I Missed The SolidWorks Boston Summit

What was the SW Boston Summit?

Dev> Yesterday my first flight from Carlsbad, CA to LAX was over an hour late; do

Let me take this opportunity to tell EVERYONE here that the SWUGN committee is sponsoring several Summits around the country this year with the purpose of providing top-notch learning in a regional event setting. I am finding that people in this area had not heard anything about them, and so therefore this message. Pass the word.

WT

Wayne,

I am one of those people that had not heard anything about them. Sounds great. It reads like it will be packed full of information. So much so, that it seams like it should be a 2 day event.... There is one scheduled near me in a couple of months. I am going to try to get to that one....

I couldn't find on the website, is pre-registration required? If so, by when?

Also, The one scheduled near me is in September (Charlotte). My Septembers are usually VERY busy. If I register and then find out I can't make it, is there a way to get my money back if I cancel by a certain time?

I have never been involved with a users group since there is not one very close to me. I was approached some time back (by whom I can't remember) about getting me to start one in my area. Couldn't commit to the time then, or now. But, where do I go to find out if a group has been started locally? I looked in the SWUGN user group directory and none were listed. But, none were even listed in my state. I am pretty sure at least one exists. So, I figure that this is not a complete listing.

The one-day events are using a dual track schedule - one track for core functionality sessions (drawings, sheet metal, assemblies) and one for "specialty" subjects like PhotoWorks, Animator, and PDMWorks. Many companies are sending two or more users to cover the whole day.

- click on the SWUGN Special Events tab.

Did you find it then?

The official policy is no refunds once you register. It's okay to wait until the last minute if you aren't sure. Registration for each event ends about 12 hours before it begins.

Might have been me, I can spot a good user group leader from a mile away. Where exaclty are you? If you're in the Charlotte area, there is a user group there:

The listing on the SWUGN site is complete, and is updated regularly. We had 27 new groups added in 2005, and we''re on our way to passing that mark this year.

For more informaion, you can contact your regional SWUGN rep, or email me directly. Contact information for the SWUGN committee is on the website.

Richard Doyle User Community Coordinator

Ooops! I selected the wrong region on the user group directory listing. I see groups from my state now. Unfortunately, there has not been one formed closer to me yet (Belews Creek, NC). I wish I could do it myself, but I can't. I keep hoping someone else in the area can step up to the plate and form one closer....

Richard, Was this summit in place of the Eastern Region User Conferance tha was held at MassBay last year? Unfortunately I did not hear about it, or receive any notification that this summit was taking place. I probably would have attended.

Thanks, Steve

Steve,

The one-day events are replacing the regional conferences we did last year (with the exception of the Midwest Regional). Notices went out via SolidWorks and two of the three resellers in this region. I'm sorry you didn't get the message.

The best way to keep up on user groups is the SWUGN website

You can also sign up for email notices directly from SolidWorks.

Good news for Boston area users - several of the summit attendees have expressed an interest in getting the local user group running again. We also had someone from Rhode Island ask for information about starting a group in/around Cranston. Looks like very soon users in New England will have a couple more groups to choose from.

Richard

Seth,

It was me that tried to talk you into taking over a group in Greensboro. There was supposed to be a Greensboro meeting tonight (Thursday), as I remember. I was going to go, but like you, I'm a bit swamped right now, and it's a 4 hour drive. Sorry I'm late and lack details. My email is elsewhere at the moment.

It might be a drive, but the Charlotte group is meeting again, and the Lynchburg group is one of my favorites, but they are only once every

3rd month. There's a group in Asheville which is doing very well (run by a mold designer, and attended by Hasco employees!), and then there's the Greenville group which is starting meetings again.

The Charlotte One-Day event should be well worth the time and money. Of course everyone wishes that "TBD" for location would get pinned down. I've got folks who want to book hotels, but aren't sure which end of town to go to. (Richard?)

Anyway, there's a lot going on in user groups in North Carolina.

Matt

Seth Renigar wrote:

Looking at the information on the SWUGN website, I'm surprised you were willing to fly across the country to go to the Boston Technical Summit. It looks more like a Technical Valley, or a Technical Foothill at the best. I don't think it would be worth our time to drive up to Seattle for the closest one. Am I all wet?

The good news is that one will be coming to you in October.

Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems "take the garbage out, dear"

Tonight's meeting turned out to be in Research Triangle, a bit of a drive again for you.

If you have someone you would like to volunteer for a leader in the Greensboro area plus or minus I'll help them get it started.

Matt

Hello Jerry-

1. I've made more friends thru SolidWorks than any other business I've ever been involved with.

1. 8 hours of top level training for .00, breakfast and lunch included.

2. I was really looking forward to it, United Airlines had other ideas. Many passengers had troubles that day. Planes were delayed and arriving at different gates from what was shown on the screens. It was a real scene at LAX.

1. Hey, it's a good investment and a business write off too.

Cheers, Devon T. Sowell

Having attended the west coast(LA) and Texas(Austin) regional conferences, I'm sad to see them go. But I am proud that we are keeping it up in the midwest! The conferences are a nice mini-solidworks world, and quite an economical alternative for folks who want a taste of a lot of good info without the huge investement in travel, lodging, and lost work-time that a SWX world requires. Not to say that SWx world isn't worth it - one nugget of info can pay for the trip (it happened to me several times- seriously!). But these regional conferences are just a lot easier to justify to the bean-counters, many whom can't get their minds around the ROI on three days of expense versus a day with these regional dealies. If you can make it, please give it a try. And for those in the midwest, tell your managers that you will be treating yourselves (and your companies bottom line) to the best one in the hemisphere :)

-Ed

I didn't see a Greensboro group listed on the SWUGN site. Is it simply just so new that it isn't on the list? Do they have their own website? I could make it to one this close. Its only about 30 min. away.

I lived out on the East Coast for many years (Cape Cod). You might want to check out the Green Airport in Rhode Island. It is close enough to your destination and not nearly as congested.

Kman

Absolutely! There is something a little magic about the SolidWorks community

I was a bit disappointed because the material seemed to be aimed more to beginners than to advanced users. It was unfair of me to make the crack I did, when I know that there are good people at SolidWorks who are working hard to help the user community. I was just hoping for presentations more like SW World or the regional conferences. I would have gone to the regional conference last year without even thinking about it except that the timing was very bad for us (our workload was crushing).

Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems "take the garbage out, dear"

Great idea, I'll check it out.

Thanks, Devon

Can't stop myself here.....

The KC summit coming up in July should be a good one. We will have the PhotoWorks expert Rob R. himself here to drive that session. I'll be doing one on Sheet Metal with the focus on why you should use one method vs. another, etc. And we will have one on PDMWorks in which we will (hopefully) run through the features of the current product and also compare it to the new PDMWorks (Conisio).

That's just a sampling, so you see, it should be worth almost anyone's time to make it to this one!

Ok, advertising off. :-)

WT