Kicking off Solidworks Annual Pilgrimage
The last time we were in Dallas for Dassault’s convention, they shockingly announced that we were at the very last Solidworks World. Going forward, it would evolve into 3DExperience World and move to Nashville. This year 3DX brought its enthusiastic hordes back to Dallas, and from what we saw, the state of Solidworks nation remains healthy and strong. In fact, Solidworks User Group (SWUG) Network Manager Dan Wagner announced 2023 saw the highest number of active user groups worldwide!
Bryan Jacques and Manish Kumar, CEO of SolidWorks.
We kicked off the festivities helping Boston-area SWUG leader Dan Herzberg host the CAD Monkey Dinner to welcome the first convention-goers to arrive. Herzberg’s venue choice of the Vetted Well, Dallas’ coolest neighborhood bar, ended up being the perfect backdrop for the equally neighborly feel of Solidworks’ tightknit community.
As their “who’s who” filtered in, it inspired Solidworks CEO Manish Kumar to dub CAD Monkey “the best party in town”. We couldn’t agree more, but aside from the casual good time, the dinner also gave us a chance to pick brains to find out what’s captured their imagination and what they were hoping to see this convention-week.
While we were particularly sold on Kumar’s rave preview of a series on Design, Simulation and Manufacturing, he pointed out the convention was a packed agenda of General Sessions and Show-and-Tells so there was sure to be something for everyone.
For example, Herzberg was really jazzed up about Virtual Reality, and there was a session teed up on Creating Impactful 3D Experiences from VR to Web.
Eric Spurgeon, President of the South Central Kansas SWUG is as fascinated by tech’s hottest topic AI as we are, and in particular its intersection with CAD design and product development. CEO Kumar already anticipating the interest predicted, “AI is something that will come up a lot throughout the show and I’m looking forward to those discussions”.
Solidworks Champion James Adkins of North Carolina serves as Dept. Head of Design and Engineering at Alamance Community College. As an educator, he was naturally most interested in Solidworks Edu’s newest materials for the teaching community.
On the presenter-side, we checked in with Western MA SWUG Leader and Smith & Wesson Drafting Supervisor, John Matrishon before the convention. He was busy putting the finishing touches on two must-see presentations and preparing for a Meetup. Our informal person-on-the-street poll also revealed other fan favorite presenters such as Trimech’s Director of Engineering Leon Austin, Seattle SWUG Leader Eric Beatty and everyone’s favorite Solidworks couple Sal and Chinloo Lama.
Tom Cote, founder of Applied CAD Solutions, is recognized as a preeminent expert on all things PDM. He had a busy “World” which included his 3rd consecutive in-person SWUG PDM panel. Cote’s participation is indicative of the simpatico that makes the whole convention tick; a super-user enthusiastic to share his knowledge, and as soon as he stepped off the stage, he was just as excited to learn as an audience member in a fellow expert’s presentation.
Suzanne Locke, Dassault’s Director of Community and User Advocacy, recognizes the treasure of their knowledge-sharing culture. She gushed, “We’re thrilled about this amazing user base, and don’t know of another product or company with such a passionate following. We’re appreciative of all the group leaders and users who volunteer their time to teach others what they know, and as a company it’s a true gift”.
And that’s the difference right there. The company embraces its grassroots with gratitude. From the top, Manish Kumar sets the “one of us” tone and genuinely expressed he couldn’t wait to connect and talk to all their customers on the convention floor. You could almost see him standing at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center doors until the last guest left.
But in the end, real grassroots are a bottom-up movement. A community of friends organically grew around their insatiable curiosity and shared interest in designing cool stuff. For all the technology and corporate backing, the real strength of the community comes down to the personal relationships. All of us at John Galt Staffing feel privileged to be a part of this unique orbit.
Star City SWUG leader and conference presenter, Brad “Tank” Meador summed it up best. When we asked what he was most looking forward to, like all his fellow attendees he wanted to stay up to speed on “the up-and-coming technology”. Then he simply added, “looking forward to seeing all my Solidworks friends”.
We look forward to seeing you and your friends too Tank!
In case you missed it, they announced that 3DExperience World will be returning to the Lone Star state, but this time in Houston for 2025. See you there!
