CAD Society 2.0 Aspires to Be Meaningful

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Randall S. Newton, April 28, 2008

When I first started attending CAD industry events in 1987, I was invited to an afternoon social consisting of free beer and snacks. It seems a bunch of guys thought it a good idea to create a professional organization, but hadn’t gotten past finding a sponsor to buy the beer for their occasional gatherings at events like NDES and A|E|C SYSTEMS. To become a member, you showed up. As one fellow member told me, The CAD Society is for people who may move from one company to another, but consider themselves a permanent part of the CAD industry.

There were some good ideas kicked around in those days, like creating a scholarship or honoring special achievement. Only the awards managed to survive the “we ought to do this” stage, and have now become a tradition.

A few years ago writer and consultant Joe Greco became president, and worked on finding new relevance for the old club. He was doing a great job of enlisting support and ideas from a variety of individuals and organizations, before an untimely death at age 42. Driven by his memory, those who have followed have sought to give the organization a sense of purpose.

Last week at COFES 2008 The CAD Society announced a new campaign to boost membership. To encourage people to join, they have teamed up with a variety of vendors, offering new members thousands of dollars in possible discounts on software, hardware, training, publications and events.

For the first time, members of the CAD Society benefit from an entire catalog of CAD-related products and hardware at greatly reduced prices. New members receive discounts on HP workstation and plotter hardware, as well as on a wide variety of software packages, including Solid Edge, Rhinoceros, VersaCAD, Innovate3D, and CADnection. CAD Society members also find savings on online training from OpenCAD or I*Get*It, or publication subscriptions, including CADCAMNet.

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