Home at Last….
Well, I’ve been back all week, I’ve just neglected the blog a bit.
The user group road trip was a huge success, with stops in Omaha, Detroit, and Racine (Milwaukee).
The Nebraska group meeting was attended by more than 70 users, and we had a great time at the venue. The Strategic Air and Space Museum was a terrific place to hold a meeting, thanks go out to group leader Todd Blacksher, and Dick Longoria of Tridaq for making it happen.
The Eastern Michigan group meeting was huge!! A little over 100 attendees, 8 vendor booths, and some great presentations. Robert Meitzler has done a wonderful job with this group and it just keeps growing. I got to see a few people that I’ve met over the years through my association with SolidWorks. Deb Dowding, whom I first met at SolidWorks World, has been a long-time friend of the SolidWorks Community. Deb is in the initial stages of setting up a user group in the Jackson/Battle Creek area of Michigan – look for an announcement soon. I also got a chance to visit briefly with Dan Bovinich of SWCAD fame. Dan has been a very active in the community for many years, and his "Working with Solids" website is very cool.
Off I went to Racine, Wisconsin for my first Midwest Region SolidWorks User Conference. Now in its fourth year, the show brought nearly 250 people together for two days of technical sessions, a vendor fair, food, and lots of great people. I met plenty of SolidWorks users, most notably Lenny Kikstra, who asked me to pass along the news of his new website – lennyworks.com – check it out, the macro and "tips and tricks" sections alone are worth the visit. The Midwest conference will extend its run to five years next October, and I hope to make a return trip.
I wasn’t able to wrangle a visit to the Colorado User Group meeting the same week, but group leader Gerald Davis has a nice write-up on the COSUG website.
I’m staying home for a couple of weeks before heading out the the next SWUGN Summit in San Diego. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll join us.