PLM Dress Code Factoids

by Oleg on July 13, 2012 · 8 comments

I learned something interesting today from solidedging blog – Yes Gertrude, PLM World has a Dress Code, by Dave Ault. He is speaking about enforcing the dress code during some of PLM events and meetings. Here is the key passage:

Posted today at the Siemens SE Misc category on the BBS Forum. “I just got an email through regarding the PLM Connection event next week in the UK. I was pretty shocked to see a dress code stipulated – see the image below!! The day a company starts to tell their CUSTOMERS how to dress shows a severe disconnect from reality. Do Siemens really think this sort of pomposity will endear them to potential clients (let alone existing ones)? Now I know why Steve Jobs never made it to PLM World; his black crew neck just didn’t cut it with the organizers.

Well… I don’t know what was the reason Steve Jobs didn’t attend PLM world. Actually, I know little about what PLM software Apple is using. Even more, personally, I had never been invited to PLM world. Now, I’m guessing that main reason was probably because I didn’t put my picture with bow tie on the home page of my blog. I agree with Dave’s observations about SolidEdge University. The dress code there was similar to SolidWorks World and different from PLM events I attended.

What is my conclusion? Few people in PLM industry are still dreaming about how to follow ERP success. PLM companies and event organizers are dreaming about how to bring more executives to their events. They are key players in PLM strategic decision making. Dress code is part of the agenda to make PLM event comfortable for execs. I guess CIOs and other corporate execs feel wrong sitting next to engineers in blue jeans. I also believe some country and location specifics can be considered too. I rarely see suits and ties during events in Israel and California. At the same time, it looks quite appropriate in Germany and some other places in Europe. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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Tagged as: Dave Ault, Dress Code, Events, jokes, PLM

  • Derrek Cooper

    Really interesting article. I presented at PLM World a few years back. You might imagine hat I stood out a bit. Why is that? Dress code. Never one to claim to dress to impress, I expected the vibe to be like any other software conference and even speculated this one woud have more IT types, so might even be more casual. I was totally wrong. Everyone,except me,was wearing a suit. Not a big deal, EXCEPT, the dress code set the tone of the event and I felt like there was a pretentious vibe throughout. They were the days when I was committed to wearing hats and permanently had an iPod connected to my ears at all times. So, I'm sure it was just me.. ;-)

  • beyondplm

    Derrek, thanks for sharing your story. I can see how “dress code” is different between CAD and PLM events. But yes, most of PLM events are “suit-type-of-event”.

  • Mike Watkins

    Interesting post Oleg! I agree and in my experience the manufacturing industry to date seems to dictate the 'suits' as PLM gets more mainstream in other areas, I believe we will see a change in attitude and thus the dress code. It is after all about the 'people', do you remember the PLM Innovation forum in London where the PLM track was split in two rooms and both rooms split by industry, the dress code in the cosmetics PLM presentatio reflected this !!

  • beyondplm

    Mike, thanks for commenting and reminding me PLM Innovation in London. Yep, you are right. Sometimes you can see a diff dress code in the room event depending on the topic :) . Best Oleg

  • Jonathan_Scott

    Well, my picture with bow tie is all over the place, and still no PLM World invitation for me ;) I can't help but make a comment when my friend Oleg throws me a softball like this.

    All kidding aside, I do think PLM vendors are trying to talk to different audiences with different events, or different parts of their events. One audience is users (engineers, designers, and the “makers” of the world) and the other audience is strategists (managers, executives, and the “decision makers” of the world). I think dress code is a subtle way of culling users from the “strategist” audience (for better or worse).

    I can appreciate a well-presented person wearing a suit, but just as well appreciate a machinist on the shop floor in his/her element. So long as the person is thoughtful and brings something to the conversation, they should wear what makes them comfortable.

  • beyondplm

    Yes, Jonathan. It was a softball… :-) . I think, industry is changing, so dress-code can change as well. Thanks for you comment! Oleg

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