What an excellent job the NESWUG committee did organizing this event. The conference center they chose was excellent, the vendor turnout was great and, most impressively, was the attendance. 180+ users showed up to learn about SolidWorks.
The conference started with a nice continental breakfast during which Ed Gebo spoke about the day’s breakout sessions. He then introduced the guest speaker, none other than Jon Hirschtick. Jon spoke about where SolidWorks came from, where it is and where it’s going. His time was limited, but his speech was energizing. Once all the attendees had left for the morning’s first session, I got a chance to introduce myself to Jon. How flattered was I that he knew who I was? Jon and I spoke for a while about SolidWorks, I then commented on his absence from Twitter. He pulled out his phone right then and posted, promising to become more active. We spoke, too, about the project I’m working on. He seemed very interested and gave me the name of someone at SolidWorks to talk to with the hope that, together, we’d be able to overcome the hurdles I’m facing.
I was lame and didn’t attend any of the breakout sessions. Many I’d already attended in the past, so I took the time to visit with the people from DriveWorks and TactonWorks. I also spent time talking to fellow blogger and presenter, Rob Rodriguez. In talking with some of the attendees, it was apparent that everyone was impressed with the conference and learning.
The time arrived for my presentation and I was a bit nervous. It had been a while since I’d presented. As I walked back to the podium, after getting myself some water, I managed to trip over the power cord to the projector. The mood was set. I went through my presentation and SolidWorks locked up only once. It wasn’t a big deal, though. I got the impression that most everyone in attendance had experienced a SolidWorks crash before…
I hope that people left with a bit more knowledge of DriveWorksXpress and COSMOSXpress. Though, admittedly, there’s the outside chance that I may have actually caused their IQ’s to drop a bit. I guess we’ll find out how well I did if NESWUG asks me back next year…
Comments