Day 2: Good morning from SOLIDWORKS World 2015!

As you can see in the video recap, day one is going to be a tough one to top.

Monday’s general session started the show off right with a Parrot drone navigating above an energized main stage audience. CEO Gian Paolo Bassi made his much anticipated first public address and reiterated his focus on building the tools that will fuel user success for years to come.

One of these tools, SOLIDWORKS Industrial Design, was introduced to the crowd as an application to combat the constraints of traditional industrial design software. You can learn more about SOLIDWORKS Industrial Design in this in-depth blog post.

Cool customer products provided a wow-factor to the general session. From Parrot’s drones to Thalmic’s Myo, these products demonstrated what’s possible with SOLIDWORKS.

Bre Pettis, Former CEO of MakerBot and current Chief Innovation Officer at Bold Machines closed the session a keynote on how 3D printing will push design and engineering into new frontiers. Read this post for a full recap of yesterday’s general session.

The day also included fun in the Product Showcase with Normandy Guitars and FabLabs, exhibitor demos in the Product Pavilion and networking at the annual SWUGN Summit. Those who attended the CSWE and blogger awards event at Duce capped off the evening with a great event. Congratulations to our TenLinks top ten SOLIDWORKS blogger award winners Joe Medeiros, Kevin Holbrook, John Van Engen, Bryan Pawlak, Jim Peltier, Michael Lord, Dan Herzberg, Adam O’Hern, Deepak Gupta, and Josh Mings.

Here’s what you can look forward to today:

General Session starts at 8:30 am MT in Hall C-E, North Building.

Today’s session is all about SOLIDWORKS users, both current and future. You’ll hear from Marie Planchard, Director of Education Community, and Bettina Chen, Co-Founder, Roominate, on encouraging girls to pursue STEM education, an out of this world customer story from Google Lunar XPrize contestant Astrobotic, and new community tools from Suchit Jain, Vice President Strategy and User Advocacy.

Today’s General Session will close with a keynote from Dr. Michio Kaku covering how technology will change our lives moving forward.

Doors open at 8:15 am MT. Be sure to arrive early for the best seating. Today’s General Session will also be live streamed. Register here to watch the show!

Partner Pavilion is open from 11:30 am – 4:30 pm in Hall A-B, North Building

The Partner Pavilion and Product Showcase are open for five hours today. This is your chance to learn about the latest our leading partners have to provide. Don’t forget to get your hands on the awesome products available to try at Product Showcase – especially if you’re interested in showing you’re your musical skills with Normandy Guitars.

Think you’re model maniac? Prove that you’re among the elite by participating in Model Mania – a contest pitting users in a race to model and analyze a part a part faster, more accurately and more efficiently. Prizes from NVIDIA® are awarded to the top three performing users and resellers. Glory is waiting at the Model Mania booth – take it!

Q&A With Dr. Michio Kaku

As an added bonus, today’s keynote, Dr. Michio Kaku will answer your questions in a Q&A at 1:00 pm MT in the Certified Partner theater.

Technical Training Sessions

Four blocks of technical training sessions are available today. Remember to use the SOLIDWORKS World 2015 app to plan your schedule and review sessions (Download here) Technical training sessions will take place during the following times:

10:30 am – 12:00 pm
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm
4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Don’t forget to use the app’s session survey function to share your technical session feedback.

SOLIDWORKS World 2015 Special Event, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm MT at the Corona Ranch

There’s nothing like cool refreshment after a hard day’s work; and no one knows how to unwind after the daily grind more than cowboys. Tonight, SOLIDWORKS World 2015 is taking over the Corona Ranch, Arizona’s only private Mexican and Western Rodeo Venue. Test your rodeo skills, try your luck at pig race handicapping and watch a genuine Mexican rodeo show – who knows, maybe you’ll even become a participant. Regulators, mount up!