Back in February I has the pleasure of sitting in on Wayne's sheet metal presentation at SolidWorks 2009. And even though I don't actually use SolidWorks myself, I thought it was a lot of fun. I even recorded it and posted it here. We're lucky enough to have Wayne back for SolidWorks World 2010, and he was nice enough to spend some time talking to us about the event.
Wayne’s presentation “Sheet
Metal - Why Do I Do It Like This or That?,” is scheduled for Tuesday 2/2 at
4 pm. Stay tuned for more spotlights.
Q: As a presenter, what do you enjoy most about SolidWorks
World?
A: Well, the registration fee is paid! But really, I enjoy learning something every
time I do a presentation. Which doesn’t necessarily mean I learn more
from presenting than I do from attending a session, because both are great
learning experiences; I look forward to the learning aspect of the show every
year. Going through all the sessions
with others raises interesting questions and sparks new ideas and interesting
thoughts. I enjoy that.
Also, I present because I enjoy sharing with people who want
to learn. There’s a personal
satisfaction in saying something that can help other folks. And for my own company, I can’t in good
conscience not bring back nuggets I’ve learned.
Q: What do you anticipate the hot topics to be for the 2010
show?
A: Performance is going to be a hot topic because people are in
the mode of making things run better. Costs
will also likely be a hot discussion, along with discussions about subscription
rates. People are in a tight spot, have lost people to layoffs; there
will likely be lots of discussions going on about support from SolidWorks and
VARs, people wondering, what am I getting for my money? What is my SolidWorks
strategy to accommodate both users and budget? It’s one of the main
issues that people are dealing with these days.
At my company, we’ve restructured our subscription to be more in line
with usage at this point with changes in workload. How this will come out at SolidWorks World and
in what discussions, I don’t know, but this is something that people will be talking
about.
Q: What’s your funniest memory from past SWW shows at which
you’ve presented?
A: In New Orleans, the event theme was Mardi Gras.
There was a gal from Israel I’ve known for a few years and we were talking
at the main offsite event, and there were tables all around with beads lying on
them. She was fascinated by these beads and had put several strands
on. I then told her how women
traditionally got those beads during Mardi Gras, and she ripped them right off
and threw them on the table. It was funny to see the cultural difference; she
was so shocked!
Q: What sessions do you most look forward to attending?
A: Honestly, I haven’t had time to go through sessions
yet. One thing I am looking forward to,
and one of my primary reasons for going to the show, is for personal meetings
with SolidWorks employees. Anyone who
goes to SWW and doesn’t arrange that is not taking full advantage of the
opportunity. SolidWorks employees are charged with listening to the
customer and they really do care. I know enough people there that are
that way; as a general rule, they do care what customers think and do want to
get it right. To that end, I’m looking forward to the alpha testing, focus
groups, and one-on-one or one-on-two meetings that I’ve arranged ahead of
time.
Q: What makes you geek out?
A: It’s long been said that it doesn’t get much better than throwing
together SolidWorks, sheet metal and user groups, and I wholeheartedly agree.
All are fascinating, and so if you get involved with the user group and
talking SolidWorks and sheet metal, good times will ensue. I enjoy sheet
metal. It’s like origami only in metal, cut it, fold it, look what you can do
with it. SolidWorks lets you play with
it.
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