Connecting DriveWorks Users
On Thursday 10th December, we were excited to host the first-ever DriveWorks Drivers virtual networking meeting.
DriveWorks Drivers is an opportunity for DriveWorks users from around the world to connect, share ideas and talk DriveWorks!
Sharing technical know-how and practical experience informally with each other is something we know many people using DriveWorks like to do.
However as DriveWorks World is only once a year, we decided to use technology to set up a new digital event to help DriveWorks users connect more often and without the need to travel.
DriveWorks Drivers is a value add for people using DriveWorks Solo or Pro software with an active subscription. We also invite authorized Applications Engineers from our VARs with a DriveWorks focus, who can contribute to the conversations too.
DriveWorks Drivers First Ever Virtual Meeting
Split into two Microsoft Teams meetings, the first DriveWorks Drivers networking event took place at 3pm GMT and the second took place at 9pm GMT.
During the 3pm GMT meeting, we were excited to be joined by 57 DriveWorks users and 33 DriveWorks users in the 9pm GMT meeting.
It was great to welcome so many enthusiastic DriveWorks users to share and connect.
Here’s just some of them!
3pm (GMT)
9pm (GMT)
Introductions
Attendees were first welcomed by Heather and Bridie from the DriveWorks team.
With Bridie set up at DriveWorks HQ in our Thelwall offices and Heather joining us from her home office in the US, the meeting began.
After some initial introductions and some tips for the meeting, Bridie and Heather welcomed DriveWorks CEO, Glen Smith and DriveWorks VP and Co-Founder, Maria Sarkar.
Technical Updates, Networking and Much More
The aim of DriveWorks Drivers is to create a space for DriveWorks users to share DriveWorks knowledge, ideas and connect with each other.
Whilst all DriveWorks Drivers meetings will be user-led, for the first meeting Glen started the meeting with an update from the DriveWorks team.
Glen gave an update on our latest release, one that we are all extremely proud of – DriveWorks 18.1!
Glen was then joined by DriveWorks Applications Engineer, Ollie to discuss all of the hard work the DriveWorks team has put into this latest release.
It was a great opportunity for attendees to get involved and learn more about our technical team, including their favourite parts of DriveWorks 18.1.
During the meeting, we were also joined by the newest member of the DriveWorks team, Adam. Adam shared his experience with DriveWorks and what he achieved in his previous role working at a company implementing DriveWorks.
As well as lots of exciting conversations taking place, we also tested our customer’s and reseller’s DriveWorks knowledge with a special DriveWorks quiz!
Guest Presenters
We know how important it is for DriveWorks users to share ideas and tips with each other.
Customer presentations will be a big part of all DriveWorks Drivers meetings. We were extremely excited to welcome our first DriveWors Drivers guest presenters.
Robert Allen – Dolphin Solutions
During the 3pm meeting, we were joined by Robert Allen, Product Design Engineer at UK based DriveWorks customer, Dolphin Solutions.
Dolphin Solutions have implemented a DriveWorks configurator that anyone can use, from members of the sales team all the way to architects from all over the world.
Robert shared how since using DriveWorks, Dolphin Solutions have been able to cut their design time down from a matter of days to weeks to minutes and hours.
Drawings that used to have to be created manually are now automatically created by SOLIDWORKS and DriveWorks working together.
Ismael Lopez – VanAire
During the 9pm GMT meeting, we were joined by Ismael Lopez, CAD Administrator at VanAire, based in Michigan.
Ismael has attended DriveWorks World for many years, events both in the US and the UK.
During his presentation, Ismael spoke about how VanAire has used DriveWorks to create their configurator for some of their parts.
It was a great opportunity to hear about the history of VanAire and how they have adapted DriveWorks into their designs.
What’s Next?
We were delighted to welcome so many DriveWorks users to the first DriveWorks Drivers virtual networking meeting.
It was great to see everyone interacting and talking all things DriveWorks.
We will be hosting four DriveWorks Drivers events each year, with the next one scheduled for March 2021.
If you would like to register your interest for the next event, please get in touch with us.