SolidWorks Legion April 2010 Contest Winners

The SolidWorks Legion April 2010 contest is over.  I wish to thank everyone for their participation.  There were a lot of comments made by many individuals.

First Place

With the most entries, it was no surprize that Deepak Gupta would win something.  In fact, it wasn’t much of a surprize that he won first place, the CSWP test voucher.

Second Place

Also not much of a surprize is that Joe Hasik would win something too!  Well, he won second place, the book “signed” by Sir Richard Branson.

Third Place

The third place winner is Donal Waide. I wish for Donal to have many cold drinks in the summer and hot beverages in the winter!

Congratulations to all the winners!

April Contest prize requested photos

There was a recent request to add photos of the prizes for the SolidWorks Legion April 2010 contest.  I guess this will makes the prizes more tangible.  (All it takes to enter this contest is to leave comments on SolidWorks Legion articles that are published during April 2010 and any SolidWorks Legion articles linked via twitter by my fcsuper account.)

Prize Photos

First prize: There is no photo available for a CSWP test voucher, since its just a code that allows you to take the test.  However, if the winner passes the test, they will be able to use their CSWP badge.

cswp

Second prize:  I don’t have a photo of Sir Richard Branson’s book, but a press release photo should be fine to represent this prize.  This copy is a new and unread book that has some sort of official replicated Sir Richard Branson signature.  (I have my own “signed” copy, which is not so new.)

bransonbook

Third prize:  Due to the rarity of the SolidWorks labelled insulated hot/cold mug, I could’ve made it a first prize in a different contest.  These mugs are tough.  I love my own personal mug.  It literally keeps cold drinks cold and hot drinks warm for hours.  (All bets are off if you try to mix cold and hot drinks together).  This prize is for the new/never-used mug in this photo.

supermug

(Remember, even articles about the contest qualify comments for the contest during the month of April 2010.)

April Content for SolidWorks Legion

SolidWorks Legion has a contest going on for the month of April 2010.  The basic idea is to simple.  To enter the contest, leave comments for any new articles on SolidWorks Legion, and any SolidWorks Legion articles that I link via Twitter with my fcsuper account for the month of April 2010.  For full rules, see the announcement article.  Available to win is a CSWP test voucher, “signed” book by Sir Richard Branson, and a insulated SolidWorks mug.  Have fun!

SolidWorks Legion April 2010 Contest (post comments)

Spring is here, though many of us are still very wintered.  To cheer up readers, I’m conducting a new SolidWorks Contest for April 2010.  Throughout April, I will tweet links from my fcsuper Twitter account.  Each link will be to an older or new SolidWorks Legion article (hereby called “linked article”).  To enter this contest, simply post at least one new comment on each of the these linked articles.  Though not required, I request that comments be on-topic with the linked article.  Every person that posts at least one new comment to a linked article will have one entry added into a random drawing that will take place by May 4, 2010.  The drawing will be for three places, with winning entries picked randomly in the following order.

  1. First place: Voucher for CSWP test of the winner’s choice (CSWE excluded).
  2. Second place: Sir Richard Branson’s book Business Stripped Bare Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur (The book has a reproduced autograph by Branson.  I cannot determine the method used to reproduce the signature.  Even still, it’s pretty cool.)
  3. Third place: Hot-cold insulated SolidWorks mug.

 

