel.  Check out the conference agenda for room the location and times.

Good Luck, have fun, and I hope to see you there!  It's going to be a great time for everyone!

SolidWorks crosses the country to bring SolidWorks World 2008 to its users.

It’s early January 2008, and that means that the Annual SolidWorks World User Conference and Exhibition is right around the corner, and 2008 is the 10th year of this event. 

This year, SolidWorks Corporation crosses the country to bring SolidWorks World to America’s west coast, specifically, San Diego, CA.

With over 4000 people expected to be in attendance, this event is shaping up to be the single largest 3D CAD event in the world. 

I had intended on listing the many things you can experience at this conference, but Mike Puckett has already them on his blog.  If you want to know what to expect, go and check out Mike’s blog.

Stump The Chumps Podcast “On the Loose”

Who are these guys?  Go to the podcasts page on the SolidWorks World 2008 website and find out.

This group of “Chumps” (myself included) will be doing an “Ask the Experts” session at SolidWorks, in a different and “humorous” format, where the audience has the chance to “Stump the Chumps” and win a prize.

SolidWorks World All Stars.

SolidWorks World 2008 is about 1 month away.  If you are looking for reasons to go to SolidWorks World, check out Mike Pucket’s blog where he is running down his top 20 reasons to attend.  Most recently, he has posted a list of “SolidWorks All Stars”.  It’s always worth your time to listen to these presenters.  Richard Doyle has added his favorites to the “SolidWorks All Star’s” list.  From the “All Stars” list, my favorites are Cummins, Eaton, Jankowski, Lama, Lombard, Tiffany, Sluder.

But, don’t ignore the rest!

There are many other presenters that are worth listening to such as Vince Adams, Michael Craffey, Adrian Fanjoy, Gerald Davis, Avelino Rochino, Rob Rodriguez, Jeff Setzer.  I have heard presentations from each of these people, and I personally know they are highly knowledgeable in the fields they are presenting.

There are many more presenters that are will be presenting at SolidWorks World 2008.  When looking at the agenda, take the time to read the abstract to get an preview of the presentation, and the bio and the background of the presenter.

I am not on any of these lists, primarily because January, 2008 will be the first time I will be presenting at SolidWorks World, where I will be doing the presentations SolidWorks API Demystified and Design Tables Demystified.  If you are curious, you can download previews (pdf’s) of these presentations from the Presentations page of my website.

I hope to see you in January.

SolidWorks World Podcasts Online Now!

SolidWorks is at it again!  SolidWorks is putting together a series of podcasts to give attendees a taste of what to expect when they attend SolidWorks World 2008 on January 20th - 23rd in San Diego California..  In these podcasts, you will hear about some of the presentations that will be given, and what brings attendees back each year.  You can play these podcasts online or download them so you can listen to them at anytime.

SolidWorks World 2008 Agenda

In the past few weeks, SolidWorks Corporation has made a few announcements for SolidWorks World 2008 in San Diego, CA.  A few notables are:

Keynote speakers
• Jeff Ray, CEO, SolidWorks Corporation,
• Dr. Don Norman, author, “Emotional Design”
• Dr. Bob Ballard, Founder and President, Institute For Exploration of the Sea Research Foundation in Mystic; Director, Center for Marine Exploration at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Agenda Overview
• Expo hours
• Show hours
• Tuesday’s Special Event
• CSWP & CSWA Certification schedule.

If you are still unsure what goes on at SolidWorks World 2008, check out the highlights video from the 2007 event.