{"id":28,"date":"2008-02-17T18:14:58","date_gmt":"2008-02-18T01:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=28"},"modified":"2011-03-02T21:48:01","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T05:48:01","slug":"solidworks-world-2008-day-2-jan-22-breakout-sessions-and-such","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fcsuper.com\/swblog\/?p=28","title":{"rendered":"SolidWorks World 2008 Day 2 (Jan 22) Breakout sessions and such"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally, after two days of being strangers passing in the night, Chris MacCormick and I finally had a chance to meet up on this day. \u00a0But more of that later.<\/p>\n

After the General Session was over, my first breakout session of the day was the Hands-On Session Creating SolidWorks Add-ins<\/strong>. \u00a0Although I dabble in creating and editing SolidWorks API to help shortcut common functions, I still am just a hack at VBA programming. \u00a0I had hoped this session would’ve been useful to continuing my exposure to VB.NET and making add-ins for SolidWorks. \u00a0I was very dissatisfied with this session. \u00a0This was particularly disappointing because\u00c2\u00a0this was my only Hands-On session for the entire SWW8, even though I had logged-on to the SWW8 website at the right time to allow me to get any Hands-On sessions I wanted (way back in 2007). \u00a0The session didn’t start off well. \u00a0There was a typo on my schedule card that pointed me to the wrong room. \u00a0Once I found the correct room and sat down, it took too long to get the session started. \u00a0Once the presenter started, he asked a question to check every-one’s experience level. \u00a0He asked the question so quickly, I do not believe anyone understood what he said until he uttered the words something like, “Good, everyone will know what I’m talking about. \u00a0Let’s get to this.” \u00a0Once he did start with the lesson, he flew through so fast, most everyone just gave up trying to follow along. \u00a0It took forever to get his attention to tell him no one know where he was in the lesson. \u00a0He just wasn’t paying attention to the attendees. \u00a0Worse yet, very few of the computers were even configured correctly to allow us to successfully follow along, even if we tried. \u00a0By the time some of us finally were able to bring this to his attention, half the session was over. \u00a0Many of us had not passed the first few steps. \u00a0He then discovered our computers had a wrong setting. \u00a0As we moved on again, we again found we couldn’t follow along. \u00a0He found out that yet another setting on the computer was wrong. \u00a0Basically, the presenter did not make sure the classroom computers where set up properly for his lesson.<\/p>\n

At that point Chris MacCormick gave me a call to check when and where we were going to meet up for lunch. \u00a0I was so frustrated at the poor quality of the session, I answered the phone without apology. Chris and I planned to\u00c2\u00a0meet up in a few minutes. \u00a0I then just walked out with 15 minutes to spare. By that time, I was about the fifth person at a Hands-On computer to walk, and I wasn’t the last. \u00a0Also, almost all back of the room observers had left by that point. \u00a0What did I learn? \u00a0Know when to hold them; know when to fold them; know when to walk away; know when to run.<\/p>\n

I finally met up with Chris just before the cafeteria opened. \u00a0It was about time. \u00a0He turns about to be a cool guy with a lot of dynamic energy. \u00a0Lunch provided by SWW8 was pretty good. \u00a0(I had given up on the SWW8 breakfasts by this time.) \u00a0We were later joined by Richard Doyle and another acquaintance of mine. \u00a0Chris had missed the SWUGN Annual Summit Meeting on the day before, so Mr. Doyle filled him in on some of the details.<\/p>\n

After lunch, my first breakout session of the afternoon was Chris’ own Using the Power of 3D to Teach GD&T<\/strong>. \u00a0This session was geared towards being an interactive event between educators. \u00a0There were a lot of others who attended that may not have understood this paradigm. \u00a0Chris went into detail about the DimXpert and how to use this an other functionality to demonstrate GD&T, including possible limitations or dangers with relying too much on the software to define specifications. \u00a0I’ll let Chris go into more detail about this and his other session if he chooses. His session did spark a lot of dialogue between educators. \u00a0After the session, I witnessed more people flood up to the front of the room to talk to him than any other presenter at any other\u00c2\u00a0session I attended throughout SWW8.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

My final breakout session for the day was Exploring the SolidWorks API from a Battleship<\/strong>. \u00a0This session was more of a demonstration of how to use SolidWorks and its API creatively for unusual tasks. \u00a0The game of Battleship was completely modelled and emulated within SolidWorks. \u00a0It was very cleaver and extremely comprehensive. \u00a0The presenter did go into his methodology for writing API. \u00a0In part, these are some of the points:<\/p>\n