The COE (Community of Experts) Annual Experience and TechniFair is a three-day event held to bring together expert users of Dassault Systèmes solutions. It is the premier Dassault Systèmes user-focused conference where attendees assess products and technologies close-up to evaluate the relative applicability for emerging needs. We network with other professionals to learn from each other in formal presentations, hands-on labs, or social interactions.

I am long-time member of this community. Every year, experts come here and share what they learned, achieved and invented in different DS products. I have always had a goal of sharing my knowledge with this community in one of the technology sessions.

It is a formidable task to determine what knowledge would be appropriate and worthy of this gathering. For me, it would be a career milestone to present in front of an audience comprised of these experts. First, I had to determine WHAT I would present. My focus areas are PLM, Software Development and CATIA knowledgeware application development. Of these, CATIA knowledgeware is where I have had the most impact in making life better for application developers and expert designers. This impact is why I am so passionate about knowledgeware and why this is the perfect topic for my first presentation.

The next step was to submit my idea to the organization. I had to state my case by highlighting the problem, the impact, and the solutions. In my case, it went something like this:

Mostly expert designers or application developers use knowledgeware tools from CATIA to increase design efficiency, improve performance, and reduce design time. The tools consist of EKL, Rules, Reactions, Check, Knowledge Patterns, Power Copies, CATScripts, VBA, etc. All these work on some DS exposed functions. However, there are limits to the exposed functions. Unlocking theses functions opens a new world of possibilities. My presentation will discuss how to open up this new world and gain benefits that were previously reserved for long and expensive software development.

This got their attention. I think it also helped that I joined COE as a volunteer and chairman of the branch that my presentation would represent. My topic was selected!

Now, the real work begins. I know knowledgeware inside and out, but now I have to present it to other experts. I reviewed projects that I have completed and how I communicated the process and benefits. This helped me build the outline. I am following one of the best practices of a presentation:

1. Present to the audience what they should expect to gain by being here
2. Outline the use case and “problem”
3. Present my approach and 3 supporting examples
4. Restate what they gained

I ran through many revisions, practicing with some of my peers and fine tuning the delivery. I am confident in my preparation, but I know there will be butterflies when I get up on stage.

My advice to others that want to “take the stage:” Pick a topic that is not only beneficial to your audience, but also something you are passionate about. Practice with your peers and remember your audience. It’s all about what they want.

Lalaso Pingale is the PLM & Application Development Manager for Goken America, and the Chairman of KBE Committee (Develop and Deploy) for COE.