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RTC Australasia 2016 - Post-Event Wrap Up

The Twelfth RTC Australasia: A wrap up and why it is not being called the “Revit Technology Conference” anymore.

This year, the RTC Australasia was held at the Crowne Plaza in one of Australia's most sophisticated food and wine regions: the Hunter Valley. About 150km north of Sydney - nearly 400 people attended this year’s RTC Australasia, making it a great conference once again.

Welcome and opening statements: Opening the conference, Chris Needham started the Keynote Address event with an opening remark, announcing that the RTC is no longer the Revit Technology Conference – not confined by name or nature to all things Revit. It is no longer constrained to design, either. He outlined that the goal of the RTC event management would be to build an attendee base of a much broader demographic.

The Freak Factor: This year’s keynote speaker was David Randoll who presented The Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness. As someone who professed to talk for a living, he spoke about how people can get the most out of themselves by allowing them to do what they are best at instead of trying to fix their flaws. In fact their flaws can be important clues to their strengths.

Conference Sessions: Afterwards, the conference continued with individual sessions, including presentations and lab sessions as well as two new streams for construction planning and estimating and the ArchiCAD user community which joined via ARCHICON. As usual the lab sessions offered gallery and class seating and – apart from some technical challenges during some sessions – were very well prepared and presented.

Exhibition: The exhibition took place in the exhibition centre, presenting Sefaira, Autodesk, Codebook, USG Boral, Solibri, Invicara, the RTC gadgets lab, CAD Learning (who also sponsored the competition prizes), Pluralsight, A2K Technologies, SysQue, Newforma, Peer Software, Ideate, Revitzo, CAD Group, CR Kennedy, dRofus, Oasys and Chaos Group as well as Common Elements Ltd.

Social Events: As always, the social events were one of the highlights during the RTC event. At the end of the first day of the conference, the Welcome Function took place in the exhibition hall (sponsored by Ideate), being followed by the Friday Evening Function which took place at the Hope Estate Winery (sponsored by Chaos Group). The last day was highlighted by the Saturday’s Gala Dinner (sponsored by New Forma) in which Chris Needham announced that the RTC Australasia 2017 will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre, from the 25^th to the 27^th of May, 2017.

Overall the twelfth RTC Australasia 2016 has shown that the AEC industry is not just discussing BIM as a new technology anymore, instead BIM has become an integral part of business strategies and conversations. As Dr. Dominik Holzer mentioned in his session, BIM technology may not always be mandatory yet but there is an increasing number of organisations and states that are already asking for it, changing the AEC industry and the role of those managing it.

RTC Australasia 2016

The Twelfth RTC Australasia: Thursday 12 May – Saturday 14 May 2016

Not being completely over yet, but the twelfth RTC Australasia at the Crowne Plaza can already be described as a great event again. Having attended numerous sessions to meet some of the world's top instructors and industry experts while being able to network and share ideas with an international community - accomplishing the free Revit certification examinations in between - just make this conference unique.

Keynote Speaker: This year’s keynote speaker was David Rendall, presenting The Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness. David Rendall has spoken to audiences around the world and has a doctor of management degree in organizational leadership, as well as a graduate degree in psychology. Believing that amplifying people’s weaknesses is crucial for their success, he encourages them to do the same. In fact, people’s weakness is actually the best clue to their strengths. As a result, people should find out how maximizing their “freak factor” can transform their life, work, and relationships:

“What makes us weird also makes us wonderful. What makes us weak also makes us strong.”

Speakers and the Glorious Gadgets: Usually a project is not only about modelling as documentation is also playing a big role. Katja Gard – Revit Manager at the Buchan Group – was speaking about this in her session: Documentation…Documentation. She outlined a typical workflow by dividing it into four simple steps: Pre-model, model set-up, working model(s) and documentation. While outlining the pro and cons of the strategy itself, she also reminds the audience that the human factor will always be important. Harlan Brumm - Autodesk’s Revit Product Manager for Architecture and Construction – presented the latest advances in Revit and its companion building products. These included i.e. new functions for railings which can now be hosted on shaped edited floors, roofs and on the top of walls, the introduction of depth cueing which allows users to add depth to their elevations and sections as well as a new text editor and layout engine. Also tags have been improved, allowing to calculate values and improvements to leaders to document a model more individually. One of the last speakers today was Dominik Holzer – owner of AEC Connect and author of the book: The BIM Manager’s Handbook. His presentation: You are a BIM Manager – Really? outlined the cornerstones of management activities associated with BIM as most BIM managers seem to be insufficiently trained in management – definitely one of the most interesting presentations today. As always the glorious gadgets session was again one of the highlights during the RTC event. This year, Chris Needham presented new gadgets such as the mushroom death suit, flyboard, aeromobile, metallic glass, a drone defender and much more.

