Recently we blogged about how Gemma and Heather, who run the SWUGN sponsorship program here at DriveWorks, were in the process of planning their May SWUGN tours of the UK and Wisconsin.
They’re back in the office after a great week on the road and we’ve caught up with them to see what they got up to at the meetings.
The first stop on Gemma’s tour was to the SOLIDWORKS User Group London meeting which took place at the iMakr store on Monday 22nd May 2017.
“This is a new SOLIDWORKS User Group and group leader Kirby Downey hosted a fun meeting which focused on SOLIDWORKS and 3D printing.
We also met Luke Daley, a professional prop maker, who discussed how SOLIDWORKS helps him to be creative. He brought some examples of his work to show us and he spoke to us about the difficulties he faces when making props. He has to conduct research in order to help him find appropriate references from films and screen shots and this means he needs to develop prototypes and build on his designs over time.
This was a great first meeting! Well done, Kirby!”
“On Wednesday 24th May, the Midlands SOLIDWORKS User Group launched their first meeting at Worcester University.
The group leader, Luke Frost, hosted a great meeting for the new members. I travelled by train to meet Luke in Worcester and he spoke about how he spent a lot of time teaching himself to use SOLIDWORKS and learn more. He then built on his skills at university and in his day job. The focus of his meetings is to really bring people together to learn and share ideas along the way.
I presented to the group about the new DriveWorksXpress Certification and just how easy it is to become a Certified DriveWorksXpress Associate.
Well done to Luke for hosting a great first meeting!”
“On Thursday 25th May, I travelled to Liverpool to support SOLIDWORKS User Group North West leader, Adam Green, who partnered with the Liverpool John Moores University Design Show.
Liverpool John Moores University took part in the trial of the DriveWorksXpress Certification at the start of the school year and during the SWUG NW meeting, we arranged a competition for all of the Certified DriveWorksXpress Associates to take part in.
Students from the product design course took one of their own models and used it to create a DriveWorksXpress project. It was great to see a range of SOLIDWORKS models and ideas come together and we awarded prizes to the winners.
Adam Green has ran this meeting for the past three years and, as a member of the Liverpool John Moores Alumni, he takes pride in helping to bring education and Industry together. Good job, Adam!”
Tom Wormald, Applications Engineer at DriveWorks, with the winners of the competition, who are also Certified DriveWorksXpress Associates.
Well done to Richard Hatson who came in first place, Matthew Fryer who was second place and Rob Flemming who was in third place.
“On Sunday 21st May 2017, I headed to Wisconsin for a week long SWUGN tour, This was a SWUGN record for me as I was attending 5 meetings in 4 nights. Over the past year I’ve loved presenting about DriveWorksXpress to the SOLIDWORKS user group community so I was excited to get stuck in!
On Monday 22nd May, I arrived at the SOLIDWORKS Resource Forum Sheboygan (SURF) meeting. The Vollrath Company was the host site for the meeting and it was headed by the group leader, Dan Harvey.
I spoke to the group about DriveWorksXpress and I was able to take a tour of The Vollrath Company’s training centre. I really enjoyed seeing all the products that’re being design in SOLIDWORKS and some future products currently being designed in DriveWorks!”
“On Tuesday 22nd May, Northeast Wisconsin SOLIDWORKS User Group leader, Jason Kmecheck, welcomed me to present at his meeting at short notice! I was in the area and heard about his meeting so I was keen to get involved.
The meeting was hosted at the Fox Valley Technical School in Appleton, and I spoke to the group about DriveWorksXpress and the DriveWorksXpress Training and Certification program. By the end of the evening the head of Mechanical Design was on board to add the DriveWorksXpress Training and Certification to their curriculum in the fall!
John Setzer of GSC and Cami Florence of Fisher Unitech gave great SOLIDWORKS presentations. Thanks to you both for giving up some of your presentation time so I could join in!”
“When I arrived in Arcadia, Wisconsin on Wednesday 23rd May to present at the LEWA SOLIDWORKS User Group Meeting, I didn’t realise that I was coming to a really small town with a population of 2,925.
Group leader, Betty Baker, and I met before the meeting for lunch and it was great to spend some time with her discussing her group.
The group came together in the afternoon and I presented to them about DriveWorks. We were then joined by Dob Glaske of CATI, who presented some SOLIDWORKS tips and tricks and recommendations on optimisation.
After the meeting, Betty and I had some time to visit the Elmaro Winery where we celebrated the success of the meeting. Thank you Betty for the warm welcome!”
“SWUGN group leaders Kim Olson and Kurt Zirtzlaff worked together to host a joint meeting of the SOLIDWORKS Milwaukee Area Resource Team (SMART) and the Kettle Moraine SOLIDWORKS User Group (KEMSUG) on my final night in Wisconsin.
What a great turnout we had! It was great to have a meeting hosted at the Kettle Moraine Technical School and be able to share with SOLIDWORKS Users how they can start automating some of their design with DriveWorksXpress. There were also students and graduates there who were interested in becoming Certified DriveWorksXpress Associates through the new DriveWorksXpress Training and Certification Program.”
