Nathan’s Guide to Sessions at BILT ANZ 2019

This years’ program for BILT ANZ 2019 is in my opinion one of the best ever. Over the last few years I have written a blog post for ARCHICAD users highlighting the sessions I recommend that they attend. This year I have decided to take a slightly different approach. Along with the progress of the diversity of presentation types at BILT, many people have made progress in their career into management roles. So, my approach for session recommendations for BILT attendees this year is based purely on the sessions that I have a strong interest in and hope to attend. The biggest problem I have this year is the number of sessions that are of great interest to me – maybe there will be different ones that take your fancy. However, I hope I can map out a great BILT schedule for those that are in high level management, have and ARCHICAD background, and a general interest in openBIM and overall BIM processes.

Session 1.2
Firstly, there is Mark Jeffrey with ‘Why Is Change Management Still A Topic Here? This is a key topic for people managing the change to BIM processes across their business. Secondly for the ARCHICAD users I wouldn’t go past Kristian Bursell’s session ‘GDL Group Functions – Create Complex Geometry.’

Session 1.3
For the ARCHICAD users there is significant value in attending Matthew Johnson’s session, ‘CLASSIFIED: Unleashing the power of properties in ARCHICAD.’ I know that over the last 12 months he has been undertaking serious testing and use of this new feature in ARCHICAD, a feature that all users need to grasp and understand moving forward into the future.

Session 1.4
Session 1.4 presents a bigger dilemma for me as there are at least three sessions that I see of high value. For those interested in building their brand there is Katherine Mair’s workshop on, ‘Demonstrating Your Brand & Value at Work.’ I have seen Daniel Kalnin’s present before on, ‘Setting a new bar in digital handover, from D&C to Operations,’ and recommend it for people that are interested in learning about downstream information capture and usage. And specifically for ARCHICAD users, Georgia Parr on, ‘Simple tools for setting up a BIM model at a project’s conceptual stage,’ will be a valuable session. 

Session 1.5 
Session 1.5 once again presents itself as a huge one. Starting with Mark Dobson, ‘Truly Master Your Time in a Modern Era,’ is definitely a session to attend for those wanting to master time. Toby Maple and Mark Cronin will lead the, Industry Update 2019’ session which should see a number of guest presenters providing statuses of industry wide projects. This is a session worthwhile attending if you don’t get the chance to make it to too many city BIM events throughout the year. And finally, for the ARCHICAD users, you can’t go past Kristian Bursell’s lab, ‘Create ARCHICAD Accessories Tools in 10 minutes.’

Session 2.2
After the plenary session we move into Session 2.2 with Mark Cronin and Toby Maple presenting on a new guide that industry has prepared for ISO19650. I also think that Steve Nonis’ session on ‘Implementing a Digital Practice: Looking Beyond BIM Management.’ Will be of interest to those managing change within their practice.

Session 2.3
Session 2.3 sees another blockbuster session depending on your interests. Once again, I need to split into 3 different people. My main interest is in hearing Liz Partridge from NSW Health on, ‘A Government Agency BIM programme in action.’ An important session still for many will be Rohan Bailey’s session on ‘Co-locating Discipline Models for Successful OpenBIM Model Coordination.’ Also, Melanie Tristram’s session on ‘Structuring your teams for success,’ will be important for those who manage teams within their practice.

Session 2.4
As a strong believer in the power of Solibri Model Checker I recommend attending Linde Ryckeboer’s session, ‘Path to Solibri.’ And for those that have an interest in seeing the power of smart construction programming Pieter Rautenbach’s session ‘Popeye’s spinach for Project Controls’ will be a must see.

Session 2.5
I fancy Bilar Succar’s Workshop, ‘The BIMe Initiative – knowledge sharing and open source tools.’ There is a lot of research that Bilar has undertaken and published on BIMe with a number of volunteers around the globe. For those not aware of the work it would be best to hear it directly from the man himself.

Session 3.1
First up on Saturday morning a, if you love a lot of passion like I do then I would sign up for Phil Lazarus’s Panel on ‘Advancing your Career in BIM: A Panel Discussion of 20/20 hindsight.’ For our ARCHICAD users out there we have Quinton Cooper on, ‘How to spend your Inheritance after BIM dies.’.’ 

Session 3.2
On the home stretch and Session 3.2 brings up another couple of sessions of interest to me. Firstly, we have Jon Mirtschin’s ‘Taking AIM at Open Standards,’ where he will discuss the benefits of open standards for Asset Information Models. Do you struggle with people you have to deal with on your projects? Then Linde Ryckeboer’s Workshop on ‘How to understand the people around you’ will be of interest.

Session 3.3
And closing out the multi-stream component of the conference I would recommend the workshop from Mark Jeffrey, ‘Business Development & Market Penetration.’

It is a big year at BILT ANZ 2019! If you go back through my posts for previous years you will see that year on year the sessions that I suggest attending grows and grows. This year in my opinion presents the best offering I have ever seen at our event in diversity of topics and sessions that interest me. I really am looking forward to May this year and with a year off from presenting I will get to experience the event from a slightly different angle. I look forward to seeing you all in Melbourne in May!

Register here!