oftware solutions com- pany The CAD Corpor-ation plans to use its yearly user conference on August 3 to prove to current and prospective users that it is a holistic Autodesk software and services solutions provider, says MD Leon Smalberger.
He points out that the theme of this year’s conference is Communicate, Collaborate and Coordinate, which reflects the company’s aim to show users how to use all the Autodesk products in a complementary way.
“The CAD Corporation started three years ago and we have held the Autodesk conference since our inception,” the corporation states.
While the conference is usually held in line with Autodesk’s yearly software release, the company decided to postpone this year’s conference to a later date so that it is more of a general- user conference and not a version-specific one.
The initial purpose of the conference was to ensure that users were made aware of what Autodesk had changed in its major releases, but this year the corporation moved the focus to educating users in making the most of their Autodesk soft- ware applications and investment.
In addition, the conference will also inform users of new products and how to use existing software and multidisciplinary software applications in collaboration with each other, Smalberger explains.
This will also be the first conference where The CAD Corpor-ation will allow keynote speakers and exhibitors to join the conference, he states.
“We have many service providers that complement our offerings and we decided to allow them access to our users. “These exhibitors were spe- cifically chosen by us and exhibition space is not open to the public.”
Existing Autodesk users, as well as prospective users, can attend the conference, which will be of value to anyone interested in using the corporation’s products, says Smalberger.
“This conference will be an informative day where attendees will be able to make a product decision based on the whole picture,” he adds.
This year’s conference will comprise two sessions. The morning session will consist of a main stage presentation where The CAD Corporation’s cus- tomers who were involved in the company’s projects during the last year will share their experiences with conference attendees.
The session will also be coupled with a round-table discussion, which will give the audience an opportunity to ask the speakers about the chal- lenges and successes of Autodesk’s software, says Smalberger.
During the afternoon session, The CAD Corporation will share product details with attendees and hold product demonstrations.
Smalberger adds that last year’s conference was fairly small and split up into different days on which each hosted a different discipline. It was attended by about 60 people a day.
“The highlight of the 2011 conference for us was the feedback we received from the attendees and the interest shown in the conference,” says Smalberger.
He stresses that this year’s Autodesk user conference will be the biggest the company has ever held and should hit the 250-user mark, which is doubling every year.
TheCAD Corporation’s users are typically architects, consulting engineers, construction companies and product manu- facturers who do actual design work from concept to construction.
“We have software solutions for every engineering discipline, from civil and structural to plant design, architecture and manufacturing.
“Our software is working software, and people, especially designers or engineers, tend to spend most of their day working on these programs,” says Smalberger.
This conference will provide Autodesk users with an opportunity to keep abreast of what The CAD Corporation’s Autodesk software can do for their businesses, he concludes.
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