The Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group Sept 10th meeting is one of those inspirational events that (upon reflection) seems bigger than perhaps any of us knew at the moment. We had a productive face to face discussion with SolidWorks developers that really seemed to humanize the often corporate SolidWorks Corp. Many topics were covered in this personable exchange. In the end, I had the impression that these guys understand our needs and seem eager to fulfill our expectations. Was I snowed? Well, maybe, but I doubt it. I will break up the discussion about this meeting in to several articles. Stay tuned.
Month: September 2008
Tri-Valley SolidWorks UG Meeting – Sept 10
The next quarterly meeting for the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group is on Sept 10, 2008 at 6:30pm, held in the Holiday Inn Express (6275 Dublin Blvd., Dublin CA 94568). If any SolidWorks users are within any kind of driving distance at all, I recommend they attend this event! It will start out with Kenneth Barrentine’s presentation on weldments, deconstructing a vacuum cleaner and tube frames.
After that, Kenneth offers us a rare treat in the form of a SolidWorks Developer Round Table (hosted by Richard Doyle), where users will be face to face with SolidWorks developers. Topics to be addressed include discussion about surfacing and free-form consumer product modelling, geometric editing, SolidWorks functionality that is nice but just not good enough, and areas where SolidWorks seems to be of lower quality and reliability. I’m sure they will be open to other discussions as well, time allowing. This is your time (as the user) to rant at them to let them know what bugs you the most about SolidWorks. Of course, I’m also sure they will respond well to any raves you might have about SolidWorks as well.
This is one of those events you’ll not want to miss. Even if you don’t have any rants or raves, you’ll get a chance to rub elbows with SolidWorks developers and Richard Doyle. My thanks goes to Kenneth Barrentine, who selflessly puts these User Group meetings together.
It Has Begun (SW Community)
SolidWorks has started their effort to provide users with access to the SolidWorks online community via the SolidWorks website. It is under the heading Communities.  This new area is apart of the revamping of the SolidWorks website in to a more organized set up.  When you open the Communities area, you’ll see a slick yet simple 3D rotation menu that allows you to go to six separate SolidWorks related communities.Â
The first area is to the Engineers & Designers community. Here, you will find links to the SolidWorks Discussion Forum, the friendly and familar SWUGN, SolidWorks User Blogs (such as yours truly), and the always useful SolidWorks Express Newsletter.
The second area is a connection to Manufacturers & Suppliers, were you’ll find links to SupplierSource.com (a valuable resource in its own right), 3D ContentCentral, and the listing of SolidWorks Partners.
The third area takes you to information about the Certified SolidWorks Professional program, including basic information about the CSWP tests and how to get certified.
The fourth area is for Educators and Students, with links to vital websites that support each. This area has an extensive number of links, so even if you are not currently going to school or teaching, I would encourage a looksee.
The fifth area on the list is to SolidWorks itself, called “Connect with SolidWorks“, which has links to Enhancement Requests, Early-visibility Program, and Beta Testing.Â
The final community area is Events, which has information about SolidWorks World, User Group meeting dates, Industry and online events such as SolidWorks regular teleconferences and on-demand webinars.
This new Communities area seems like a good and modest first step in attempting to bring together all of the diverse SolidWorks resources that are available online. The list of links is comprehensive and fairly well organized (for the most part). If this area gets enough notice, it may open the door to more people discovering our SolidWorks online community.Â
SolidWorks online community efforts are on par
Our SolidWorks online community currently seems to be based largely on individual contributor efforts. Discussions regarding SolidWorks are scattered all over the internet in a multitude of forums, a growing number of blogs (though that number does seem to be stabilizing this year), and online resource sites. In the past, these websites were far and few between. Nowadays, they are fairly well interlinked. It is this interlinking that really has started creating the sense of community. A lot of the interlinking of websites comes from the 2006-2007 explosion of SolidWorks related blogs, and through the efforts of SolidWorks (namely Richard Doyle) to provide new resources to its user base. In a way, Richard has been pulling double duty, by being the man behind the curtain for both the user group community and the online community. These are intertwined, but they are different.
SolidWorks is now giving more attention to the online community. One of the earliest attempts was the revamping of 3D ContentCentral, with (in my opinion) marginal success. A new and recent endeavor (this year) attempted to take advantage of “organic marketing” (or whatever it is currently called).  This was the whole Smart Button affair. This new push was even alluded to at SolidWorks World 2008. Of course, like most planned organic marketing campaigns, this project didn’t seem to go very far.Â
Now, SolidWorks is researching how best to proceed. I’ve seen some enthusiastic inquiry by SolidWorks staff. Some of my suggestions and ideas have been previously mentioned on SolidWorks Legion to aid their effort. Perhaps I should be working for SolidWorks? :) Though some of my comments have warnings or cynical, I am grateful to SolidWorks Corp for supporting the natural organic growth that is going on. Maybe they can tap into it more effectively eventually.
That all said, there is one place where SolidWorks appears to have some level of success in the online community. This is in their forums. There aren’t thousands of people logged on at one time (and if there was, I imagine it would be chaos), but there is a large number of active users. Discussions include the frequent how-to question and answers. There are the occasional rants and raves. Requests for software improvement are frequent. And, included are tips and tricks. Though the forums are moderated, it is not done so with a heavy hand.
Perhaps the forums can be used as an example for SolidWorks on how they can tap into the online community more effectively. Simply, provide a useful and engaging resource that will compel individuals to participate (or at least frequently lurk). This seems fundamental, but it is something that escapes so many corporations. So far, SolidWorks is running par for the course. With some luck, maybe they can strike on an idea for the online community that takes off.