“Thank you to all of the SOLIDWORKS User Group leaders who welcomed us to their meetings and helped to make our latest DriveWorks SWUGN tours successful! We’re looking forward to working with you again soon.” – Gemma and Heather.
If you’re a SOLIDWORKS User Group leader and you’d like DriveWorks to sponsor your meeting, please get in touch!
Recently we’ve acquired a great new office space on the site and whilst we were renovating it, our CEO, Glen, had a great idea that would help us to improve the quality of our Tech Team Thursday webinars.
Every Thursday the DriveWorks Tech Team share their knowledge and expertise in our value added webinars exclusively for DriveWorks Reseller AEs and DriveWorks Pro customers on subscription support.
Our webinars take a closer look at specific aspects of DriveWorks functionality and as they’re covering such important topics, we’re always looking for ways to improve the experience for our attendees.
When Glen suggested building a sound booth in the new office, we were all really excited. Glen recruited some members of the DriveWorks team to help him, and before we knew it the sound booth was built, kitted out and ready to go!
The purpose of the sound booth is to provide a quiet space for our Tech Team to work in whilst creating our technical webinars. It’s lined with sound absorbing foam to improve audio quality and our recording equipment is permanently setup for sound consistency. We’ve also installed an ‘on air’ light outside the booth so the rest of the team know that a webinar is in progress.
Here at DriveWorks we’re continually striving to improve the training and technical content that we create and the sound booth is a great addition which will help us to provide a better experience.
In this video Rob, Technical Marketing at DriveWorks, shares his experiences when first using the sound booth and discusses how it will help us to improve the quality of our technical webinars.
In our new webinar series, the DriveWorks Technical Team will show you how to use some of the cool new features in DriveWorks 15.
If you missed the ‘What’s New in DriveWorks 15’ webinar series, you can catch up by visiting the Technical Webinar Library.
Registration is now open for the first two sessions and more titles will be announced shortly in the DriveWorks Community!
How to Make Your Data Lists Look Great
in DriveWorks
Using the DriveWorks Profiler to Make Your Projects Run Quicker
In 2015, Gemma went on a SWUGN Tour across the mid-west and had a great time meeting people in the SOLIDWORKS community and teaching them how to use DriveWorksXpress – the free design automation tool included in every seat of SOLIDWORKS.
You may already know Gemma from our SWUGN Sponsorship program which she’s been running since 2014. She now works alongside Heather to support SOLIDWORKS User Group leaders around the world.
They work closely with the group leaders to help arrange presenters and even put together a handy box of resources and give-away prizes.
They also co-ordinate the DriveWorks award for SWUGN group leader of the year. This year it was awarded to Jeff Holliday!
Now Gemma is hitting the road for her first UK SWUGN Tour! The community is growing here in the UK with two new groups launching in May – SOLIDWORKS User Group London and SOLIDWORKS User Group Midlands.
Gemma will be on the road supporting group leaders at all three meetings here in the UK next week. Stay tuned for more info!
Registration for all meetings is now open and you can secure your place using the links below.
Keep an eye out for Gemma and don’t forget to say hi!
SOLIDWORKS User Group meetings are a great way to connect with other engineers, product designers and industry enthusiasts. As a SOLIDWORKS Gold Partner product, we’re really keen to get involved with the SOLIDWORKS community.
In May 2016Â Heather, who is involved in running the SWUGN sponsorship program here at DriveWorks, completed her first SWUGN tour. She teamed up with SwugOne group leader Todd Blacksher to visit SWUG meetings in Nebraska and Missouri.
In June 2016, she hit the road again and this time she visited SWUG meetings in Oregon and Washington. Then in November 2016, Heather travelled to Chicago to attend SWUG meetings in Illinois.
Heather is now planning her fourth tour, which takes place at the end of the month and she will be visiting four SWUG groups in the Wisconsin area. She’ll be presenting DriveWorksXpress to the groups and showing them just how easy it is to activate the free design automation tool included in every licence of SOLIDWORKS.
As always there will be the opportunity to network and there are some great giveaways and prizes up for grabs at the meetings. If you’ll be attending any of the meetings, look out for Heather and say hello!
Register below to secure your place…
SOLIDWORKS Resource Forum Sheboygan (SURF)
When – Monday 22nd May 2017
Where – The Vollrath Company, 1236 N 18th St, Sheboygan, WI 53081-3201
Northeast Wisconsin SOLIDWORKS User Group
When – Tuesday 23rd May 2017
Where – Fox Valley Technical College, 1825 N. Bluemound Drive, Appleton, WI 54912
La Crosse, Eau Claire, Winona area (LEWA) SOLIDWORKS User Group
When – Wednesday 24th May 2017
Where – Arcadia Country Club, 340 Golf Lane, Arcadia, WI 54612
SOLIDWORKS Milwaukee Area Resource Team (SMART) and Kettle Moraine SWUG Joint Meeting
When – Thursday 25th May 2017
Where – Moraine Technical College, 2151 North Main Street, West Bend, WI 53090