LAB Sessions: Like the years before, the lab sessions have also been part of this year’s RTC again, offering class and gallery seating. Especially Dynamo as the visual programming extension for Autodesk Revit has been discussed quite often during these lab sessions. For example, Jason Howden – CEO and Director at RVT Tools - presented the String Theory – Dynamo for Absolute Beginners and a follow up lab session, getting people started with leveraging the power of Dynamo. Stephen Taskin – Studio Design Technology Manager at Woods Bagot – identified useful applications of Dynamo programming to increase efficiency on projects as part of his lab session: Dozen Practical Uses of Dynamo. Following these lab sessions, Konrad Sobon - the creator of Mantis Shrimp and Bumblebee plug-ins and Project BIM Specialist at Grimshaw – presented: Mantis Shrimp - Interop for Grasshopper and Dynamo and a second session called: Bumblebee - An Interop for Excel and Dynamo. Mantis Shrimp is a Dynamo (Revit) and Grasshopper (Rhino) interoperability project which allows users to read Rhino's native file type while Bumblebee can be used as an Excel and Dynamo interoperability plugin that vastly improves Dynamo’s ability to read and write Excel files.

Looking at all these possibilities and new developments that have been presented throughout the event and during the lab sessions, it is quite obvious that design technology is rapidly transforming how architects and engineers are working today.

RTC Australasia 2016

The Twelfth RTC Australasia
Crowne Plaza, Hunter Valley, Australia: Thursday 12th - Saturday 14th May

In less than two weeks, Architects, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Hydraulic and Civil Engineers, BIM, CAD and Design Technology Managers, IT, Design, Construction and Project Managers, Quantity Surveyors, Technologists, Thought Leaders and Academics - as well as other experts within the AEC industry - will gather again at the RTC Conference – the twelfth RTC Australasia at the Crowne Plaza. And it is located in the world famous Hunter Valley, NSW.

Over the years, the RTC has become known as a unique, independent conference, covering all things of Revit and the technology and process of BIM in a "by users, for users" format. But it seems like this time will be quite a different year for the RTC Australasia and it is not just because it is no longer being called the Revit Technology Conference – being just the “RTC” from now on. This year, the RTC is also welcoming less traditional attendee groups, such as the ArchiCAD user community who will be joining via ARCHICON. In addition, two new one-day streams – one for construction planning and the other for estimating – have been added to the program for Construction Planners and Estimators - and the changes will not be limited to this.

The Conference Schedule itself will take a similar format to the former regional conferences, offering an opening plenary session and keynote address followed by multiple sessions over the 3 days. This year’s keynote speaker will be David Rendall, presenting “the Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness”. This year’s program also presents an expanding group of Australian experts, including returning as well as new speakers such as Mark Abrahams, Joe Banks, R. Robert Bell, Anthony Butler, Joachim Clauss, Mark Cronin, David Foley, Nathan Hildebrandt, Aaron Maller, Chris Price, Chris Razzell, Adam Sheather, Konrad Sobon, Paul Wintour and many more.

Another highlight is the free Revit certification examinations which will allow each examinee to attain certified professional status. This exam typically costs more than $100 – so places are limited and will be offered on a first come, first served basis. The exams will be offered in collaboration with CADLearning and can be selected by topic - Architecture, MEP or Structure - during the conference. It also has been announced that the RTC competition is back again as well. The winner will receive an iPad Pro 128GB and the runner up prize will be a choice of a Flight Centre or a Red Balloon voucher, also being sponsored by CADLearning. Between the sessions, food and drinks will be served during all refreshment breaks and lunches and it will be possible to visit the trade exhibition as an integral part of the conference.

For those who need a shuttle transfer to the Crowne Plaza, the RTC has also a number of transfers on offer for delegates to get to and from the conference. These can easily be booked during the registration process: Departing from Sydney Airport, collecting passengers at Sydney Central and North Sydney before arriving at the Crowne Plaza, making the venue more accessible to those travelling from interstate or overseas. Not registered for the RTC conference yet? More information on how to register for the RTC conference or how to modify a registration to select the appropriate session for the Revit certification exams can be found on www.rtcevents.com. What are you waiting for?