CADsmart sponsors Revit Technology Conference ‘09

I’m now back in the UK after a two week trip to Australia via Singapore. The main purpose of the trip was to attend the annual Revit Technology Conference (RTC) in Melbourne. CADsmart sponsored RTC ‘09 and was one of the exhibitors. I also took the opportunity to visit existing CADsmart customers in Singapore and Australia.

It was certainly a trip of “firsts” for me;
First time in the new A380 Super Jumbo – but in economy it was just like any other jet :-(
First time in Singapore - a modern, clean and tidy city. Very helpful and polite people - but very,very humid (note to myself– don’t walk for 15 minutes between meetings!)
First time in Melbourne – Great sporting facilities. I took in a footy game (AFL ) at the Etihad stadium and rugby league (NRL) at the old Olympic stadium ( from 1956 - and so small!)
First time in Sydney – played the tourist round the Harbour area
And…first time I’ve ever been given a business card out of someone’s bra! If that’s how architects do business in New Zealand then maybe I should get there next year!

Now back to RTC. The event was held in Melbourne from June 18th-20th in the Sebel Hotel, just opposite Albert Park where the Grand Prix takes place. It’s the Premier Revit and BIM conference in the region, attracting over 220 delegates. This is a truly user driven event, organised by Revit User Groups and with real users delivering presentations about practical Revit and BIM use. All the top movers and shakers of the ANZAC Revit community were there. Refreshingly, there were very few vendor presentations delivering their often overtly sales messages. The USA was represented by Steve Stafford of the RevitOpEd blog, who was one of the presenters.

If you’re a Revit user, or you’re thinking of migrating to Revit, then I strongly advise you to get to next years event, which will be held in May 2010. You can find out more about this years event here RTC '09

Thanks are due to Heidi, Sarah and Wesley for their hard work in getting the event organised, and for looking after me. In addition, Matt Rumbelow of AEC Systems and the Revitall blog gets a special mention for helping me out with hardware, transport and beer - and for not mentioning the result of the Lions test match.

RTC was our first venture into the ANZAC territory, although we already have some large customers “down under”. CADsmart was well received and our message about the need for CAD and BIM productivity metrics and training needs went down well. Now to follow up all those leads…

Tony