RTC USA 2012 Recap

I hadn't planned to do a Recap with all the great examples already out there (compiled here, Thanks Phil.) but I needed fill out an Official RTC 2012 comments form, so here are some excerpts from there:

Overall Comments:

 Personally I think this is the best conference related to BIM and Revit around.  RTC fits into my personal education/career path and I truly enjoy collaborating with the high level like minded folks who attend.

Evergreen Marriott was a lovely setting.  I wish they had done a better job of having rooms ready when scheduled.  I know that there were a couple instances of "quick turnaround" that were unavoidable, but a notable exception was the Kick-off/Keynote.  That's one session expected the venue to be available 15 mins before start (for those of us that can't fathom arriving at the start time...)

Comments about the after hours functions:

Welcome Function:  Always good to have a chance to reconnect with old acquaintances before the real meat of the event kicks off.

BBQ: A highlight for my wife (Partner's Package)  Nice laid back atmosphere, I think the venue and activities (Volleyball and Triumph rides (Thanks Phil)) encouraged folks to mingle outside of there groups.

Gala Dinner: Great food.  Awesome dinner conversations.  Cheesy 80s/90s Prom music appreciated by some (ok just my wife) and disdained by others (everyone...?)  Packway Handle Band was great.  They ARE coming to Vancouver, right?

 Comments about RTC Staff:

Only good things to say about the staff. I had no issues that needed to be solved at the event.  I know this is because of all the work put in by staff behind the scenes. Keep up the good work.

What three things will you take away from RTC and implement in your office?:

Data, Data, and more Data
My focus in the coming year is to leverage decisions made throughout the project and prevent rework and churn.  Quite a few of sessions addressed exactly that topic.

I will also be showing staff some of the fabulous eye-candy that was at RTCUSA.  No, not BIM-chicks or BIM-Studs, but David Light, And the Mana's Revit stairs and Rails. Everything that Marcello produces and Tim Waldock's Divide and Conquer.  Whew!!!

Can't wait till next year. Maybe I can wrangle attending all three events.  Vancouver, Auckland, and Delft... oh my.

RTCUSA Day 2 recap

Another scorcher in Atlanta. Reports of 106 F. Sessions even hotter. My day was all about DATA, DATA, DATA. Leveraging Room data, Big data mining of projects for assessing the health of your project and your firm. Inspiring stuff.

Classes I wish I had the opportunity to attend yesterday- Building Smarter Models with James Vandezande and Visualizations to the Max: Taking Revit into game engine environments for real-time rendering, physics and animation by Marcello Sgambelluri. My twitter feed was on fire about the classes.

All this led to a heat stroke inducing riverboat ride to a whole pig BBQ on the other side of the lake. I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all. And it was comforting to see that the hotel pool was not cordoned off with Police tape this morning.

On to the next one!

RTCUSA Day 1

Great Keynote yesterday. A "Fireside Chat" with Dick Morley and Brad Holz. You may know of Dick, and if you don't you should. Developer of the PLC (Programable Logic Controller) and the ABS (Antilock Breaking System) among others things.

It was a free flowing, stream of consciousness education that covered topics ranging from how to effect the world consumption of oil by 5% (copper cored steel motor shafts that make bearings last at higher temps) to why Dick never got to develop an orange sorting system (did YOU know they paint oranges for visual consistency?) and Javahoe (not a "lady of the night" that hangs out at Starbucks, but a full size Backhoe controlled over the web. )

Learn more about Dick here and visit his site http://www.barn.org/ It will blow your mind. "Dick doesn't think outside of the box, he doesn't recognize that there is a box."

Oh, and thanks to Evergreen Marriott Resort for having muffins with my name on them.

Roadtrip