MSC’s customer focus pays off

Oct 14, 2011 | Hot Topics

The tagline for the MSC Software user conference last week was “MSC Reloaded” — and, in many ways, that appeared to be the case. I didn’t think to ask, but if the analogy of “aim –> fire –> reload –> fire” is being made, MSC is very...

1 2 3 4 User conferences

Jul 6, 2011 | Hot Topics

If you’ve been following this blog over the last few months, you’ll have noticed that I’ve been traveling. A LOT. In all, I attended 4 user conferences and 3 other meetings in 5 weeks. Aside from the surreality of bouncing between Orlando, Las Vegas...

Altair’s building something big

Jul 1, 2011 | Hot Topics

Last week, I spent several days with Altair and its customers in Orlando — I’m not sure how, but I’ve managed to miss all previous HyperWorks user conferences and was excited to see what Altair is all about. I came away very impressed, both with the...

PP&M: Solving Complex Problems

Jun 8, 2011 | Hot Topics

My head is spinning after 2+ days at Hexagon’s first user conference since the close of the Intergraph acquisition. This is one complicated company!  First, a couple of general impressions, then some detail from the PP&M keynotes. I attended Monday’s investor...

Hexagon: €3.5 Billion by 2015

Jun 6, 2011 | Hot Topics

Hexagon held a Capital Markets Day for investors today and laid out its goals for the next 5 years — they’re ambitious but the company says they are attainable. And CEO Ola Rollén has a plan if there’s another recession. But before the financials, a bit of what...

Bentley shows what’s possible

Jun 3, 2011 | Hot Topics

Let’s just get it out there: I love user conferences. The marketing hype, neat stuff in the vendor/sponsor area, new product announcements, a motivational speaker … the whole thing. The best part, though, is hanging out with users. I talk to users all year long...

COFES 2011: desert, ideas and horses

Apr 25, 2011 | Hot Topics

For those who have never attended, COFES is hard to describe. It’s a mix of conference sessions, facilitated discussions and informal chats that disrupt those poor folks who came to a resort in the Arizona desert for sun and swimming pools. It’s not about product...

Channels, plants and innovation

Apr 19, 2011 | Hot Topics

I am on quite the road trip —won’t be back in the office for a few more days— and my head is spinning from all I’ve learned. The next few posts will be my attempt to recap and set it all into context for those of you not at the Autodesk Channel Summit,...

COFES 2010: Mike Payne responds

Apr 22, 2010 | Hot Topics

A few days ago, I posted a few thoughts about this year’s COFES, including my take on a brief presentation given by Mike Payne. Mike graciously responded and below is his email in its entirety. He makes a number of good points: Monica, I had condensed the talk down to...

COFES 2010: Clouds, ashes and the future

Apr 20, 2010 | Hot Topics

COFES is always interesting (I’ve only been twice, so “always” is a relative term). Get 200-300 CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM/PLM people together at a resort in the Arizona desert for 3 days. Set up a few ballroom speeches and a lot of informal discussion sessions in the resort’s...