Okay, here we are at Revit Technology Conference in Australiasia, the 8th annual, waiting for the keynote address to begin. Yesterday's Vis.Day conference had about 40 attendees (my estimate); today, the crowd swells 10x, as 398 are registered officially.
The crowd hushes, and the day begins! Welcome from organizer Wesley Benn of BD Group. The theme of the conference is "Bridging the Divide," and refers to the lack of conversation between players in construction. "We need to recognize the divide exist; we need to work as a single team, and pay more attention to the full lifecycle of the building." This conference hopes to bridge the divide.
Keynote speaker is Lee Crockett of the 21st Century Fluency Project, native of Vancouver, Canada -- like my kids. We're getting an overview of Zen Buddhism, which isn't particularly relevent at this point, other than to point out that "we" are uncomfortable with change. Well, Mr Crokett thinks so; I thrive on change, because change creates new opportunities.
After a lengthy list of not-yet-released tehnology products, and a description of failing entities (Kodak, US Postal Service, Encyclopedia Britannica), he asks, "Why am I telling you this? You don't want to be the next BlockBusters. It's the learners who inherit the earth."
The jobs that remain are location-dependent ones (service industry, helping jobs). White-color jobs are just blue-color jobs in nicer clothes. "Every time you book a flight online, you are taking away somebody's job. This is disruptive innovation." The only category to increase are creative jobs, which use technology to deliver their services.
We're done with the keynote, and it's back to Mr Benn. "Each time someone says 'bim models', a fluffy kitten gets killed." We are to keep track of which speakers use the phrase, and a special prize will be awarded to the winner -- or lose.
Before the morning tea, we are seeing a show reel of projects designed by Revit.
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