Category: SWW12

SolidWorks World 2012 Top Ten Voting is in full swing!

The annual vote for the top ten requested enhancements for SolidWorks World 2012 is in full swing right now.   The format for this year’s Top Ten changed from previous years.  Last year, some ideas didn’t get noticed if they were submitted late in the process.  As a result, they received fewer votes, not because they weren’t desired, but because they didn’t have as long as other ideas to gather votes.

For SolidWorks World 2012, the system is more fair.  All ideas where submitted prior to voting.  On January 3, 2012, voting was opened.  So far, the response has been great, with some surprizes.  If you haven’t done so since the 3rd and you have an active subscription, check out this year’s Top Ten list, and place your thumbs-up or thumps-down for new functions that you’d like to see added to SolidWorks.  It doesn’t take too long to go through the list, so I would actually encourage anyone to vote on as many items as is practical.

SolidWorks World 2012 just a month away

Breakout Sessions

SolidWorks World 2012 is only a month away!  It’s already shaping up to be a great convention!  The breakout sessions schedule is filled with great topics.  These are a small sample of what is on the schedule as of January 1, 2012 (schedule is subject to change):

  • IAW ASME Y14.5 – Use It Only if You Know It by Rustin Webster, to provide “fundamental rules for creating drawings with IAW ASME 14.5M standards.”
  • Advanced Sheet Metal Techniques by Jeff Parker, to teach “advanced techniques to create complicated, functional sheetmetal parts and, explore what types of parts can be flattened.”
  • EPDM – Enabling Data Exchange Between SolidWorks and SAP/ERP by Kyle Kraudy, to demonstrate a solution for “data exchange between SolidWorks Enterprise PDM and SAP.”
  • Advanced Weldment Techniques – In Large Scale Live Theater by Ange Horst, to “discover how a live theater production takes shape through SolidWorks.”
  • Utilizing Mold Tools and Other Techniques for Better Mold Design by Andy Hall, to “learn how to use the automated mold tools for your molded parts”
  • Better, Faster Sketching by Tyler Beck, to “learn a common sense approach to proper sketching and troubleshooting.”

Session catagories

The general topics covered by Breakout and Hands-on sessions include a wide variety of areas.

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Ontario SolidWorks User Group meeting, mid Dec 2011

Some would say that travelling to Ontario in December is foolish.  It is wet, snowy and very cold.  Well, call me a fool.  I visited Toronto to present at the December meeting of the Ontario SolidWorks User Group.  It was cold, but not much different from Massachusetts.  It was a little rainy, again no difference from where I live.  No snow!  This time of year should’ve been nothing but snow everywhere.  Then again, Massachusetts also had not snow at that time.  Maybe I’m not so foolish afterall.

I presented on Advanced SolidWorks Customization Techniques.  This is a preview version of what I will be presenting at SolidWorks World 2012.  This is a presentation similar to one given a few years before at a SWUGN Technical Summit, now updated for SolidWorks 2012.

Several discoveries were learned on this trip.  I discovered the locals believe that Toronto has the “worst traffic in North America”.  That’s an arguable yet still valid assessment.  Rain, no matter how slight, makes the traffic unbearable.  And, even with reduced crowds due to rain, a SolidWorks Employee can draw people from miles (er, kilometers) around to a SolidWorks User Group meeting.  Oh, and one more thing.

This is Canadian Slice Pizza: bacon, pepporini,  mushroom, and of course, cheeze.  It’s apparently normal to serve it on a corrugated paperboard as a stand-in for a plate.

Yes, it’s called “Canadian” in Canada.  Quite tasty, and it is a combination of toppings that I’m not quite so unfamilar with.  Thank you to Chris White for organizing this event and to everyone who attended!

 

SolidWorks World 2012 is on Valentine’s Day (luvification letter included)

Heart

The following humorous article has been re-posted closer to SolidWorks World 2012 as requested by several individuals.  Use in good health and good luck!

