July 1, 2016
Let’s bring AU expertise to the AIA Convention
Attention architecture project management gurus—we’ve found another great opportunity for you to share your industry expertise. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is now accepting class proposals for their 2017 convention. They’re especially interested in sessions that will help architecture firms use technology more strategically. Since strategic-technology-use is practically our middle name, who better to answer this call than the AU community?
Do you have a great idea or class topic for architects? Is your firm forging new paths in project management? Can you share technology manag...
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June 30, 2016
Waffles, Nike, and the future of product design
Great innovation begins with inspiration, which can strike at any time. We all know iconic inventor stories like Sir Isaac Newton’s falling apple and Benjamin Franklin’s electrified kite. You may remember last year’s AU Las Vegas Innovation Forum, when Roman Mars told us the incredible story of Almon Brown Strowger, the Kansas City undertaker who invented an automatic telephone switching system to outsmart his rival—whose telephone operator wife was sending all the funeral business in town to her husband—and revolutionized the telephone system in the process.
But have you heard about Nike co-...
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June 24, 2016
Peek behind the curtain: AU's speaker selection process
Every year, more than 2,000 class proposals are submitted for AU during the Call for Proposals (CFP). And every year, roughly 600 are selected for the event. That leaves about 1,500 quality proposals behind.
For those wondering why their proposal wasn’t chosen, we thought it might be helpful to explain how the decisions are made. Hopefully we can provide a little insight into how we do things and what we’re looking for, and empower you to create a proposal next year that hits the bull’s eye.
What’s hot, what’s not?
After the big event in Las Vegas every year, you might thi...
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June 16, 2016
Adding it up—2016 Call for Proposal stats
Our panel of judges is hard at work reviewing and rating each and every 1 of the nearly 2,300 class proposals we received. Thanks again to everyone who took the time, thought, and energy to submit a proposal. You guys rule the school.
Next week we’ll give you some insight into how we go about narrowing down this highly competitive field to the 600(ish) classes we’ll offer in Las Vegas this November. In the meantime, here are some quick stats and fun facts about this year’s CFP submissions. (If you want to compare apples and oranges, take a peek at last year’s CFP stats blog and see what a dif...
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June 9, 2016
AU expertise: Getting BIM buy in at the construction site
Technology is increasing efficiency and making more possible in construction, but there’s a catch: people have to use that technology for it to work. And in the construction industry, where people have spent decades perfecting processes using pen, paper, and spreadsheet, getting buy in to try something new can be a challenge.
That’s a challenge that Wendy Tam and Victoria Chua have faced head-on as assistant project managers at Plant Construction Company in San Francisco. Both work extensively with Autodesk BIM 360 Field construction field management software to track punch lists, issues, and...
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