One advantage to arriving at SolidWorks World on Sunday is the short lines for registration. I will dutifully document the lines tomorrow to establish a contrast.Â
Granted, there is no free breakfast or lunch, but registration is open until 7:00PM, so arriving in the afternoon or evening will actually save time and let one rest up for the full day of activities on Monday.
There are officially four days for SolidWorks World 2009, Sunday through Monday; though, sometimes Sunday is sort of considered a pre-day even though its called “Day 1“.  However, activity begins even before Sunday. I guess Saturday can be called the pre-preday.
Saturday fun
My Saturday was mostly spent flying from San Jose, CA to Orlando, FL, with a layover. I met up with Alex the SolidWorks Geek in our Houston stop.  This is his first, and my second SolidWorks World. We made it to the Swan & Dolphin resort in Orlando just in time to catch the tail-end of a secret meeting. After that, many of us Twitters converged at the lobby bar for some drinks for a tweetup. It was great meeting up with a lot of the bloggers and consummate SolidWorks users from around the country.
Sunday so far
So, Saturday was indeed a very long day. Though I prolly should have a hang-over right now, I don’t (never really get those). My Sunday started bright and early with attendance to some focus groups for SolidWorks sheet metal functionality at 8:30AM and drawings at 10:00AM.  These are sessions where SolidWorks users from various industries meet up with SolidWorks employees in face to face open discussions. The fact that these sessions happen is a sure sign that (despite the appearance otherwise sometimes) SolidWorks does put forth significant effort to improve their software based on customer input. These focus groups are good because users give first hand accounts about how they are using the software, including their likes, like-to-haves, frustrations and such. I may go into specific details about these focus groups later.
It’s lunch time now. I hunger.
I’ve been using SolidWorks since 1998. The first SolidWorks World I attended was 2008, almost ten years later. The second SolidWorks World I will attend is 2009. I had hoped to leverage my trip to Florida to get some vacation after the convention. However, this was not meant to be. I wanted to plan for short vacation afterwards because I knew I’d have very little time during SolidWorks World 2009. I didn’t know exactly what I’d be busy with; I just know I’d be busy. Well, as the event nears, I’m starting to get a handle on just what all I’ll be doing. Since I’m going as a member of the Press this year, there are a couple extra events tacked on to my calendar. Additionally, I’m now aware of a couple of events for attending bloggers. I had originally hoped to present a break out session this year, but I’m now kinda glad I didn’t get picked up for that this time. Maybe next year.
When planning for this event, I noticed that flights are cheap right now. Since I’m paying for my own flight this year, this is good.  Who knows how long that is going to last. It is great to be able to fly across country on a round trip for under $250. Though I’m not able to vacation in Florida this year, that price makes other trips fairly attractive when the timing is right.
So, this trip isn’t for non-SolidWorks related fun. No late nights out on the town. No trip to Miami. No Universal Studios – Orlando. No lazy days on the beach. No tours through the Everglades. It’s all SolidWorks this, and SolidWorks that. It’s enough to get a feeling creep up on you; the kind where you think you are working for SolidWorks when you really aren’t.Â
SolidWorks World 2009 is something to look forward too. No matter how much of a know-it-all someone might be on the topic of SolidWorks, there is always something new to learn. (Even the presenters themselves learn during their presentations.) I hope to meet as many people as I can this year. I know I’ve been notorious for not carrying business cards. I promise to have plenty for this event! See you there!
If interested, I encourage everyone to check out the SolidWorks World 2009 website. Included are details about SolidWorks World 2009 (SWW09), of course. Yes, it’s that time of year already. Time flies by, doesn’t it? The first announcement of Breakout Sessions and Hands-on Sessions is now available for viewing too. This is useful for planning attendance and maybe even in justifying the trip to one’s boss.
As usual, there are diverse topics covering the basics to advanced ideas, and the abstract to the very specific. There is already a large selection to choose from. Here’s the list of the categories.
 |
CAD Administration |
 |
Data Management |
 |
Design Automation |
 |
Design Validation |
 |
Education |
 |
Modeling Essentials |
 |
Productivity Tools |
 |
Customer Success/Designing Better Products |
 |
Tips and Tricks |
 |
Design Communication |
And, here’s a quick snap shot of just a few of the actual sessions:
From the looks of what scheduled so far, this promises to be a very educational conference.
