SLUGME – 6 Years Later and Still Going Strong!
In 2016, Todd Blacksher had an idea about how to get his friends together for knowledge sharing and networking during the times they all couldn’t be together at an event such as SOLIDWORKS World/3DEXPERIENCE World.
As a veteran user group leader, Todd knew the power of the SOLIDWORKS community and thus approached a few other group leaders with the idea to host a user group meeting simultaneously around the world.
This led to the first SOLIDWORKS Largest User Group Meeting Ever being hosted in December of 2016.
DriveWorks was there for it at the start and have had a lot of fun being involved every year since!
Leader of Seattle Area SOLIDWORKS Power Users Group (SASPUG), Eric Beatty recently wrote a blog post “SLUGME through the Years” that was published to the SOLIDWORKS Blogs in August.
So how do you top 5 years of hosting the largest group meetings?
Easy – you host the longest user group meeting ever!
SLUGME 6 – SOLIDWORKS Longest User Group Meeting Ever
On Saturday, August 21st at 6pm Paris, France local time, (just after the green flag waved starting the 24-hour Le Mans) this year’s SLUGME started!
This was the 6th iteration of the SOLIDWORKS Largest User Group Meeting Ever – but instead of the largest event, this time it was the SOLIDWORKS Longest User Group Meeting Ever.
Over the course of 24 hours, presenters from all over the world in every time zone took turns sharing knowledge and presenting on topics ranging from sketching to simulation and everything in between.
This amazing 24-hour streaming event was hosted by a live panel of hosts including veteran user group leaders Todd Blacksher, Eric Beatty, and Kam Smith, along with Dan Wagner, Manager of the SOLIDWORKS User Group Network.
Their combination of witty banter, jokes and institutional knowledge of all things SOLIDWORKS provided a perfect backdrop for the duration of the event.
Streamed live on the SOLIDWORKS YouTube channel, SOLIDWORKS users from around the world could join at any time and enjoy a constant stream of SOLIDWORKS knowledge sharing.
Congratulations to the entire SOLIDWORKS community for once again breaking time and space barriers and crashing through innovation ceilings to bring an event like no other!
We can’t wait to see what you bring us next year – we are already looking forward to it!
Catching up with Todd Blacksher
Following on from SLUGME 6, Heather from the DriveWorks team took the time to recap on the success of the event with Todd Blacksher.
Looking Back on Past SLUGME Events
2016
In 2016, the very first SLUGME meeting was hosted. The total number of attendees was close to 750 and they estimated just under 201 pizzas were consumed.
2017
In 2017, groups linked up with dozens of additional user groups around the world for a live presentation by one of the leaders in the SOLIDWORKS community.
2018
2018 saw the Battle of the VARs, a head-to-head-to-head presentation challenge between three SOLIDWORKS resellers Fisher/Unitech, SolidXperts, and Trimech.
2019
The 4th annual SLUGME meeting included a live broadcast featuring presentations by certified SOLIDWORKS experts from Aberdeen Proving Grounds SWUG & Javelin Technologies.
2020
In 2020, user groups from around the globe joined together once again but this time it was all virtual. We were treated to two dynamic presentations from Eric Beatty and Ed Eaton.
2021
The first-ever Longest User Group meeting ever. Hosted over 24 hours with 24 presenters getting together to learn, share and network with other SOLIDWORKS users.
Supporting SWUG
With the support of our resellers, customers and partners, we have attended SWUG meetings, sponsored meetings and helped group leaders to find presenters with interesting presentations since 2015.
We love being a part of the SOLIDWORKS Community and look forward to continuing to support the SOLIDWORKS User Group Network.
If you would like us to sponsor your group, get in touch and tell us about your meetings!