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Elementary Mr. Watson: Retro Routers vs. Modern Boards—The Silent Struggle on Your Screen
AltiumLive 2017 Munich: Sold Out!
November 2, 2017 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Romine: I'd say quite frankly, the most significant thing is this latest PCB software release. It's the most significant in the past 15 years. And what's truly great about it and what the users are now really seeing is our user focus. If you look at what was palpable here, particularly during the robot challenge, is the passion that these individuals have for designing really cool stuff. And if we can create a product that allows them to design really cool stuff, but is suited to the way they want to design it, then we've achieved our goals. That is really the feedback that we're getting. So, mission accomplished.
Matties: You mentioned the robot challenge and, Judy, from your community engagement point of view that had to be just an amazing success.
Warner: Indeed. And how do we top that, Barry (laughs)? That’s our only problem. But we loved it. The people started off as strangers all sitting at a table, where we intentionally put them out of their comfort zone with people they were unfamiliar with. And then, next thing you know, they're physically on top of each other building these robots with so much excitement and passion. It was a team effort putting that Robot build and battle together but, we loved it and thank you for noticing it. Our challenge again is just how do we repeat that?
Matties: I'm sure you'll find a way. Ted, any final thoughts you want to share?
Pawela: I’ll just tag on to what Judy was saying. The robot event, and actually the event in its entirety, was really designed from the start to build community and to create something more than just a customer-vendor relationship, but actually start to build a community where people come here and don't think of it as Altium trying to sell products, but think of it as Altium facilitating building a bigger network and a sense of community amongst PCB designers.
Matties: Judy, any final thoughts?
Warner: My favorite part of both events, and the moment I knew that we had succeeded, which happened exactly the same way in both events, was that at the end of day one, after the robot challenge, people were coming up to me saying, "You know, why did you buy those robots? We could have built those for you. Here's my card.” Or, “Hey, I was thinking, we should do a design challenge next year." All of a sudden there was this change in language from “us and them” to “we,” and they took ownership of this event and took it proactively into their hands. To me, that was when I knew we’d hit a home run.
Matties: That's a great point. Do you have some other cities selected?
Romine: We have decided, based on lots of feedback to repeat in both cities. So, our European venue will be in Munich again, and we're going to repeat in San Diego. San Diego is never a bad place to come in the fall.
Matties: And same time period? October?
Romine: Most likely.
Matties: Congratulations, and thank you all.
Warner: Thank you, Barry.
Pawela: Good to see you, thanks. We really appreciate your participation. This has been fabulous.
Romine: Yes, Barry. I've mentioned this to you already, but you definitely have contributed directly to our success in Munich. Because the coverage you gave us about the San Diego show helped fill this room.
Romine: You definitely helped. We sold this to our partners internally, and you're a big part of that.
Matties: Thanks for the kind words.
Warner: Thank you, Barry.
Related coverage:
VIDEO: AltiumLive 2017 Germany Highlights
AltiumLive 2017 Germany photo gallery.
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