PR, Marketing and the Business of CAD

Ken Feitz Takes Position at TransMagic

Ken Feitz, an industry long-timer who has served at companies such as Intergraph, Spatial and (of course) Strategic Reach, this week took a new position at TransMagic, a CAD interoperability company.

TransMagic was founded in 2001 by Todd Reade, and has made a name for itself by selling affordable CAD interoperability tools. Reade's prior background at Spatial Corporation allowed him to be able to leverage the Spatial interop technologies into some pretty neat products.

According to Ken, his first job is to work on the web site (hooray!) and to move TransMagic into a more prominent role in the industry reflective of its industry success. Admittedly, as a company that now has about 20 employees, in a market sector that is definitely challenging, TransMagic has seemed to be a well-kept industry secret. We applaud the move and wish Ken all the best at his new position.

r

Print articles Develop 'Gestation times'

Yesterday we got offered an editorial opportunity for an 'industry trend' article. However, the scheduled date was for the Nov/Dec 2008 issue of the magazine. Yes. 8 months away from now.

The reaction of my team was 'maybe we should go for it' (we are). My reaction was more related to gut instinct: The CAD industry, while dry, is still fast-moving on the technology side. A perceived trend now will either be a wisp of an idea in 8 months time, or an established industry fact. ergo: not a trend.

Okay, so we are used to a couple of print publications that stretch their editorial schedule out by 5-6 months. Most print publications are 1-2 months out. But 8 months??? That is beyond ridiculous especially when compared to the usual 1-2 weeks' lead time for online publications.

I am commenting on this because it pushed me over the edge. Inbetween the 8 months gestation time for this article, we can virtually guarantee at least 8 other placements of the same (similar) article in more progressive publications.

And then publishers complain (every now and then) that print subscription is dropping and they are having to tackle online challenges. Well duh. My patience is low this week and things like this simply drive me to zen-like forms of relaxation for a break. With that in mind, I'm off to meditate for a few minutes...

rach