Hey. Let's play with numbers...
Orlando's Autodesk University had 5,100+ attendees. Possibly the largest turnout at a vendor-specific CAD show ever. (Although it pales compared to a construction show held just earlier with 110,000 attendees, according to the shuttle bus driver.)
SolidWorks, in building the hype towards its event in January, reports over 3,000 have signed up. A smaller number than AU. But in percentage terms, a 9x larger participation rate:
AU : 5,100 / 7 million users = 0.073%
SW : 3,000 / 450 thousand users = 0.67%
Of course, there's the things the CAD vendors do yo help bump up the numbers. Autodesk (and its NAUG arm) give away free trips to AU. This year, the higher numbers were helped by the first-time addition of users who use Autodesk's Media&Entertainment software.
SolidWorks World has a lower cost yet more headliner acts than AU -- lower price, you're more likely to go. And then there its version of sending people free: its 3-fer-2 offer lets three people attend for the price of two.
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to seeing Inventor takeon SolidWorks in three rounds of boxing at Caeser's Palace (g).
Very interesting take on the numbers. A couple more interesting numbers:
(1) I can tell you that the total attendance at SolidWorks World should be well OVER 3000, since there is still another 2 months for people to sign up.
(2) AU reported 90 exhibitors, and the SolidWorks World exhibition hall is already sold out, with 91.
(3) 100% of the attendees at SolidWorks World are 3D mecahnical CAD (MCAD) users. What portion of AU do you think is 3D? What portion is MCAD?
http://solidworks3dcad.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Mike Volpe | Dec 08, 2005 at 10:00 AM