presentation Archives - SolidWorks Legion

SolidWorks World 2013: Monday, Day 1 (my presentation oops)

There were a lot of exciting announcements at day 1 of SolidWorks World 2013. Two product announcements included My.SolidWorks.com (now in Beta) and the impending Mechanical Conceptual. These are already be very well covered by many other sources, so I’m not going into detail about them yet. If you would like more detail about these, the general session is viewable on SolidWorks Blog right now.

The surprize guests were Art Thompson & Jon Wells, engineers that worked on the Red Bull Srtatos jump. Every time I see that video of Felix Baumgartner jumping out of the capsule, I cringe. Thompson talked about project planning was several years to prepare.

My breakout session, Create “Super” Drawing Templates, didn’t go as planned. The power went out twice at the podium, (once at the start, and once while I was presenting). It is really hard to perform a software demonstration without power to your computer, projectors and microphone. I quickly recovered by turning the format into a question and answer advice and information session while the technicians worked to fix the problem. Eventually, I did get power back and continued the presentation. I was happy to have several attendees tell me later I did a great job adjusting to the abrupt interruption of my presentation. Even though I didn’t get to finish my presentation, I hope everyone left with enough information to find some benefit in what was shown.

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

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.

My road to becoming a presenter at SolidWorks World

I have now been to four SolidWorks World conferences. My first was in 2008. As with most attendees, my first time was overwelming. So much information is packed into such a short time frame. There are three general sessions and up to 11 opportunities to learn in breakout sessions.

The real value in SolidWorks World are those breakout sessions. Nowhere else is it possible to learn from first hand interaction about so many different SolidWorks related topics in one place. Yet, the topics aren’t just about SolidWorks itself. One of the most helpful sessions I’ve attended was about how CAD can work within an FDA regulated environment.

This inspired me. I wanted to present my own breakout sessions to share my knowledge. What could I talk about? Well, I know drawings very well. In 2008, I submitted my first presentation proposal on drawings for SolidWorks World 2009. It was rejected.

In the meantime, I started presenting locally at the SolidWorks User Group meetings. I did two presentations (written about here and here) that covered SolidWorks World 2008 at the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group and the Silicon Valley SolidWorks User Group.

I also started presenting at the SolidWorks User Group Network Technical Summits. In Los Angeles, CA in 2008, I gave a presentation on advanced drawing tips and tricks. In San Jose, CA in 2010, I gave another well received presentation on advanced SolidWorks customization techniques. If someone cannot make it to SolidWorks World, I recommend attending a Technical Summit when is in their area.

I didn’t submit any breakout session proposals for SolidWorks World 2010. It turns out that I ended up being a co-presenter of sorts for the Stump the Chumps II breakout session. Jeff Mirisola organized this presentation. My role was small, but this was my debut on a breakout session stage at SolidWorks World.

I was again inspired to submit my own breakout session proposals for SolidWorks World 2011. To my delight, both of my proposals were accepted. However, I soon realized that my time would be limited again. I had to make the hard decision to withdraw one of my proposals. This allowed me to focus on making sure my one presentation was high quality. My presentation was Establishing CAD standards within a SolidWorks Environment, written about here. (I’ll talk more about the content of my presentation at a later time.)

My presentation was well received. I was approached by many individuals over the next two days at SolidWorks World 2011 to thank me for the presentation. This was an unexpected bonus that made the whole endeavour very rewarding. I’ve given back to the same community that has benefited my growth so much. I hope that I will be able to give two presentations at SolidWorks World 2012!

Breakout Sessions at SolidWorks World 2011

Because of my concerted effort to keep my schedule under control, my experience at SolidWorks World 2011 was a little more sane. I was able to make more time for breakout sessions.

I enjoyed the informal format of Devon Sowell’s presentation, Demonstrating Workgroup PDM to Enterprise PDM Migration. In his session, he involved the audience in the discussion. Questions from the audience where frequently fielded, along with suggestions and ideas. The presentation talked about utilities that simplify the migration process, including one that is only available from a VAR.

Other sessions I attended include information on VB.NET programming, ASME Y14.5-2009, and other PDM topics.

I also encountered a couple of breakout sessions by individuals that did not seem as prepared as they should’ve been. There seems to always be some sessions like this each year at SolidWorks World, unfortunately. Of course, it’s not completely unavoidable. Sometimes things just don’t seem to work during the presentation, even if they did work flawlessly during practices.

Overall, I had a fruitful experience at this year’s SolidWorks World. I’ll talk a bit about my own presentation in a later article.

SolidWorks World 2010: Call for Papers

SolidWorks World wouldn’t be the same without the Breakout Sessions and their presenters. Each year, there is a call for papers. T his is where anyone with experience in a particular topic can propose a presentation as a speaker. N ot everyone who submits a paper will have their presentation accepted. H owever, you never know.

Topics of interest this year are as follows:

CAD Administration

Data Management

Team Data Management
Enterprise Data Management
Personal File Management

Design Automation

General
API
Design Tables

Design Communication

General
eDrawings
Rendering
Animations
3DVIA Composer

Design Validation

General
Mechatronics
Structural Analysis
Flow Analysis
Advanced Analysis
Tolerance Analysis
Sustainability

Education

Modeling Essentials

General
Managing Large Assemblies
Mold/Tool/Die
Sheetmetal
Surfacing
Sketching
Weldments
Working with SolidWorks Drawings
Mechanism Design

Productivity Tools

General
Routing, Piping, Harnessing
ECAD to MCAD
Hardware and 3D Content
Data Translation
Design Standards

Customer Success/Designing Better Products

Two types of speaking opportunities exist:

Breakout Session speakers (for sessions that last from 60 to 90 minutes) – must have experience presenting technical information effectively, providing interesting, original, and informative content.

Hands-On Breakout Sessions (for sessions that last from 60 to 90 minutes) – Hands-On sessions entail presenting to no more than a maximum of 30 attendees who will each have use of their own computer. Hands-On simply means that attendees will have the ability to follow along and actually “do” what the presenter does, so they have a “hands-on” experience in the session. The presenter must have experience presenting technical information effectively, providing interesting, original and informative content. Hands-on sessions require a second speaker to act as a guide to keep the class up-to-speed with the pace.

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

[moved from comments to its own posting]

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

That is the sound of actually completing my preperation for 2 break out sessions for SolidWorks World 2008. I hope that all attendees will not only learn but will have a lot of fun.

Also, feel free to let me know if I am cracked.

Anyhow, my presentations are :
1. Teaching GD&T using the power of SolidWorks.
The goal is for instructors and corporate trainers to use SolidWorks and all of its glory to help clarify what GD&T is and how it is applied. Eventually I will be submitting course wear to SolidWorks EDU for all instructors to use and this will be included.
2. Making life simpiler with Design tables (Formerly Design Tables Paris Hilton could do).
This is a unique presentation where we will look into “Company X” (I used to work there) and see how design tables could simplify their lives in their product design. Another added bonus for this presentation is one of “Company X’s” lead designers helped me out with this and will be helping me out.

All in all – SWW2008 looks to be like a fantastic event. I hope that I get a chance to finally meet some of the BLOG community over a beer or 2 or.

Until then – Have a great week.