Configura’s suite of space planning software is so expansive and powerful that even the people that work for the company are constantly learning new ways that its customers are using its platform.
That’s one of the reasons behind the CET Experience, Configura’s gathering of designers set for Oct. 9-11 in Scottsdale, Ariz. It is a time for those who use the company’s platform of space design products to gather and share tips and tricks and also learn from Configura about enhancements to its products. It is truly an event where the Configura community comes together to learn and celebrate.
It’s the 17th year Configura has held the CET Experience, though the 2020 and 2021 editions were fully virtual. In 2022, Configura held a hybrid event with some attendees in person and some tuning in virtually, said Kelsey DeBruin, global head of user community and events.
Going forward, Configura will hold live events every other year. On opposite years, the CET Experience will be 100% virtual. “We found that when it was split, the attentions were split between both different types of audiences,” she said. “We couldn’t 100% dedicate ourselves to one or the other. And so what we decided to do moving forward is that every other year would be fully in person or fully virtual, and that way we could focus 100% of our efforts on the attendee user base. So this year we’re a hundred percent in person. Next year we’ll be back to being a hundred percent virtual.”
The CET platform was created for designers. Though Configura software is used in multiple industries such as material handling and kitchen/bath design, it is best known in the commercial interiors industry for its CET Commercial Interiors platform, that allows designers to reduce time spent on iterations from hours to minutes, reduce specification and order-entry errors and improves efficiency and lead times.
CET Experience gives those designers a chance to interact directly with peers using the platform and the programmers who come up with new tools and enhancements. Configura interacts with its user base throughout the year, but CET Experience is specifically for them.
“It’s so, so important and so crucial that we (hold the CET Experience),” said DeBruin. “This is one of our big opportunities for interacting with our user base to understand how they’re using CET, what makes them happy, what makes them unhappy, what we can improve, what we can fix.”
It is an energizing conference for both CET Commercial Interiors users and the Configura staff, she said. About 350 people attend the CET Experience, including a good number of Configurians (what Configura calls its staff), which is important, according to DeBruin. She said the CET Experience helps the company get focused for the year on driving product improvements suggested by its user base that come directly from the event.
It is a design-driven event. The vast majority of attendees are designers in the commercial interiors sector, though a few engineers from the material handling industry come as well. All the designers who attend are after one thing: peer-to-peer learning. Break out sessions, which form the core of the event, are led by CET Commercial Interiors power users — those who know their way around the software and can show others how to best use it. “That’s really what they attend for. This is an event that’s dedicated to (power users) learning from each other,” DeBruin said.
CET Commercial Interiors is a vast program — deep with nooks and crannies everywhere. It takes time and peer interactions to fully use all the tools available to designers. DeBruin said she has worked at Configura for 10 years and continues to learn creative new ways to use CET, mostly from users. “Every time I’ve gone (to CET Experience), I’ve learned something because of how creative our users are. They find really unique ways to use CET that we can’t teach them. They have to learn from one another and this is a perfect opportunity for that,” she said.
It is also a time for Configura to showcase changes to CET Commercial Interiors. DeBruin said Configura just partnered with Twin Motion, a company created by Epic Games, on an extension for the CET Commercial Interiors platform. CET users are already taking the extension in new directions by doing things like virtually “exploding” furniture to show how it is constructed. Users have also deployed the extension to export Configura’s 3D files to a 3D printer and make miniature furniture straight out of the software.
The event will also give Configura a chance to show off Templates, a new feature that gives designers a head-start on the creative process. Templates holds commonly used things that a designer would use as they are working on creating a drawing. Template is powerful because it can be used to create a common set of tools for a dealership, making designers more efficient and keeping them on brand and professional.
CET Experience is a time to learn and have fun as well.
The keynote speaker is Ben Nemtin, New York Times bestselling author of “What Do You Want to Do Before You Die?” and a star of MTV’s highest rated show on iTunes and Amazon called “The Buried Life.” He is the co-founder of The Buried Life and a modern-day life goals and dream evangelist. Introduced by platinum sponsor INDEAL and its co-founder Dave Bloch, Nemtin will teach attendees how to tackle their bucket lists.
Configura will also give out its CET Awards, which honors talented individuals who have created outstanding and innovative spaces using CET.
And since the event is held in Phoenix, the company is holding a Wild West party on Tuesday night. Though the conference is mostly sold out, there are very limited opportunities to attend in person. Registered for the event at https://www.cetexperience.com/home.