2003 PTC/USER Orlando Conference

Remarks on

Daily Email Newsletter 3

Wednesday, June 11

1998 Prediction by Peter Nurkse, SUN

Mitch Bloom at PTC, who has made most of the arrangements for PTC to pay my airfare to the last two PTC/USER meetings, just sent me a note, he found this prediction of mine in my 1998 newsletter from Anaheim. I was trying to suggest how PTC's focus might be changing from CAD to data management. Writing in June, 1998, I was trying to forecast how things might turn out 5 years later, in June 2003, which is to say, today, we are now there, June 2003:

Read my 1998 prediction now...

Probably the least true part of it is the bit about amazing growth, but that may also be the least important part of it. The prediction is mostly about cultural change at PTC, and that's more fundamental, also more difficult to achieve.

You might think that's pretty far fetched, even 5 years later, all those kind words about SDRC, Unigraphics, and (cough, cough) CATIA?  Well, just take a look at the PDMLink FAQ:

  http://www.ptc.com/products/windchill/pdmlink/pdmlink_faq.htm

In that entire document, you'll find two mentions of Pro/E, one mention of IDEAS, and one mention of Unigraphics. Close enough to my prediction 5 years ago, I think. In fact, in that FAQ, Pro/E gets two mentions, and Pro/E's direct competitors get five mentions, PTC almost bending over backwards to give due credit to Pro/E's direct competitors. True, in data management, to show favoritism limits you as a data management supplier. This FAQ is a document that IDEAS and UG and CATIA users could probably read without objections, which is no doubt the idea behind it.

What about a prediction for 2008? Somehow my crystal ball is a little foggy, I don't see an interview with a senior executive in 2008 right now. But that System Provider theme we heard in Orlando seems to me a pretty substantial goal, and a goal that may never end, that's a good goal.

Peter
 

Remarks by Rick Snider, PTC/USER:


I wanted to thank Peter Nurkse for his terrific summaries of the conference activities, this year and every year.

I wish to make a couple of minor corrections to the Day 3 newsletter. Peter had mentioned the need for greater user participation at the  conference. I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments, but I also must  highlight the significant increase in user presentations over the past  year.

In 2002, we had:

  • 24 User presentations (excluding "Classic" products like CADDS, 
  • Optegra, etc. - 20.5 hours)
  • 14 PTC Practice Seminars (14 hours)
  • 20 Product Update Briefings (20 hours)
  • 14 Partner Presentations (12 hours)
  • 2 "Thirty Tips in 60 Minutes" sessions (2 hours)
In 2003, we had:
  • 33 Expert ("User") presentations (24.5 hours)
  • 15 PTC Practice Seminars (15 hours)
  • 21 Product Update Briefings (13.5 hours)
  • 16 Partner Presentations (11 hours)


User presentations represent about 40% of all presentations offered at the 2003 World Event.

Overall, there was a one-third increase in the number of user presentations (with 20% more programming hours), thanks to a record  number of abstract submissions.   Furthermore, while the numbers of  presentations by PTC and the partners were apparently similar from  year-to-year, there was a significant decrease in Product Update  Briefings hours (33% less) and a slight decline in Partner Presentation  time.    There was a very deliberate decision to increase user-oriented  programming this year, and the early anecdotal reports suggest that  attendees felt there was an increase in presentation quality (we are  awaiting the survey results to confirm this).

PTC/USER also invests considerable resources in speaker support for the World Event.  Early in the presentation development process, presenters  are introduced to the production company, who review presentation  submissions and offer suggestions for improving the slides.  The  production company also has expertise in using Powerpoint effectively  and is able to offer technical support on use of the software.  This  development and review process begins in February and continues until  May, when presentations are finalized and frozen for the conference CD  production.

During the conference, speakers meet with the production company staff who explain the use of the audio-video equipment and also arrange  rehearsal time for presenters.  Powerpoint operators are also available  on-site to assist with last-minute modifications of presentations.

Of course there is always room for improvement, but we do try to make the presentation process as easy as possible for our speakers.  We  appreciate the efforts and sacrifices made by our presenters to help  the PTC/USER community through the sharing of technical information and  experiences.   We wish to send a great big "Thank you" to all of our  past and current presenters!  We hope that more PTC software users will  consider making a presentation at a future PTC/USER World Event.

Regards,
Rick