8.6.14 | Grand Rapids, MI | Configura, maker of CET Designer software, announces the complete schedule for the 7th annual CET Designer User Conference being held Oct 22-23 at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, Mich. Conference registration is open at www.configura.com/userconference/.

“We’re excited to offer more speakers, breakout sessions and variety,” said Configura Vice President Peter Brandinger, who heads up Configura’s Grand Rapids office. “With more than 20 sessions and events, we’re looking forward to the best conference yet.”

The conference is for contract furniture dealership interior designers, dealer IT professionals and office-furniture dealer management. Last year, people attended from all over North America and even parts of Central and South America.

“Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from and network with CET Designer ‘power-users’ and Configura team members,” Configura Support and Training Manager Tracy Lanning said. “We’ve designed the conference so people learn new skills and gain valuable information from industry leaders that is relevant to their daily work.”

This is the second year in a row that the conference will be held in West Michigan. It previously had been held in Las Vegas. Configura, a Sweden-based company, opened a Grand Rapids office in 2006 to be in the heart of the North American contract furniture industry. Such companies as Steelcase and Haworth, both located in West Michigan, and their dealers, use Configura software.

The conference unofficially opens the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 21, with a slate of welcome events designed to showcase Grand Rapids.

The conference officially opens Wednesday, Oct. 22, with presentations by Configura leaders offering an update on what’s new and upcoming in CET Designer, followed by Configura Co-Founder and Vice President of R&D Göran Rydqvist presenting Good Design and Why We Do What We Do!

The day’s highlight is keynote speaker Primo Orpilla, the award-winning co-founder of Studio O+A, the San Francisco design firm responsible for groundbreaking workplace designs at Facebook, AOL, Microsoft, Yelp, Evernote, Cisco, Open Table and many other companies. Orpilla will speak on The Paradigm Shift in workplace design.

Breakout sessions that day include:
•CET Designer as a Sales Tool
•Tips and Tricks with CET Designer
•Winning with CET Designer
•Innovative and Advanced Ways to Use CET Designer
•Special Tips for Haworth and Steelcase Users
•CET Designer and Business Strategy Discussion
•Developer Discussion
•Revit 101 – A&D Perspective
•Sustainable Materials – How to Make the Best Choices
•Embracing Company Culture Through Design
•Everyone Sells – What’s the Secret?
•SketchUp Fundamentals
•Using CET Designer in Universities

The day concludes with a dinner and Halloween-themed party at The B.O.B., a popular nightclub venue in Grand Rapids.

The conference continues Thursday, Oct. 23, with a special presentation by Monday Morning Quarter Back Senior Reporter and Editor Rob Kirkbride who will join the conference from Orgatec in Germany via live-video stream. Orgatec in Cologne, Germany, is the largest contract furniture and facilities fair of its kind in the world. Kirkbride will give a virtual tour of what’s exhibiting at Orgatec and the global trends on the horizon.

The morning’s events continue with such breakout sessions as Edit Graphics, Photo Lab and Rendering, Material Lab and Lighting Techniques, CET Designer and Other Programs, RevLink, Introduction to CET Designer and ProjectSymbols.
 
Manufacturer-partner breakout sessions for Steelcase, Haworth and Teknion follow in the afternoon.

The winners of the Best of CET Designer Awards will be announced that same day, followed by official closing of the conference. The call for entries for the awards program – which this year will feature a grand prize of a trip to Configura headquarters in Sweden – will be announced soon.
 
The complete schedule and registration information is at www.configura.com/userconference/. Social media hashtags are #CETDesignerUC and #CETDesignerAwards.

About the company
Configura creates intelligent space-planning software for manufacturers, dealers and designers in the Contract Furniture, Kitchen and Bath, Material Handling and Industrial Machinery industries. The company’s software products, including CET Designer®, are used by more than 10,000 people around the world. Configura Sverige AB, the parent company, is headquartered in Linköping, Sweden, with commercial operations in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Founded in 1990, Configura is privately owned with more than 90 employees worldwide and annual sales of more than $10 million USD. More information at www.configura.com.

About CET Designer®
Based on technology created by Configura, CET Designer® is intelligent, highly visual and intuitive space-planning software that simplifies specifying and selling of products in a variety of industries. It’s a complete solution that quickly and accurately handles every step of the sales and order process. In CET Designer®, components that represent manufacturers’ products look and behave like actual products. Users drag and drop components into 2D and 3D virtual environments; behind the scenes, the software tracks components, calculates pricing and prevents user errors. Users can create and generate layouts, quotes, photorealistic renderings, movies, installation drawings, reconfigurations and bills of materials – in other words, everything needed to propose on work and place orders. CET Designer® is the future of space planning. More information at www.configura.com/cet.