It is finally here… SolidWorks World 2009 in Orlando Florida. SolidWorks World is the one time per year when SolidWorks users can loudly proclaim “I am a SolidWorks Geek” and no one would even blink an eye. Wandering around is a healthy mix of press, bloggers, users, resellers and employees of SolidWorks. In my day to day life I can go months without having a face to face conversation with someone that is as passionate about SolidWorks as I am. Here, I cannot walk 5 feet without running into people oozing with passion. It is really an experience that every SolidWorks user should have at least once in their life but if you were unable to attend this year, you’re in luck. All of the top SolidWorks bloggers, including myself, are here to provide you with all the information you need to help you feel like you are rubbing elbows with the elite geeks of SolidWorks.

Day 1 – Travel Day

Saturday was pretty much a travel day for me. I started out in the morning flying out of John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:45 AM and, as you can imagine, I was extremely tired when I boarded. But the excitement of what was to come worked better than any coffee that you can buy. I meant to do some writing on the plane, but between the spare tire I call my stomach, the small seats on the plane and my large laptop; it was impossible for me to find a comfortable writing position. So instead, I spent my time staring outside my window admiring the view and excitedly thinking about what was to come when I reached Orlando.

After landing in Houston, Texas I hooked up with Matthew Lorono from SolidWorks Legion. While we were waiting on our next flight, we started talking about SolidWorks World. This being my very first SolidWorks World, I enjoy hearing stories about previous SolidWorks Worlds that I missed.  While we were speaking excitedly about our plans for the week, someone sitting next to us chimed in about SolidWorks World. How cool is it, that we were in a strange city talking about SolidWorks World and there happen to be someone within earshot that was also going? After exchanging business cards, we discovered that our new traveling companion was Justin Hoey, the Technical Marketing Manager from Autodesk.
When we landed in Orlando, the three of us decided to share a cab to the Swan & Dolphin. In the cab, our conversation returned to SolidWorks World pasts, and the infamous interview that Mike Puckett had with Lynn Allen from Autodesk. I hope that sometime this week, I will have time do an interview with Justin but I promise that it will not be as hard hitting as Mike’s was with Lynn. The coolest part about the cab ride to the Swan & Dolphin was upon arrival to the hotel; Justin offered to cover the $50+ cab ride. So Autodesk paid $50 for me to go to SolidWorks World. How cool is that?

Blogger / Twitter Meet up

Thanks to Matthew West of SolidWorks, we a small get together in the Bar area of the lobby. It was a chance for bloggers and twitter users to meet, talk, drink and have fun. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the bloggers and twitterers for the first time face-to-face. Of course, what happens at the tweet-up, stays at the tweet-up but I can say “I can’t believe he said that to her”
I didn’t bring my camera with me to the tweet up (less evidence), but of course the blogging pool did not disappoint. Go check out some posts from my fellow SolidWorks Bloggers for some great coverage and photos.
That does it for my day one coverage, I am already working on my day 2 and I will be posting it later today. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed so you won’t miss anything. Also, check out all of the blogger pools coverage over the next couple of days.

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