A Door's Life at Central States Revit Workshop

I'll be presenting a session next Friday called "A Door's Life" at the second annual Central States Revit Workshop.

Central States Revit Workshop Details
August 15 (Thursday) and August 16 (Friday), 2013
Scott Conference Center - Omaha, Nebraska
Registration: $250 (does not include accommodations)

BIM/Construction Speakers
Bill Allen, Scott Chatterton, Megan Johnson, Matthew Lewis, Cauitta Robeson, Connor Christian, and Aaron Baker

Architecture/General Speakers
Bryan Cowles, Steven Shell, Ryan Cameron, Nathan Miller, and Jason Gardner

Interior Speakers
Kelli Lubeley and Carla Edwards

MEP Speakers
Shawn Zirbes, William Spier, Kelli Lubeley, Todd Shackelford, Brett Grell, and Dave Benscoter

Structural Speakers
Aaron Krovance and Luke Stevenson

Special Guest Speakers
Paul Aubin, Brian Mackey, Dezi Mackey, Birgitta Foster, Andy Jizba, Chuck Mies, and me


As for my session, it's not literally about the life of a door. Since this is about Revit it's biased toward dealing with doors as a concept, some doors that look like these.

The handout that attendees will receive is structured as a lab with step by step activities. The session is 70 minutes in a lecture format so rather than going step by step in the lecture I'll be touching on each of the ideas involved with each exercise. I prefer to let people see how I approached the subject by working in Revit, instead of "PowerPointing" my way through. My goal is to leave enough "space between notes" to permit "inquisitive interference".

If you are nearby then you've got to make sure you get to the workshop. Even if you aren't it's still a great deal for two days of Revity goodness.

See you there!

2013 Central States Revit Workshop Registration

Registration for the next workshop opened 9 days ago, very sorry to be so slow to mention it.

Please let me encourage you to consider spending a couple days (August 15-16, 2013) at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha soaking up Revit information and wisdom. I attended and participated in a couple sessions last year. It was good fun, well worth your time and a great bargain.

Here are a few important links:
Welcome
Location
Schedule
Speakers

REGISTRATION

Come mingle with and hear special guest speakers Paul Aubin, Brian and Desirée Mackey (and maybe their BIMbino), Birgitta Foster, Andrew Jizba and Chuck Mies.

2012 Central States Revit Workshop - Omaha, Nebraska

If you are within driving distance of Omaha, Nebraska hopefully you've heard about the Central States Revit Workshop? It runs this Friday and Saturday at the Mid-America Center (September 21 & 22, 2012). If you'd like to read their flyer you can download it HERE. Then again for the price (see below) maybe flying in to attend isn't a big deal either!

This is the schedule/agenda for the two day Revitganza.

Carla Edwards with Leo A. Daly, among others, has been championing this affair since being inspired by the Revit Technology Conference she attended in Huntington Beach, CA in 2011. Unlike many people who think about doing such things she IS doing it. She and her fellow committee members are doing the hard thing, bringing a Revit workshop to your region.

The CSRW committee is comprised of:

Matthew Kuhn, Bill Allen, Nick Meek, Craig Thomas, Barbara Tozser, Carla Edwards, Heath Thompson, Dave Benscoter, Brett Grell, Todd Shackelford, and Casey Eckhard.

The featured speakers are:

Paul Aubin, Joe Eichenseer, Zach Kron (a virtual presentation), Shawn C. Zirbes, Brian Johnson, William Spier, Doug Evans, Michelle McCarthy, and Jason Gardner. You can read more about them at the workshop sessions web page.

Curious how much for two days of Revity goodness?

$200 For CSI and RUGON Members
$250 For Non Members

All registration will be done via Paypal for Conference attendees.

If you have questions, contact Carla via EMAIL.

ecobuild's National BIM Conference Seeking Application Demo Experts

George Borkovich is looking for people to demonstrate BIM applications at ecobuild's National BIM Conference, December 3-7, 2012.

THIS LINK will get you to the Ecobuild home page, and THIS ONE will get them directly to The National BIM Conference page.

He also has a special offer for readers: Register as a LinkedIn colleague and they'll extend a 20% discount off the full conference. All you need to do is go to THIS LINK. When prompted for the discount code, enter the word LINKEDIN. If you only attend the Keynote and Expo, passes are free with pre-registration.

