A New Era of SOLIDWORKS Events
For the past 19 years the team at DriveWorks have attended SOLIDWORKS World.
This year we were excited to join World as it entered a new era – 3DEXPERIENCE World.
Before heading out to Nashville, the DriveWorks 3DEXPERIENCE World team took the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform Explorer Associate Certification to learn more about the platform.
They were proud to display their 3DEXPERIENCE Platform Explorer Associate ribbons on their lanyards during the event!
See a round up of our time at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020!
The 3DEXPERIENCE Playground
Set up in the 3DEXPERIECE Playground, we spent most of our time on our booth where we had lots of people stopping by through each day. It was great to catch up with so many familiar faces from the SOLIDWORKS community as well as meeting many new people and sharing with them the power of DriveWorks.
Our booth was the perfect place to preview what’s new in our next release, DriveWorks 18, as well as showcase our range of new and updated configurators from our online configurator site driveworkslive.com.
We were all proud to show off the best of DriveWorks and show just how much work the DriveWorks team have put into creating our award-winning software.
With multiple screens displaying our configurator examples, we showed a variety of configurators at once – showing just how easy and versatile DriveWorks software is.
We were also excited to have virtual reality set up on our booth, delegates were interacting with our 3D configurators in VR.
General Sessions
Every morning we joined General Session to hear from the Dassult Systemes team and keynote speakers.
Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO at Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS opened General Session on day one, introducing us all to the 3DEXPERIENCEWORKS Platform. He spoke about the importance of how the SOLIDWORKS community has inspired designers and engineers to create amazing products and the mission of the platform was to provide the community with tools to build a better world.
In these sessions, we enjoyed hearing product announcements and learning alot about 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS and what is possible with the platform.
A key theme throughout the week was the importance of community and bringing together people and processes through technology.
Gian Paolo Bassi described how throughout history the efficiency introduced by new technologies resulted in more time and money. As a result, people could dedicate themselves more to think, explore, invent and exchange ideas.
The 3DEXPERIENCE Platform brings together these people and processes, with 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS information on every aspect of a product or process readily available in one place, so you can get more done in less time and have more time to think and create.
Keynote Speakers
Throughout the event, we heard from a mixture of inspiring keynote speakers and industry pioneers showing what can be achieved with technology.
From impressive engineering creating Gravity Industries Jet-Suit to Magic WheelChair bringing communitites together by building costumes for kids in wheelchairs using the power of design.
It was great to learn more about what has been achieved by the amazing engineers and innovators in the SOLIDWORKS Community.
Danielle Boyer
On day three, Danielle Boyer, STEAM Eductor and creator of Every Kid Gets A Robot (EKGAR) took to the main stage to speak about her incredible work.
Danielle shared how she wanted to increase access to affordable STEAM educational materials making products more available for everyone.
Starting off as a project in the FIRST Robotics Competition, the robots have since developed into an easy kit that can be created in SOLIDWORKS, 3D printed and then assembled to create an EKGAR.
Dassult Systems partnered with Danielle Boyer to hold a 3DEXPERIENCE World EKGAR workshop. Attendees assembled 150 Every Kid Gets a Robot kits during the event. With each robot being designed in SOLIDWORKS and costing less than $20, the robots are perfect to provide STEM education to kids of all ages.
Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen, Founder of DEKA and FIRST, talked about his work in preparing students to solve today’s problems and the global challenges our world will face in the future.
For over 30 years, Kamen has led the growth of FIRST to become a universally recognized leading, not-for-profit STEM engagement program for kids worldwide.
Now reaching over one million kids, FIRST works to provide young people with the skills set, knowledge and courage to succeed in the future of STEM.
As a FIRST® Robotics Competition sponsor, we are proud to be supporting teams with useful resources, learning opportunities and new skills.
DriveWorks Presentations
As in previous year, we also presented at 3DEXPERIENCE World.
On Monday, Heather Hasz from the DriveWorks team presented in the Certified Partner Theatre about DriveWorks design automation and configurator software. The focus of the presentation was on our customer, Detroit Stoker and how they first learnt about DriveWorks at a SWUG meeting in Monroe, Michigan and what they’ve achieved since with DriveWorks Solo.
On Tuesday, Tom and Oliver delivered a DriveWorksXpress Hands-On Training Session teaching attendees about the design automation tool they already have inside SOLIDWORKS, and how to take the free DriveWorksXpress Training and Certification.
It was great to see so many getting certified throughout the event and speak to more people about becoming a CDWXA by taking the free DriveWorksXpress Certification.
Community
World is all about community.
Every year we love being amongst the community of engineers, designers, makers and innovators to share our passion.
This year we caught up with lots of members of the community on our booth in the 3DEXPERIENCE Playground.
It was a great opportunity to show them our latest technology and of course, handout our famous SWUGN T-Shirts to the SOLIDWORKS User Group Leaders who stopped by our booth.
On Tuesday evening we all attended the Bash on Broadway offsite event, where we had lots of fun with the community, enjoying some beers and music and seeing more of Nashville.
Awards
Every year we celebrate a User Group Leader who stands out from the crowd for going above and beyond with their support for the SWUGN community.
This year we were proud to announce Betty Baker from LaCrosse, Eau Claire, Winona Area SWUG as our 5th annual DriveWorks award for SOLIDWORKS User Group Leader of the Year!
We were also extremely proud to see our Brand and Community Ambassador, Heather Hasz awarded with the SWUGN Choice Award for SOLIDWORKS Community Champion of the Year in Wednesday’s General Session.
Presented by Rachel York, Community and User Advocacy Senior Manager at SOLIDWORKS, Heather was recognized for her commitment to supporting others in the community.
See You Next Year!
The last General Session of 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020 closed with a final address from Gian Paolo Bassi who praised the SOLIDWORKS community for its imagination and inspiration.
Gian Paolo Bassi explained that things are changing for the better, with technology evolving and society moving forward – vision and values continue to remain at the heart of the SOLIDWORKS community.
The session finished with the announcement that next year, 3DEXPERIENCE World will be returning to Nashville!
Of course we will be back in Nashville for 3DEXPERIENCE World 2021 and we hope to see you there!