Yes, it is true. SolidWorks World 2012 will be from February 13-15, 2012. It’s on Valentine’s Day! Maybe SolidWorks Corp is trying to schedule the event around other major conferences in southern California? Maybe someone didn’t think about the fact that many of us not only have to get approval from our boss at work, but now we have to get special approval from our boss at home?

Well, SolidWorks Corp has decided to help out. They created a new justification, or luvification, letter to help potential SolidWorks World 2012 attendees get approval from their spouses to be away on Valentine’s Day.

From their new weblink:

DS SolidWorks Corporation understands that SolidWorks World 2012 will fall on Valentines Day in 2012.  Unfortunately, scheduling around other major events in southern California, such as the MD&M show, requires us to push our conference into mid-February next year.  We are sympathetic to the many spouses that may be away from their loved-ones on Valentines Day.  This justification, or luvification, letter was written to aid in getting spousal approval for attending SolidWorks World 2012.

SolidWorks World Luvification Letter

Dear madam or sir,

I am writing to you [spouse’s name here], who I love, to request permission to attend the SolidWorks World 2012.  It is highly important that I attend this significant event because I believe the conference’s opportunities for technical training and networking with SolidWorks users worldwide can help me accelerate my career.  In turn, that will help me bring home more bacon (and other such required groceries).

Don’t worry about me enjoying myself.  I’ll be too busy with more than 150 technical training sessions and three long General Sessions.  Then there’s the Special Event where I will congregate with other individuals who are missing their spouses.  Yes, dear, I will miss you something fierce.  The pain and agony of being away from you on Valentines Day will not be bareable.  Therefore, the very next weekend, I’m taking you on a very special trip to [insert appropriate location and activities here] without the kids.

Thank you in advance for your consideration, and please let me know if you need additional information on specific conference opportunities and activities. I look forward to your positive response to my request.

With great love,

[insert your pitiful name here]

I originally posted this “luvification letter” in the SolidWorks Forum.  And in case someone missed it, this is a joke. 🙂

 

SolidWorks World 2012 – submit Abstract for your presentation idea

If you feel that you have a good information to share about a particular SolidWorks related topic, then perhaps it is time to consider giving a presentation at SolidWorks World 2012.  The perk for presenters is that you get a free Full Conference Pass (saves you just under a $1000 or so).   Your presentation idea doesn’t have to be a topic that is specifically about SolidWorks products.  It may be that you can talk about something that can help SolidWorks users in a particular area of their role within their company.  For example, I gave a well received presentation at SolidWorks World 2011 on Establishing CAD standards within a SolidWorks environment (also, see the article My road to becoming a presenter at SolidWorks World).  I’m certainly not the most polished speaker in the world, country, state, county, town or even on my block.  You don’t have to be great at public speaking (though it may help).  As long as you know your material, attendees will appreciate learning from your time and effort.

Although all topics will be equally considered, there is a special interest in Drawing presentations this year.  If you have good information to share about general tips and tricks, templates/sheet formats, using drawings in PDM, drawings basics, leveraging model data, ISO and ASME standards, etc, the SolidWorks team would love to see your submission for a presentation!  For example, at SolidWorks World 2011, there was an excellent presentation on the ASME Y14.5 drafting standard.

Of course, there are many other topics to cover! 

  • CAD Administration
  • Data Management
  • Design Automation
  • Design Communication
  • Design Validation
  • Education
  • Modeling Essentials
  • Productivity Tools
  • Customer Success

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    In fact, customer success presentations are great because they usually provide real world examples of how SolidWorks functionality was leveraged to speed up their design process.  These can be useful to other users and companies, often in other industries!

    If you are not interested in being a presenter, the excellent variety of presentations at SolidWorks World is a great way to expand your knowledge and connect with others in industry.

        

    Bertrand Sicot makes progress to CSWP

    During an event at SolidWorks World 2011, Bertrand Sicot, new CEO of SolidWorks Corp, made a declaration that he would earn his CSWP status by SolidWorks World 2012 (February 13, 2012) .  He recently posted on update on his progress on the SolidWorks Blog.  I cannot do justice to Sicot’s own great words by restating them here, so I invite you to read his article without any further introduction.