SolidWorks World 2012 prelude (after the fact)

With my new role at SolidWorks, my time at SolidWorks World 2012 was spent working.  As such, my hobbie (this website), was not updated during the conference.  I had hoped for a chance to post at least a couple of updates during the conference.

I wasn’t fully out of commission though.  There are many tweets and flickr updates from me during the conference.  Though I made a few Facebook updates, most of these where via Twitter; so it almost goes without saying that Google+ didn’t get updated.

Also, I forget my camera, so all of my photos where with my phone.  Fortunately, its camera isn’t half bad.

More to come.

 

SolidWorks World 2012 comes to a smartphone near you

SolidWorks World 2012 has several high quality applications for various devices.  SolidWorks World 2012 is available for the iPhone and the iPad on the iTunes store, and for Android devices on the Android Market.  (At SolidWorks World 2011, the mobile application was only available for the iPhone.)  The 2012 version is loaded with practically all the information you’ll need to navigate the conference.

  • Full conference schedule
  • Log on to your SolidWorks World 2012 attendee account
  • All sessions, including descriptions, maps of how to get to the assigned room, link to speaker’s bio, and the ability to add the session to your agenda
  • All speakers and their bios
  • Floor maps for each level
  • Partner Pavilion directory, map, and other information
  • General conference information, such as overview, hours, food, and special event
  • Location of important points of interest
  • Info about Dassault Systemes, including information other mobile applications

Additionally, there are links to SolidWorks related accounts on Twitter (tweet updates on the #sww12 hashtag), Facebook (SolidWorks World page, [not the SWW12 page]), Flickr (SolidWorks photostream including SolidWorks World 2012 group with uploaded photos by SolidWorks and attendees) and Youtube (SolidWorks related videos).

As a bonus, there’s a feature to scan QR codes of badges from other attendees to start building your contact list.

Smartphone and laptop strategy at SolidWorks World 2012

Power

SolidWorks World is a big event with thousands of attendees.  Due to the rise of mobile electronic devices in the past few years, an interesting problem as arisen.  On a normal day, your smartphone’s battery charge may last a day or two without any worries.  However, no day at SolidWorks World is normal.  Even on the most battery efficient devices, you are likely to need power to recharge at some point during the day.  With 2012, this need is even more obvious with the new and highly useful SolidWorks World 2012 mobile application, in addition to other mainstays like social media, calendering, phone calls to your associates and other attendees you plan to meet, etc.

My personal advice is to always have a spare battery on hand, whether you are using a laptop, smartphone, other mobile devices, or any combination thereof.  Also, scope out power outlets wherever you happen to be.  This applies while you are at the conference, and more so also after hours while you are out and about and when your device is most likely to be low on power.  If you have a smartphone and a laptop, you may be able to charge your phone from the laptop via the normal USB connection.  Finally, the most obvious thing of all, don’t forget any of the charging cables.  Make sure they are on your checklist!

Wifi

Another growing need is connectivity via wifi.  Those of us with smartphones may not be as tethered.  However, don’t rely on cellphone carrier signal for data connections while inside of the conference center.  Even an Andriod on a free data plan may need to switch over to wifi to access the Internet at some point.  SolidWorks provides several wifi hotspots throughout the conference center.

Regardless to the type of device you use, scope out the locations of these hotspots a head of time so you aren’t left without data connection at an inconvenient moment.  Even still, there will be many other people accessing the wifi at the same time, so please avoid downloading big files or streaming videos.  I personally recommend hitting the hotspots for specific connectivity needs, then quickly moving on.

Good luck and I hope to see you at SolidWorks World next week!

The author of this article is an employee of Dassault Systemes.  However, the material of this article is not representative of Dassault Systemes, nor is it reviewed by them.  Please see the FTC notice in the right side bar of this webpage for further details.

Some New Macros to tangle with

Recently I posted some new SolidWorks macro at Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources which you would like to try and might find useful for your day to day use.

Here are brief details on the macros:

Send Email via SolidWorks : Macro to send email with assembly name in subject.

Save and Open as PDF:  Macro to save active file as PDF in the same location and open the created PDF file

Hide Show Note : Macro to hide or show note in the active drawing.

There are more useful macros and stuff at Lorono’s SolidWorks Resources and I’ll be adding more similar macro there, so keep watching.