The First Ever IronSWUG
After 2 plus years of (mostly) virtual SOLIDWORKS User Group Meetings, we were excited to join Brad Meador and Adam Ebernickel as they travelled over 2,000 miles by motorcycle to present at 6 SWUG meetings covering 4 states – for the very first IronSWUG Tour.
IronSWUG was an event that had been several years in the making. In the spring, we hosted Brad and Adam for an interview that you can read and watch on the DriveWorks Blog.
Not only did the pair travel to present at 6 meetings, but each meeting had its own unique presentations – that means they had collectively delivered 12 separate technical presentations over the course of the week.
Here’s What Happened
We followed Brad and Adam on their trip and here’s what they go up to.
Kicking the Trip off
Brad and Adam started their journey on the weekend of July 17th. Brad left his home in Virginia, joining Adam (and his son Isaiah) at his home in Tennessee.
They started their journey south and headed to their first 2-meetings in Birmingham, Alabama.
In Alabama, they presented at 2 meetings on the same day – the Altec Birmingham SWUG and the Birmingham SWUG.
The first stop was the Altec Birmingham meeting where both Brad and Adam presented after a warm welcome from the group.
Brad’s first presentation was titled Plethora of Patterns, whilst Adam focused on Tips & Tricks and General Must-Know. Once this meeting wrapped up at 2:30, they had a couple of hours to head over to the second meeting of the day with Birmingham SWUG.
With two entirely new presentations for the meeting the pair once again set up to present. This time Brad’s presentation was titled I Am Lazy 2022 and Adam’s named Sheet Metal Basics, Fold It Your Way.
Pensacola SWUG
The following day on Tuesday July 19th, Brad and Adam headed further south where they ended up in Pensacola, Florida to present at the Pensacola SWUG.
Here Brad presented on Configurations, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, while Adam presented on How I Roll Are, My Peripheral Devices For You.
Atlanta Midtown SWUG
On Wednesday 20th July, Heather from the DriveWorks team caught up with Brad and Adam at the Atlanta Midtown SWUG meeting held at Georgia Tech University.
It was a great night to speak with both engineering students and customers about all things SOLIDWORKS – of course, we chatted about DriveWorksXpress as well.
During this meet-up, Brad discussed Design Intent For Dummy’s and Adam talked about Envelopes, Not Just For Sending Letters.
Charlotte SWUG
On Thursday, Heather travelled with Brad and Adam to North Carolina, where she joined them at the Charlotte SWUG.
The presentation here from Brad was about The Machinist’s Nightmare, Parts That Can’t Be Mad, while Adam covered Tips & Tricks, Next Level.
At this meeting, Heather was pleased to see Devin Martin a Solutions Architect from DriveWorks reseller, TriMech and a close friend of the DriveWorks team.
Final Stop of the Week
After visiting Charlotte, there was one last group on the agenda, WNC-Ashville SWUG were joined by Brad and Adam on Friday 22nd July.
The name of Brad’s presentation was Visualising your Design….with Visualize, and Adam finished on Advanced Sheet Metal, Mind-Bending Metal.
The final presentations of the week took Brad and Adam to an astounding total of 12 presentations in 5 days!
Over the course of the week, Brad and Adam took to the open road to bring the SOLIDWORKS community together in a very fun and unique way.
They worked through some challenges along the way including mechanical issues, unpredictable weather and rush hour traffic, however it didn’t stop them from having a great time and making it a fantastic experience for all – they will surely have stories to share for years to come.
We wanted to mark the occasion with something to remind them of a fantastic achievement. We gave Brad and Adam some commemorative motorbike patches, and shared some with some of the other group leaders involved too.
Well done and thank you Brad and Adam, we loved being a part of IronSWUG.
Being part of this community, we are proud to support meetings however we can. Over the years we have sponsored lots of group meetings whether that be through attending, presenting or providing prizes and giveaways.
Recently, we have updated the SWUGN area of our website with a quick and easy way for SOLIDWORKS User Group Leaders to request a DriveWorks sponsorship of their meeting.
Simply visit the SWUGN section of our website and click the Request Sponsorship button to provide information about your upcoming meeting.
Once received, a member of our team will reach out with any questions or follow up needed.
On this page, you can also find program information, photos, and updates on SWUG activities that we have supported over the last few years!
Get In Touch
We can’t wait to be a part of lots more great SWUG meetings in the future!
Get in touch and tell us about your meetings.