No! this is not some sale pitch scam by a hungry reseller disguising a brain wash session in cover of frozen pizza and low prized ice tea.
So what is it a Summit? SWUGN Technical Summits are one-day training and networking event that every Solidworks user should attend. This isn’t a golf tournament or a grill outing, this is a event where you have some of the most skilled Solidworks people handing you there secret magic tricks and holding you hand all the way.
When can you go? The reaming 2009 schedule as posted on swugn.org Columbus, OH – 07/21 Vancouver, BC – 08/04 Minneapolis, MN – 08/18 Denver, CO – 09/15 San Antonio, TX – 11/10 San Jose, CA – 12/08
So really, it is that good? I hate to tell you that if you weren’t one of the 100 people attending HVSWUG Tech Summit at Penn State University 6/16-2009, that you most likely missed the best Tech Summit ever. Best Ever, really? well here is my challenge to you, start go to these events and let me know what you think, here is why I call it happy Valley.
The event
Randall Bock who runs Happy Valley SolidWorks User Group had absolutely done a fantastic job at this event, I can not think of one thing that could have been done better. From conference rooms, food and speakers, he had everything under control, and I really hope that this could be a yearly event, personally I would make the 500 mile round trip again.
Sessions There is 2 sessions going simultaneously in different rooms all day, so you have some great opportunity to customize this event to your needs.
Here was my selections:
Assemblies by Greg Yohn, DesignPoint Solutions. As a long time application engineer Greg did a fantastic job covering assemblies in Solidworks. Multiple mate, Copy mate, Pack and Go, Clearance Verification and senors just to name a few of the topics Greg covered. I guaranty that everyone walked away from that session already felt they gotten there $40+travel covered, and this was only the 1st session of the day.
Mold Design by Mike Puckett, Solidworks Corp. Having a actually Solidworks employer showing you how to use surfaces to fix complex imported plastic parts is cool, but Mike Puckett not only knows how to create a mold base around the plastic part, he also knows how to program the CNC and actually make it comes to life. Good Mold design takes experience, something Mike Puckett showed he got plenty off.
Drawings by Richard Hall, North Alabama User Group Starting the session by showing how to import you’re old DWG table into Solidworks and ending the session by having linked Solid model dimensions controlling via custom properties a drawing chart with upper and lower limits should give you an idea about what grounds Richard Hall was able to cover in a little over 1 hour. I personally made a lot of good notes doing this session and somehow also wrote something about Southern and real sweet tea.
CAD Management by Richard Doyle, Solidworks Corp. Richard Doyle is “Solidworks User Group” he is the person from Solidworks who supports the User Group leaders and does it well. He is also the author of Solidworks for Dummies. A session called CAD Managemnt presented by a Solidworks employer who spend so much time among users as Richard Doyle, is like Mr.Wonka in the chocolate factory knowing what every kid wants. Richard Doyle got the contacts to actually developers and also know what trouble we users runs into.
Surfacing by Muggs Ferguson, John Ferguson Design. Surfacing=Black Magic? Well I can tell you that Muggs Ferguson presented some crazy models, but showed with a little patience and design intend you actually can have some great control over surfaced models in Solidworks. I think most of us feel a lot more comfortable talking about surfaces after his presentation.
Why you need to attend a Solidworks Tech Summit Because it will make you better at you job, benefit your company. Also you will meet people with same interest as you, make friends and the speakers loves questions and interact with the crowed, you need to attend because you can’t loose.
Thank you