Since I’m going to do an actual random drawing for this contest, I’m taking the rule thing seriously.  Here are additional rules.  Maximum number of entries per person will be limited to the total number of linked articles within the month of April 2010.  Odds of winning will be determined by the total number of eligible entries.  Entries to this contest will not be accepted after April 30, 2010.  Limit one entry per person for each linked article, regardless to how many times the article is mentioned on Twitter, and regardless to the number of additional comments made on that same article.  Only comments left on SolidWorks Legion website for the linked articles are eligible as entries.  By entering this contest, you agree to accept and follow all contest rules and you accept my decisions regarding this contest as final.  Each person that enters this contest is responsible for their own ability to use the prize if they win.  I reserve the right to remove and disqualify any comments as entries for being spam, hostile or otherwise inappropriate.  I reserve the right to post links to other articles on other websites.  Links to articles that are not on SolidWorks Legion are not part of this contest.  Links by anyone else other than me (via my twitter account) are not part of this contest, even if those links are to SolidWorks Legion articles.  For a comment to quality as an entry, it must have a time and date stamp (as issued by SolidWorks Legion website) that shows it was posted after the associated tweet, and it must include the person’s email (as entered into the comment fields).  Each entry to be represented by a piece of paper that has the same dimensions +/-10% to all other entries.  All entries will be collected in some sort of bowl or similar container.  Winners will be randomly hand drawn from the container.  Each person may only win one prize in this contest.  If a person has won one prize and one of their entries is drawn again, the drawing for that place will continue until a different person’s entry is picked.  If a person is unable to post a comment for whatever reason, they may email me with the subject line “SolidWorks Legion Contest Entry” and a message stating the linked article’s title in lieu of a comment.  Winners will be announced during the month of May 2010 on SolidWorks Legion.  Each winner will also be contacted separately via email during the month of May 2010.  Winners will have until the end of June 31, 2010 to reply to the notification email.  If no response from a winner is received by me, regardless to the reason, that winner forfeits the prize and it will not be re-issued or substituted.  Prizes will not be substituted nor exchanged for other prizes.  If the winner of the CSWP test does not use their CSWP test voucher before it expires, the winner forfeits that prize and it will not be re-issued or substituted.  The value for each prize is equal to the amount I paid for each (which is $0.00).  I will cover shipping costs for prizes sent to U.S.A. domestic destinations.  Shipping costs for an international shipment will be the responsibility of the winner.  Any attempt by any individual to game contest rules for unfair advantage or to act in a way that is not in the spirit of this contest will forfeit their entries and any other stakes in this contest.  Employees of Dassault Systemes, any of its subsidiaries and any software resellers are not eligible to win.  Any comments left on SolidWorks Legion by such persons do not count as entries for this contest.  This article (the one that you are reading right now) counts as the first entry opportunity.

SWUGN Summit – San Jose in success

SWUGN Summit San Jose came to a close with many satisfied attendees.  In the past, San Jose area attendance to SWUGN Summits has been a bit up and down.  For whatever reason, attendance picked back up this year.  I haven’t checked to see the actual numbers yet, but I believe it is one of the best so far for this area.  Another bonus, I’m happy to report that both major VARs from this area contributed by giving some of the presentations!

Our star presenter was Gabi Jack.  Over the past week, she was stating much consternation over twitter about her impending presentation.  It turns out, she did a great job with her Surfacing presentation.  It was not obvious that this was her first live and public presentation ever since finishing college.  She’s a natural pro!

Another seasoned pro is Phil Sluder.  His SolidWorks tips and tricks session is always a crowd pleaser.  In fact, the session description simply said, “Phil’s tips and tricks…enough said.”  His presentation is good for all comers, from beginners and experienced users alike.

Elisa Moss had a heavily attended session that covered how to use derived configurations and display states for drawings.  She was also a very supportive attendee during other sessions.

Another star presenter was Alex R. Ruiz, who just recently released his new book, SolidWorks 2010: No Experience Required.  His session was partially based on the new book, which earned some well deserved attention.  I’ll be reviewing the book on SolidWorks Legion soon.

My own presentation was about advanced SolidWorks customization techniques.  Although labelled “advanced”, I did cover some easy topics as well to give something for all levels of experience.  My presentation went pretty well, except for a couple of times where SolidWorks did not momentarily cooperate.  Part of the challenge of presenting is working through the surprizes when they come up.  I was glad that the audience participated frequently and showed a lot of interest in the topics that were covered.

As usual, I’m going to have to thank Richard Doyle for putting on yet another great summit!

In other related news, Arthur Kwun of KLA Tencor earned his free CSWP test by uttering the words “SolidWorks Legion is awesome, dude!”  He did this during the lunch hour, so I wasn’t quite expecting it.  It took me a minute to realize he said the winning phrase.  Anyway, congrats!!