If you are interested in demonstrating the BIM software you are an expert with then he'd like to hear from you. EMAIL him!

RTC AUS VISDay - Something New

If you have been watching the The Revit Technology Conference site (for Australia) you probably noticed that it is introducing a special additional day, the day before) called RTC VisDay.

The inaugural RTC Visualisation Day is an adjunct to the Revit Technology Conference, dedicated to best-of-breed visualisation technologies and methodologies. It will be held immediately preceding RTC 2012 Australasia. It recognises the unique attributes of visualisation as a process, and the skills of those in the industry. We are proud to have secured some industry heavyweights to share their knowledge and to support an open dialogue in an intimate environment - similar to established RTC events generally. Come and learn from some of the industry's best, from Australasia and abroad.

The current roster of speakers is: Scott Ballis (Atomic 3D Pty Ltd), Daniel Flood (FloodSlicer), Pat Carmichael (HKS, Inc.), Phil Read (M-SIX) and more to come.

It's scheduled for Wednesday May 23rd, 2012 (the day before RTC begins) and runs from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM.

Check out the site to see if it is for you!

Revit Technology Conference 2010 - RTC 2010 Sydney

Planning for RTC 2010 Sydney is in full swing and goes live in just a couple short months now. I was fortunate to be able to attend last year and get to go this year too!! Yay me! (I watch Disney Channel with my daughter so I'm hip to all the cool phrases!) The conference will be at the:

Novotel Manly Pacific Hotel
Sydney, Australia
Thursday – Saturday, 20 – 22 May 2010

I must admit that I wasn't going to attend until Wesley showed me the special microphones they were going to provide me with for my sessions. I had to make sure no other speaker would get to use them before I'd agree. What kind of "prima don" would I be if I didn't have unreasonable demands? This is a picture of the microphones that I get to use, I think they are befitting of my style and go with my earrings nicely!

Truth be told I found the picture on the Facebook page for PA of the Day. A page dedicated to sharing pictures of Public Address (PA) systems. The sort of stuff a roadie (ex-roadie in my case) enjoys. The more arcane the better! Naturally I had to join immediately. The caption attributes them to Mariah Carey.

Back to the conference! The schedule and roster of speakers has been posted. If you have the opportunity to attend or send someone from your office instead please plan to do so, won't regret it! See you there!!

P.S. If you are really paying attention did you notice the RTC USA link? Hmmm...what could we be planning there?? Stay tuned!

RTC 2009 - Call for Papers

RTC = Revit Technology Conference (aka The *AU "down-under")

My friend Wesley Benn, his team of experts and the members of the Revit User Group of Sydney (RUGsyd) organize this event each year (fifth year this). I was fortunate enough to attend and present at RTC 2006. I had a lot of fun and I still wear my hat! Events have conspired against me to prevent my return...no loss for them as they've continued to have great sessions and presenters. My loss....

So you like to teach/talk about Revit? Are you looking for an excuse to go to Melbourne, Australia? They are calling all speakers/presenters to offer course submissions for review and acceptance. Here's the pertinent details:


When: June 18-20, 2009
Where: The Sebel Albert Park Hotel, Melbourne, Australia

What do you do now? Download the FORM and follow the instructions!

Deadline for submissions is Friday 31 October 2008. Good luck...but not too much so that you don't knock me out of the running!!

I'll post a link as soon as their site is up and running.

(* AU = Autodesk University)

Oh...you could also just plan to attend!?! You don't HAVE to speak to attend!!

Revit Technology Conference - Sydney, Australia

This post is overdue, late etc...sorry!

It's that time again! June 26-28, 2008.

If you have the good fortune to have the time/money/desire you don't have much time left to make plans to attend this year's Revit Technology Conference in Sydney, Australia, hosted by Revit User Group Sydney.

Stealing a little text from their site:

Now in it's fourth year, the Revit Technology Conference has already established itself as the premiere BIM-based event in the Asia Pacific region.

Following the success of our Roadshow in 2007 (Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Melbourne, and Perth), the RTC Committee have pleasure in inviting you and your team to attend the Annual Conference to be held in Brighton Beach, Sydney. The Conference aims to draw attendees from throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as other Asia Pacific regions.

The 2008 Annual Conference is to be held Thursday 26 June – Saturday 28 June at the Novotel Brighton Beach, Sydney.

