Reporting back from the SolidWorks Executive Forum in Minneapolis

Reporting back from the SolidWorks Executive Forum in Minneapolis

I had the opportunity to sit in on one of our Executive Forum gatherings in Minneapolis recently.  Despite unseasonal heat for Minneapolis, approximately 30 customers from our largest accounts in the area joined us for the day at the Walker Art center downtown.

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If you’re not familiar with them, the Executive Forums are a fairly new program started last year and sponsored entirely by SolidWorks.  They’re geared more toward managers than the power users who normally attend SolidWorks User Group meetings.  The sessions are small, informal, and provide attendees an opportunity to hear the SolidWorks strategy as well as network with peers and exchange best practices (two users from Trail King in South Dakota earned the honor of having driven the farthest with a 4.5 hour road trip).  Customers present as well – rather than a case study on WHY they picked SolidWorks, they talk about HOW they’re using SolidWorks products.  For the SolidWorks employees in the audience, this is the best part.

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Trip report: my SolidWorks User Group tour

Trip report: my SolidWorks User Group tour

As you may recall from my earlier post, I spent the week of May 23 driving through the southeastern US with SolidWorks User Group Network coordinator Richard Doyle, attending user group meetings and visiting customers. It is always exciting to get out of the office and meet with SolidWorks users, and I learn something new every time. Rather than give you a day-by-day retelling of my trip, I thought I would talk about some of the highlights.

Each of the user group meetings was different and enlightening in different ways. The first meeting was in Atlanta, Georgia, and was held at the Quickparts headquarters. The second meeting in Greenville, South Carolina, was held at Clemson University. At this meeting, several resellers set up a display of 3D printers for the 70 attendees to demo, and SolidWorks customer Redneck Engineering brought out a few custom choppers. Here’s a picture of me sitting on one of them along with Vince “Nobody” Doll, who runs the company.

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