It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: day one of SOLIDWORKS World 2018! After months of anticipation, here’s a recap of Day 1 in Los Angeles, CA.
Arriving At SOLIDWORKS World 2018
Before you can start the experience at SOLIDWORKS Word you have to get there. I know one attendee who tweeted they were driving from Iowa, one hit a deer with their truck in Nebraska and one of our Application Engineers was on a flight where the cabin filled with smoke—which is never a good thing. This resulted in a seven-hour delay while they landed and waited on a replacement plane. What a start! However, none of these setbacks deterred the journey that is SOLIDWORKS World. We are so excited to be here and get started. Nothing’s going to stop us!
Application Engineer Workshop
TriMech’s Application Engineers started early on day one of SOLIDWORKS World 2018 with an Application Engineer Workshop. It was all about learning as much as we can to help our users be better supported and further our expertise. Our team dug deep during this four-hour session with SOLIDWORKS Technical Support. Topics included were SOLIDWORKS CAM, SOLIDWORKS Simulation, SOLIDWORKS PDM and Installations.
Partner Pavilion
Day one is also a big kickoff at the Partner Pavilion, which is the largest worldwide exhibition of partner solutions that work with SOLIDWORKS. It’s a showcase of the latest and greatest products and services. Good thing the floor is open all week because it’s easy to spend hours walking through it all.
This year SOLIDWORKS announced that there will be an exhibit replicating an entire “Shop Floor” complete with a CNC milling machine and coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Stay tuned, as we will have more details about this exhibit later this week, as well as how it follows the path of a part created in SOLIDWORKS, manufactured with SOLIDWORKS CAM, and inspected based on requirements laid out in SOLIDWORKS MBD.
Customer Appreciation Event
Speaking of kickoff, the highlight of the day was no doubt the huge customer appreciation event we put on as a Super Bowl watch party. Over 140 clients and vendors signed up to attend, and there was ample opportunity to eat, watch the game (or the commercials if that was more interesting for you) and network with each other. There were folks there that I’ve seen at SOLIDWORKS World every year for the past 10 years and of course many that I was meeting for the first time. We got to catch up or find out more about their business and how SOLIDWORKS is working for them.
For me, the connections made and time spent with clients and coworkers, is what SOLIDWORKS World does better than anything. Four days of getting away from meetings and the daily grind to focus on what we can do in the next year to strengthen those connections is almost more like a “retreat” than a conference. It’s only day one, but it’s going strong. Stay tuned for highlights over the next few days. 
Want to see more #SWW18 highlights? Browse our recaps from Day Two, Day Three and Day Four or subscribe to our blog to stay up-to-date on all SOLIDWORKS and TriMech new.
