Hey. You Unplugged!!!!

Thank you very much for taking on this style of un-conference. An unconference is a conference where the content of the sessions is driven and created by the participants.

This is where it’s at!!!!!! This is the bomb. Small personal sessions, where we not only learn, but also contribute. These sessions ROCK!!!! This is what it’s about. No slides, no pictures, no one sided talk, just pure passion and inspiration.

I find it strange that the other market groups didn’t make use of this. Its very well supported by the Revit community.These were held as 50min sessions with no more than 40 people in the room. These are brainstorm sessions with a real personal touch and feel.

Learn, contribute or get out! All positive, get negative and get shot, as Jim put it.

First up was Jim Balding’s (WATG) session, Digital Design: Where are we going? Innovative, thought provoking, controlled, slick. Some excellent input.

Next was Wesley Benn, Benn Design. Process change: New tools, New methods. Although we have and work with many similarities, this session was an absolute eye opener in how odd the American processes of design and construction is. Wesley just connected all the dots, and hopefully opened new ways forward, for many professionals and the services they provide as well as the manner in which they do, with and too their clients.

It’s not all about software and software solutions. It’s also about the business of the Built Environment and fixing the fundamental flaws that plague the processes.

Straight after, we sat in Steve Stafford’s Advanced Use of the Revit Family Editor. Packed to the brim of eager beaver’s. Thanks to Steve for not making this a shoot out, or a display of “How too”. It emphasized the need to learn how to make your own, and bloody well share.
KISS. There was a strong consensus of, stop trying to make these over complicated advanced families that no one but yourself knows how to use the darn thing, and just keep it simple. It’s all and very well we can do it in the family editor, but often it’s just way over the users head.

Well I certainly got what I needed out of it today and far more than expected. For me it was the personal hand shake and greeting with the likes of Jim Balding, Wesley Benn, James van, Robert Manna, and then the awesome lunch with Steve Stafford, Daniel Hurtubise, and David Baldacchino, What a great bunch of guys. “Hey You”…. James Van, sorry I missed your session, BIM visionaries, but our lunch almost turned into dinner.

What a great day!
All session details should get posted to the AU site so keep a look out.

The "Hey.You" conference

I arrived at the halls that were hardly busy yesterday to find 10,000 new delegates. We had breakfast, all 10k of us in the basement parking in the hotel. This gave me the opportunity to showcase what MEP really does, to my manufacturing colleagues, as we sat bellow all the hotels exposed services. I suppose where else do you shove 10k hungry people.

This is so large, it's huge, and it’s massive. Over the top. The irony of it is, is I am among 10,000 people and yet completely alone. The sole representitive of ZAR for AEC.

I still went out of my way to make contact with this one dude I knew from the early days he didn’t’ recognize me, and he couldn't wait to get out of there. Prick, he is so important now that he got a job working for the team and all.

We call it "Revit Head" back home. And it’s a full tank here. “Excuse me sir you need some help to get through the door”. “Would you like me to scratch your head from over here?

There comes a point in ones Revit existence. See the Six Phases of Revit by Chris Zoog, well this is the Seventh, It’s when the Zen Master thinks he is the only one, there is no other like him. You Guru. Oh, do bow down, and ........kick his ass and kick it hard, all the way back to modestyville.

Last night we had that Revit function, which is supposed to be a networking thing, well my ass! Every reseller sent their whole team, so they all party together and couldn't see past their bubbles. So I walked around alone for 20min then went to bed…. Alone, Oh and the pizza snacks were crap.

We had the opening ceremony of Hey You! Done properly, the American way. I have seen so many of these I wasn’t sure which one I was at. Microsoft, Xbox, Apple, they all the same it’s just the logo. Big stage lots of lights and visuals and bla, bla, bla. The team put on a show, just short of being a complete motivational seminar. I felt as if we were seeing a demo and were being sold to and wanted to jump up and down to shout "Amen". I think it was Jimmy Swaggart that perfected this round table (stage), fist pumping style of …….WTF?

The future didn’t look that bright, it kept staggering, as the hardware was inadequate for the terrible live (joystick and all) fly around of Washington DC. I have seen better stuff back home and when I play Gears of War. Manufacturing stuff looked really cool. Is that Alias? oh!

I went to the first session.....and straight into the slide show shit. Well it was so freek'n boring people were actually walking out. We have only just begun, I am so sick of slide shows with some knob spitting out his rehearsed little one sided viewpoint. At least I wasn't alone when it came to walking out, even "Zen master" was on that list. An hour later went to lunch..... alone with 10,000 others.

