SolidWorks World 2010 Presenter Spotlight: Wayne Tiffany

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.