Want to REGISTER?

Let me encourage you to go! I attended two years ago and I had hoped to attend this year but must attend a board meeting for AUGI instead, prior commitments trump! My loss...maybe next year!

RTC 06

Otherwise known as Revit Technology Conference 2006. Better late than never?

I left Los Angeles on October 23rd, Monday night, at 10:30 PM and arrived in Sydney on Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM. I lost one whole day in the process due to the magic of time zones. Much to my surprise I was quite refreshed after my 14.5 hour flight on a Qantas 747/400. The Qantas flight crews were the picture of efficiency right down the instructions to “do up” our seatbelts. I love the way folks outside the USA say things!

The event organizer was and is Wesley Benn, the owner, proprietor, chief cook and bottle washer for Benn Design. Here’s a shot of Wesley.


Wesley was kind enough to rise early enough to give me a lift from the airport and take a little driving tour of Sydney which included walking around the Sydney Opera House. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t get inside. I also realized that I didn’t bring a camera AGAIN! I seem to lack the gene that causes people to photograph things that happen in their life. If it weren’t for other families who do have this gene there would be no record of our children doing anything!

We visited his old office where he “made” me help him move a copier, remove some paint cans and do a little demolition on his signage. We then went to his new office where he again put me to work packing up computers for the labs, teach a couple clients Revit and well…not that last part. Car packed full of stuff we headed for the conference site, but for the brief stop to put some helium in one of his tyres. I had no idea that it is fairly common practice to put helium in tyres instead of air. It is apparently a very stable gas to use and much more reliable than air. (notice my Austrylian spelling of tires?)

The venue was the Shoal Bay Resort and Spa, which is located on the white sands of Shoal Bay in Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia. You can review the conference schedule and the speaker biographies.

When I first started discussing attending this conference with Wesley we thought it would make sense to teach a class. One class became two, the first a family lecture and the second a mini session on massing. Since I was preparing a lecture for Autodesk University 2006 on the subject of Families anyway it made sense to preview or test or demo it on a smaller crowd very very far away right? Good thing too, because my ninety minute session ran forty five minutes over…with permission mind you…I gave them a chance to “run away”. Good thing we were only going to dinner and open bar afterward. Here’s a shot of me doing what I do best…blah blah blah…. And my power point humor 8-)


As conferences go it was very busy, yet very relaxed and a lot of fun with as much effort applied to making time for mingling. I did learn that even though Foster’s is "Austrylian" for beeear, Victoria Bitter and Tooey’s gets poured a LOT more!

One of the highlights of the conference for me was getting to finally meet my friend Bruce Gow in person, who is probably more widely known by his AUGI Revit forum moniker “BeeGee”. We’ve been friends from afar ever since getting to know each other via the internet and the old Zoogdesign Revit forum. It was nice get to sit and talk face to face!! Here’s a couple pictures of Bruce, one where he’s inspecting the inside of his eyelids or maybe he’s just blinking?? You decide…


Apparently after this first picture he figured out how to always stay with his back to the camera?


Here’s a parting shot of the conference attendees! Try to put aside a week and travel down under next time!!


It would be unfair to exclude the contributions of Marina Radosevic and Helen Benn for their tireless effort to organize everything. Also deserving of recognition for their hard work is the remaining leadership of the Revit Users Group Sydney. They are (Treasurer) Michael Juda, (Secretary) Adrian Esdaile, Rocco Raso and Toby Maple.

Okay one more…just what every Revit party needs! A circus performer trying to set himself on fire!

"You Should Write a Book"...

Hello and thank you for your patience!!! I've been so busy that this blog has taken a back seat unfortunately. So what has managed to distract me?

First of all I attended the Revit Technology Conference in Sydney Australia the last week of October. I presented two topics, Family Editor and Massing. The trip was too short but a lot of fun and my friend and host Wesley Benn never ceases to amaze me. More info on this event in a future post.

Second, Autodesk University which just wrapped up this past Friday. I presented three sessions as I mentioned in an earlier blog post. More on this in a future post or two.

Third and the point of this post...during the last few years I've been told, "Steve, you should write a book". The folks at Wiley/Sybex thought so too, so I signed on the dotted line. I'll post a link to the pre-order page at Amazon in the near future. I'll post about my progress and sorry, no promises about actual release date, ha ha, just like software!!