“Hey.you” unplugged starts tomorrow. A new concept in conferences called the un-conference. This should be good. An opportunity to network(schmoose) properly, with the ability of at least having a say.

Are you lonesome tonight?

REVIT OBJECTIONS – UNCUT

Doing what I do with regards to Revit, I surely do come across the skeptics. During negotiations, there are bunches off similar elements that crop up each and every time. Objections, Misconceptions, or as I would like to put it “You don’t have a ****ing clue do you, ***hole”. So in my frustration I have put this list together with explanations, in an easy format for all you non-Revit moron’s to understand.

I back this all up with the following:

• 200 000 sales, 200 000 people can’t be wrong.
• Numerous success stories. See websites. In other words read up or research BIM you ill informed dork.
• Personally implemented at a dozen or so sites – PEOPLE WHO WERE COMMITTED.
• All medium to large firms.
• Each one a huge success.
• All have converted their remaining seats to Revit
• All do 100% documentation using Revit.
• Personally completed dozens of large projects that are completed and built, and were built from a full set of construction documentation that was produced out of Revit.

Part of the negotiation skills is to add all the jargon like I understand how you feel …. What if …bla bla bla bla.

It does work to get the deal, but sometimes you just “wanna”. It’s called foot and mouth disease. I often put my foot in it, with what slips so naturally of the tongue. How many times I had to shovel it all back before …

Not for sensitve readers.

We don’t have the time!

“Ja, you know why you don’t have time?……. 'cause you not using Revit you dork”.

It takes to long to learn! Or it’s to difficult

“Listen Einstein, teaching yourself is NOT going to work. You can’t do this without proper education”

Revit is very easy to use!!!! Provided you go on all the necessary training courses and or seek the advice of Revit consultants. Spend the cash and commit to it……. “Reap what you sow”.

It’s too expensive!

“Hey Liberace it’s a tenth of the price of your new car out front. Stop blowing your cash on the rubbish fancy pansy outfits you keep rolling around in”

What if you could make more money to afford more of that crap you keep spoiling yourself with?

Don’t want to change!

“You just changed your car, YOU NIMROD….Well you changed into clothes this morning before work.” You changed your Wife…..your house your, your, your….face is changing with age. Change is inevitable.

Like CAD, BIM is eternally entrenched in the evolution of design technology.

You can’t measure Productivity or Profitability!

“You don’t measure it. That’s why you don’t have time or money…... And you run a business??? SHAME ON YOU, YOU NUMBNUT!!!!

We heard it doesn’t, or it cant, or I believe……

AAARRRGGHHH for shit sakes. Go on just jump off that crap building you designed, you spineless useless individual. Save me the hassle of pushing you.

Just research and then research some more. You will find more supporting documentation than that of against, and I couldn’t find any that was negative.

Revit works for some, but not for us.

‘What makes you unique…you a movie star or something special??

What’s going to make you unique is when you are the last person to change…YOU NUMBSKULL.

BIG or SMALL, Revit works for ALL!

There is a skills shortage.

“ Well Mr Bean, take one third of the morons working for you, train them properly, cause that’s all you gonna need to sustain your current rubbish work load. Train them all and maybe you have an empire in your midst.

This is often combined with “once trained up I believe staff are poached.”

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys. If you can’t beat them join them.

One particular implementation site (my benchmark site), the directors wanted quality in a very short space of time. So we poached 3 of the top Revit users around, offering the right amount in salaries with huge bonus incentives. We then chose 3 others from the firm to get up to speed. Six people now do the work and more, of what was an office of 15. You do the math, 9 less salaries, you can afford to throw money at it, and still put a bunch in the bank.

Compatibility, the consultants we use, use AutoCAD.

“Crikey Moses”, have you ever heard of Autodesk? Well they all from the same factory, so they all speak the same language YOU TWIT!

We are starting to see the benefits of collaboration across disciplines on projects using the Revit Suite. Architects here, who have been using Revit for years, are beginning to align themselves and insisting on working with Structural engineers who now use Revit Structure, and visa versa. the interesting stuff has just begun.

Not Interested

Huh?? What on earth is the matter with you?? What, are you stupid?
Hey! Moses, did you hear there is a new commandment to add to the other 10

#11. Thou shall not use CAD.