Guess what it means? – Answer after the break

… “I’m out of the office at the moment – please email me any work you need translating!”

Honestly, I could not really understand why people would use a very cryptic method to model a hook and run a pretty complex program to get displacements and stresses I could calculate by hand in a few minutes. On the other hand, we were in the early days of computer and we were using Siemens PC’s with a 286 processor, some of you might remember – which was exciting for a young engineer. Graphics -  not existing, PreProcessing – “vi” at the best and PostProcessing done by tables and some b&w graphs – that’s the type of challenge we were all looking for.

After finishing the class, I got the chance to write my master thesis with CadFem about an updated training and user guide for Ansys Version 12 I think. In parallel I was helping some of the advanced engineers with their projects. My special thanks here goes to Erke who was very patient with my English which improved while we were working together. There is Peter, who stayed always – even under the highest stress – pretty cool and relaxed and with that behaviour he gave me some good advise for my future career. At the 8th Ansys User Meeting in Bad Neuenahr Germany I had the pleasure to pick up Dr. Swanson from the Airport – if you know how it feels to drive a VIP -  Dr. Swanson was at this time one of the most respected persons in our industry and I was unbelievable proud.

I remember a day when Dr. Mueller told me he would like to grow the company to not more than 15 people – that mark was probably passed already 2 years later. In any case there are still  people left from that old days which is incredible for this market segment and the pace companies changing today. It shows the continuity and team spirit of CadFem which is well-known and legendary in Germany – uups and Switzerland of course. Markus – who for some reasons called me Charlie in that days – had a good training in Munich before he opened the CadFem Switz office and grew significantly fast.

Of course not everything was bright and shiny. I was probably not the best of all engineers the company has seen so I remember my time in Hannover and Stuttgart where other people had to fix my stupid errors in night shifts to keep the customer happy. I never apologized for that but I do now!  So I should not have been surprised by the fact I did not get offered a job at CadFem. On the other hand, Dr. Mueller helped me to find an application engineer position with Aries Technology which was a very good alternative.

So after more than 20 years I’m still happy in the FEM world having worked in various sales and sales management functions meanwhile. But the base for it was a simple hook modeled as beams in Ansys with commands such as node, 1, X, Y, Z and so forth. With this little blog I want to thank Dr. Mueller and the old team for the time we have spent together and wish him and CadFem all the best in the future.

This discussion should give you some considerations and thoughts if you present or participate in a Webinar. It might sound profane but hey, I’m getting so fed up with this, I had to write about it.

Whether you join or present to your company buddies, your boss or your valued customers, here are the 10 most important Do’s and Dont’s :

1. Never use a mobile phone

Mobile phones in general create a lot of background noise. This is annoying for anybody joining on land lines since you heavily  disturb any conversation. Turning your mobile on mute is an option, however it’s cumbersome to switch back and forth. Maybe you need to press 2 buttons on your phone before you can start speaking — The topic of discussion has probably changed meanwhile …

2. Prepare yourself at least 10 minutes before the meeting starts

Always keep in mind, if you are late you are stealing time from the other meeting members. Just make sure you join – or as a host – start the meeting at least 10 to 15 minutes before the official start. If there are connection problems, you will find out early and there is enough time to install required plugins in your browser. Have your phone and meeting number ready and check to set your phone on tone dial (yes, we still use those phones in Europe)  If you host customer Webinars, you might want to have a welcome screen up with some basic information about yourself or your company.

3. Introduce all the people on the call

I know this should be self explaining but everybody wants to be aware of anybody in the call. Just make sure you introduce all the people in your room not only yourself. In particular if there are customers joining – ask for the people attending on their side. You wonder why I mention this topic here – because I was caught by surprise several times!

4. Use Mute / Un-Mute

Almost certainly there is some way to actively mute and un-mute selected people on the call. If you present to a large audience using Webinar solutions, mute anybody and introduce Q&A slides regularly where you can un-mute the audience and take questions. This makes it definitely more convenient for anybody in the call. Tell the audience they are on mute.

