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 The Central Canada Regional Users Group (CCRUG) annual conference drew
rave reviews from UGS users and vendors who attended the event on May 31st
at the Toronto Aerospace Museum (TAM) in Toronto, Ontario.
Jim Milton, UGS Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Services, kicked
off the conference with a fascinating, aerospace-flavored presentation. TAM
CEO Claude Sherwood followed up with an historical overview of Canadian Aerospace
Innovations, with particular focus on the legendary Avro Arrow jet interceptor,
a project in which he participated as a junior draftsman early in his career.
Users then broke off into two presentation areas for a variety of technical
workshops, with frequent breaks for refreshment and to give attendees an opportunity
to browse vendor booths set up amongst the aircraft throughout the museum.
John Baker, charismatic UGS Product Evangelist, capped off the day with an
energetic session.
 The TAM provided a spectacular backdrop for our meeting of UGS minds. In
fact, I could not think of a more inspiring location for our regional conference.
Designers are often prone to tunnel vision because fine detail is their bread
and butter, so an occasional look at a bigger picture is more than healthy,
it’s vital. For them to attend a seminar on advanced CAD techniques
in a hangar full of classic airplanes from which to draw inspiration is just
what the doctor ordered.
UGS Canada was so impressed by the venue that it has promised to donate a
UG license to the TAM, to facilitate aircraft restoration projects and to
support their new education center. CCRUG has pledged assistance with training
and software support. Like CCRUG, the Toronto Aerospace Museum is slowly being
built up into something great by volunteers who are committed to preserving
our aviation heritage.
Situating conference presentations in the museum hangar was undeniably popular
with speakers and audience alike, but it did present a few challenges for
the CCRUG executive. For instance, the sound system required thorough testing
and periodic tweaking to ensure that presenters could be clearly heard in
the vast, echoing space of the hangar. In addition, an eastward-facing wall
of windows glowed with intense morning sunshine, threatening to bleach out
images on the projection screen. (We had hoped for a cloudy day but, to our
dismay, the weather was wonderful and the museum was extremely bright.) Plan
B consisted of an improvised sunshade that allowed the show to go on, although
colours onscreen were a little washed out. Obviously, holding our event at
the museum (as opposed to a conference center) involved some tradeoffs but
the inspirational ambiance more than compensated for any minor inconveniences.
 Although
numerous Canadians travel to attend PLM World, benefiting from the vast
array of presentations and interacting with the developers of UGS products,
many do not have the opportunity. The annual CCRUG conference gives users
a chance to meet with vendors, UGS representatives and peers in their own
backyard. Attendees particularly enjoy the local one-day event since it
is
relatively easy to fit into a busy schedule. Thanks to our stellar guest
speakers, a solid slate of workshops, active vendor participation and a sensational
venue, we closed the 2005 CCRUG conference with record attendance.
Please visit our website to view pictures and the conference agenda: http://www.ccrug.com/events.html
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