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Event Report: RTC 2011 North America
21 Jul, 2011 By: Nancy Spurling JohnsonThe Revit Technology Conference made its U.S. debut in California, where attendees experienced extensive BIM education opportunities and a little Australian-style hospitality.
The Revit Technology Conference (RTC) 2011 North America was a bright spot during a stretch of "June gloom" in the Los Angeles area. Overcast skies didn't keep attendees from enjoying the beautiful Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa venue, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, or soaking up the opportunities to hone their Autodesk Revit skills, optimize building information modeling (BIM) workflows, and network with fellow Revit fans.
Held June 23–25, the conference was making its first-ever U.S. appearance. Australian architect Wesley Benn founded the conference in his home country in 2005, and the first event drew six speakers and 89 attendees. The conference has grown every year, and RTC 2011 Australasia drew 60 speakers and 450 attendees this past May.
Like the devoted base of Revit users, RTC is led by a dedicated group of volunteers and described as "by users, for users." The event's small size and independence offer opportunities for attendees to really roll up their sleeves, take an honest look at the software, and tackle challenging issues around it.
RTC could not ask for a more perfect leader than Benn, or perhaps more likely, the scope and feel of the event is a direct reflection on the values of its founder. Benn is as open-minded and laid back as he is passionate about Revit and about educating others about how to make the most of the software.
In his well-attended welcome address at RTC North America, Benn cited a Chinese proverb, "It is better to be a dog in a time of peace than a man in a time of war." He half-jokingly went on to offer the famous extension of that theme, "May you live in interesting times" — that is, be cursed to endure a time of turmoil.
Benn was referring to the economy, of course — in particular how it has devastated the field of architecture. "It's a very hard time, but that makes it a time of opportunity," he said. "This is when I learn, this is when I move forward, so when things do turn around, I'm ready." Don't stick your head in the sand, Benn told attendees. "Capitalize on change, capitalize on opportunity. This is the time to push forward and prepare, because it takes a while to be ready."
Radical Changes
Autodesk CEO Carl Bass gave a warm welcome of his own when he agreed to give the keynote address at the inaugural U.S. event. Before an audience of a few hundred, Bass was relaxed and engaging. His demeanor might have been a reflection of his history and appreciation for Revit — he was a guiding force behind Autodesk's purchase of the software — or, as he put it, he was speaking to a room full of people who knew more about the software than he did.
For the latter reason, Bass said, he would not focus on Revit specifically. Instead, he discussed how computer technology in general is radically changing the way we build. He spoke of infinite computing, a concept surfaced by Autodesk last year. As Bass explained, infinite computing means the world has access to computer power that is becoming so affordable that it is essentially infinitely available. He was referring to the cloud, of course, wherein centralized server farms are accessible via the Internet.
To illustrate his point, Bass explained that the amount of computing is doubling every year. The amount of new computing this year will equal the sum of all computing ever created before, and the same will hold true next year, and so on. This march of technology is leading to a "mentality of abundance," Bass said. People today assume there is more than enough computer power to do whatever they need, or they don't think about it at all. "If I had infinite computing," Bass asked rhetorically, "what would I do with it?"
Project Photofly from Autodesk Labs is an example of using infinite computing resources, Bass explained. The experimental technology creates a 3D digital model from multiple photographs of an object; the heavy computing is done on the cloud.
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About the Author: Nancy Spurling Johnson
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