SOLIDWORKS Champion Todd Blacksher’s “World” Advice – Just Go!
Note: The following blog was written by Todd Blacksher, SOLIDWORKS Champion and CSWE. Todd is part of the Quick Response Manufacturing Team at MetalWorks, Inc. You might remember Todd being mentioned in this article in People magazine about his project to create skis for his pet Corgi Ash after he was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy (DM).
My name is Todd Blacksher, and I have been to ‘World’ a few times. I say ‘World’ because before it became 3DEXPERIENCE World, it was “SOLIDWORKS World.”
Since registering for my first conference, I have held five different jobs, lived in four different zip codes, and owned four different cars, but I have only missed TWO conferences!
To fully understand my affinity for this annual event, it might help to examine a couple of my favorites …
(Truth be told, they are ALL my favorites for one reason or another, but some were a little more memorable.)
It is a given that your first conference will always be indelibly etched in your memory, and this is very true for me. A very small reason I remember it so vividly is that I paid for EVERYTHING myself. After my employer denied my requests for a couple of years, I took a vacation and paid for the conference, the hotel, the flights—all of it myself.
My girlfriend gets full credit for this—she knew how badly I wanted to attend and said, “We haven’t been on a trip together yet; why don’t you just sign up?” SOLIDWORKS World 2006 was going to be in Las Vegas. As we booked flights and a hotel, we thought, “This would be the perfect opportunity to get married!”
As soon as everything was in place for the conference, we started organizing our wedding. SOLIDWORKS CEO Jeff Ray announced our upcoming nuptials during the General Session on Monday, and we ran over to the Stratosphere over lunch to exchange vows. The cab returned us to the conference center just in time to meet the keynote speakers (The Mythbusters) as they were leaving. The next night at the offsite event, we were able to race Audi TTs down the dragstrip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There are people we met at that very first conference that we still correspond with today.
My wife and I immediately became regular attendees. We learned that the conference might only be Monday – Wednesday on the calendar, but you need to get there at least two days early and stay at least a day after to get the full experience. She would explore the host city while I was attending sessions, and we would hang out with all our “World Family” each evening. She even started organizing outings for those attending the conference with their significant others. We would often take ‘first-timers’ under our wings and show them the ropes to get the most out of the General Sessions, Partner Pavilion, the Special Event, and introduce them to all the right people. She even wrote a blog with her take on attending “World.”
By the time SOLIDWORKS World 2018 rolled around, we were seasoned veterans flying on autopilot. This was the year that I had TWO presentations – an encore of my ‘All the Small Things’ presentation from SLUGME (SOLIDWORKS Largest User Group Meeting Ever) from a few months earlier, as well as a joint presentation with Alin Vargatu – ‘SOLIDWORKS Community: Membership Has Its Privileges.’
I made little reference booklets to hand out at my presentation and had a lot of SWAG to share with our friends, meaning my suitcase was very full when we headed to LA. I thought this was a good thing because none of that would be coming home, so there would be a lot of extra room for new stuff. Little did I know how much stuff I would be bringing home. We had to run out the night before we left to buy an additional suitcase to get everything home! John Stoltzfus surprised Alin and me with artwork, Kam Smith made a “SWUGLife” t-shirt for me, I received the Michelle Pillers Community Award AND the User Group Leader of the Year Award, I won a 3DConnexion travel kit at the CAD Monkey Dinner, I received a cool desk organizer for being a presenter, and the SWAG . . . lots and lots of SWAG.
If you aren’t sure about attending, I only have two words for you . . . “Just Go”
Find out more about me here:
SOLIDWORKS Super User
Todd’s Tidbits Wiki
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