If you take part in the discussion, keep your own phone muted and un-mute as soon as you want to talk. Nothing is more difficult to stand than somebody breathing in this micro – which brings me to the next topic

5. Use your headset

We discussed not to use mobile phones for obvious reasons, but using a phone handset or speaker is specifically difficult for the audience. If you decide to type your keyboard or do anything else on the side, you might need to put your micro too close to your nose and mouth  or your keyboard sends its clack clack clack into the meeting!

The best and most convenient solution is a headset, easy to use and install, keeps your hand free and suppress environmental noise. By the way, eating and drinking is not appropriate just because you think nobody can see you… check the video settings, you might be on air!

6. Sharing your desktop

There is almost always the possibility to share an application only or your entire desktop. If you decide – as the presenter – to share your desktop, make sure to switch off all email, Skype or system messages. Although your conversation with your family, colleagues or other customers can be interesting, it has most likely no relevance for the business. Sharing the application or document might be the better choice but sometimes not practicable.

7. Presenting

No matter of the topic, if you do a software demo for example avoid moving windows around. It might look beautiful on your Aero desktop but it is definitely not looking good for the audience. There are screen delay and graphical issues on any other computer  used in the audience. Following your mouse on the screen and understand what you click is already difficult enough….

8. Speak slow, loud and clear

People can’t see your body language, all you have is your voice to transport the message. Remember, in a presentation the most important aspect is the body language, not what you say, not how you say it! If there is one strong advise from my side, train your presentation before using a mirror or ask you colleagues for a dress rehearsal. Speak slowly, loud and clear directly into the micro of your headset. Remember the time delay for the audience if you change the slides of your Powerpoint presentation. This may take up to 10 seconds until everybody sees the new slide! If you advance too fast, you are 2 slides ahead of the audience with your text.

9. Emotional discussions

Everybody knows, sometimes it needs to get emotional. Imagine the situation of 10 people in a room and some people via phone joining. If you are not in the room and the discussion is getting hot, why don’t hang up, do something better and join again later. It’s amazing how unstable the phone system can be sometimes and the guys in the room might have forgotten you anyway….

10. The magic “tenth”

Do not take another call on the same phone while you join a conf-call. Everybody has seen it but it happens again and again… the “music” if you switch to hold the line will kill the meeting immediately. If you wonder why I bring this up, you will remember next time you experience it!

]]> http://kanary65.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/ten-things-to-consider-for-webinars/feed/ 0 TWeninger http://kanary65.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/do-you-need-to-manage-your-cae-data/ http://kanary65.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/do-you-need-to-manage-your-cae-data/#comments Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:19:46 +0000 TWeninger http://kanary65.wordpress.com/?p=21 ]]> Following my friend Alhad Joshi’s comment at LinkedIn

“Something interesting came up. Someone suggested that end-users actually do not need any data management system at all. They know where their data is.” I made up my mind and thought this would be an interesting comment to discuss.

One of my customers in this CAE data management space described the biggest value for the him was the seamless changeover if somebody in his team was replaced. The new person could immediately start where the predecessor has stopped without searching for data and files.

By automation of standards in CAE and implementing in a management system companies can have huge positive impact on the value of simulation.

However, the user might be reluctant if he has to change the way of working, thinks to lose control of his data and therefor losing power. Although this is a natural reaction, the value for the team is so huge, that most of the arguments coming from the user community might become relative.

When it comes to the question of implementing a CAE data management system, customers usually run a TCO or ROI calculation. Of course they take into account  IT management effort, licensing cost, maintenance, hardware etc. and run it against time saving, reduced headcount cost etc. but rarely rate the value of collaboration improvement. There are a lot of positive and  money saving effects for the customer but the exploration needs thorough and detailed discussions upfront – who spends the time for this?

Kanary’s tend to twitter in general, but sometimes they learn to speak and need more than 160 characters to express themselve.