The AU 2016 acceptance emails came out at the end of last week and I was lucky enough to receive one again this year! I was surprised, maybe even a little shocked, to read that I had been accepted for 4 sessions! Maybe I got 4 because AU classes are divided into four types: Instructional Demo, Hands-on Lab, Roundtable, and Industry Talk and I have a class for each type.
Before I get into what my sessions are, I know some of you are wondering what the heck is up with the goofy title for this post. Let’s me shed some light via Twitter.
https://twitter.com/OliverTuran/status/727911727896010752
The Autodesk University twitter account (@autodesku) shared my dirty little secret with the world – I like to submit multiple proposals for AU (and RTC too)! At the time of this tweet, I had submitted 18 proposals. When the call for proposals ended, that total was up to 22! Yup 22! Many people in the Twittersphere thought this was a crazy amount of proposals and they are not wrong. Therefore I think I should add a little clarity to that number.
While the official number of submission was 22, there was some overlap. What do I mean by overlap? Some sessions were submitted as a lecture as well as a lab, some ideas were submitted as lectures as well as Roundtables. I like to keep track of ideas all year long so when the Call for Proposals opens, I already have ideas ready to go. I have also had success by resubmitting failed proposals from past years – every AU is different and what was not good fit last year may be a great fit this year. I’ve learned that often, what I would think are a sure fire acceptances, are rarely the ones actually selected. Which leads to my last tip for submitting sessions – always have a couple of off-the-wall fun ideas. These ones are the most fun to put together to submit and when they get selected, they are the most fun to deliver!
Below is a breakdown of my “22” submissions:
3 were submitted as Labs as well as Lectures (6 submissions)
1 was submitted as a Lecture as well as a Roundtable (2 submissions)
1 was an over-sized lab so I submitted it as a Part 1 & Part 2 (2 submissions)
6 were submissions updated/tweaked from past years.
So this means that of my “22” submissions, it’s really only 11 new submissions.
Now, back to twitter and how the Autodesk University twitter account (@autodesku) was not quite finished with me.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, here are my 4 classes for AU 2016 Las Vegas:
Class #1
Class ID: AR16178: Tuesday, Nov. 15th 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm 4
Class Title: Dynamo – Everyone’s doing it (This is a non-lab version of my RTC NA 2016 Lab of the same name)
This session is NOT for people that are heavy Dynamo users
This session IS for the people that aren’t programmers (visual or other) but from time to time may need to use Dynamo as part of their workflow. It’s also for people that have heard of Dynamo or visual programming but never thought it was something they could do (but it totally is!). It’s also for those that just don’t think Dynamo can help them in their everyday workflow (don’t be so sure).
By the end of this session, you will have an introductory understand of what Dynamo is. You will also learn that Dynamo can be used to create geometry with parametric relationships and that this geometry can then be pushed into a Revit project or family using the Revit Database.
You will learn that it’s not just geometry Dynamo can do. It can also help with everyday tasks like creating grids and levels, add some trees to your site, preform an energy analysis, or even change your text from sentence case to all CAPS, the list goes on and on…
Class Length: 60 Minutes
Class Type: Instructional Demo
Class #2
Class ID: AR16698-L: Wednesday, Nov. 16th 8:00 am – 9:30 am
Class Title: Revit + FormIt 360 + Dynamo Studio = AWESOME! (Hands-on)
This Lab session will focus on some of the newer features of FormIt 360, as well as Tips and Tricks to help with your FormIt 360 & Revit Workflow.
With FormIt 360 you can create conceptual designs and massing studies right on your iPad, Android Tablet, phone (if you are daring), on any computer with a web browser, or using FormIt 360 for Windows. We will learn Tips and Tricks to help with this design process using some similar commands and processes you may already us in Revit.
This session will also look at the cool, and useful FormIt 360 Pro features, like allows real-time team collaboration on a design, whole building energy analysis and solar analysis. We will also spend some time understanding the new Dynamo Studio workflow within FormIt 360 for Windows.
We will spend some time focusing on taking your project from conceptual design all the way to construction documents with these two connected products (Revit and FormIt 360) without having to leave the .RVT file format.
Class Length: 90 Minutes
Class Type: Hands-on Lab
Class #3a
Class ID: DP16577-R: Wednesday, Nov. 16th 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Class Title: Technical training for Revit – Roundtable Discussion
This session will be an interactive roundtable discussion about tips, tricks, and user experiences with technical training for Revit. These tips, tricks and experiences that are suggested by the attendees and presenter alike, will then be discussed and perhaps debated by all, with the end goal of an improved process at the end as a result of discussion. All of the content collected during the session will be added to the handout and shared with all attendees after the session has concluded.
All topics will be fair game to be covered in this session as long as they pertain to Revit and the training of Revit.
Class Length: 60 Minutes
Class Type: Roundtable
Class #3b
Class ID: DP23758-R: Wednesday, Nov. 16th 4:45 pm – 5:45 pm
Class Title: Technical training for Revit – Roundtable Discussion (Repeat)
This session will be an interactive roundtable discussion about tips, tricks, and user experiences with technical training for Revit. These tips, tricks and experiences that are suggested by the attendees and presenter alike, will then be discussed and perhaps debated by all, with the end goal of an improved process at the end as a result of discussion. All of the content collected during the session will be added to the handout and shared with all attendees after the session has concluded.
All topics will be fair game to be covered in this session as long as they pertain to Revit and the training of Revit.
Class Length: 60 Minutes
Class Type: Roundtable
Class #4
Class ID: AR16258: Thursday, Nov. 17th, 1:00pm – 2:00 pm
Class Title: BIM as a Business vs. BIM as a Process
During this Roundtable we will try to come up with definitions for both BIM as a Business and BIM as a Process. What goes into both philosophies, and how they differ? Is there benefits to any particular sector of the AEC industry for one way of think over the other? And finally is there a realistic way to have the two different philosophies co-exist?
As a starting point, and only a starting point here are two high-level definitions, to help you pick your side in this debate.
BIM as a Business: Focused on the big picture, driven by the ROI of BIM, always looking to jump on board with the latest and great technologies, what’s best for the firm first, the BIM second.
BIM as a Process: Focused on the process of day to day production, improvement of ROI by refined and standardised processes, using the best technology available that is tested and proven to increase production, the needs of the BIM are seen as equal to the needs of the firm.
Class Length: 60 Minutes
Class Type: Industry Talk
You can learn more about all things Autodesk University 2016 at the AU website. This year the event is back at the Venetian in Las Vegas, NV. It’s 2 weeks earlier than normal so be sure to save the dates: November 15th – 17th 2016.
Here is an added bonus – a couple posts from the AU blog with stats and some behind-the-scenes access to the AU proposal picking process:
Adding it up—2016 Call for Proposal stats
Peek behind the curtain: AU’s speaker selection process
I will end this post echoing these tweets from @autodesku saying congratulations to all the speakers that received an acceptance email and will be heading to Vegas in November! Now the real work begins to get the all the content for the sessions ready – it’s only 136 days away!
Hope to see you all there!
P.S. If you need some help convincing your boss to let you go to AU, check out this link from the AU website.
Twitter @theBIMsider
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