Letter from the President - June 2016
WINTERING AT RTC AUSTRALIA 2016
First, I have to say that early winter in Australia reminds me of early summer in Seattle. The weather is warm enough for a Seattleite to wear shorts and almost think about jumping in the pool. Then again, for someone from Seattle, whenever that bright shiny ball of fire is up there in the sky you think about donning shorts.
Those of you who know me or have read earlier letters from me know that I am a fan of conferences and user groups. I feel that there is incredible value in meeting folks face-to-face. Conferences provide the opportunity to talk with people who have the same issues that you do. They also give you the chance to have conversations with people outside your specific line of work to give you much-needed perspective.
This means that you need to be a bit bold and approach people you don’t know. This is not in my personality by nature, but has become easier the more that I do it. I highly encourage you to attend conferences and approach people you don’t know. You never know what interesting things you might find out by doing so. There are several conferences happening in North America over the summer, including RTC North America and several BIM Workshops.
Only one day of the conference has finished at the time of this writing yet I’ve already learned interesting things in sessions and have had several stimulating conversations with people I’ve never met before.
User groups also offer the chance to network with your peers. Have you attended one recently in your area? If not, give it a try. If you don’t know of a local user group, you can try to locate one using AUGI.com or Meetup. I’m sure that your local user group would love to see a new face.
Several local user groups have changed the format of their meetings. Lectures and demonstrations are still prevalent, but the roundtable format has become popular, too. If your local user group has not tried the roundtable format yet, you could suggest they try it.
The great thing about the roundtable approach is that it gives everyone the chance to actively participate. It’s like conference networking on a local level. The roundtable usually starts with a topic and then goes in interesting directions from there.
If you are a CAD/BIM/Design Technology/Digital Practice Manager you may also find it useful to attend/form a small group of just your peers. This gives you the chance to discuss issues that normal users do not face.
Now I have to get back to day 2 of RTC…
