What do YOU want to talk about at KA Connect 2013?

KA Connect 2013 is one week from tomorrow. We’re really excited about the quality, diversity, and passion of our speakers.

Equally important are this year’s cohort of attendees. We have almost 150 people attending KA Connect this year. What a great group!

What’s a Hangout?

We’ll be running four hour-long Hangouts at KA Connect 2013 — two sessions in the middle of both days.

Attendees of prior conferences have asked for “conference infrastructure” to help them connect with people who want to talk about the topics that they are passionate about. We tried this for the first time at KA Connect 2012 and it was a big success, so we’re bringing it back.

Each table at KA Connect 2013 will have a number. During the Hangouts, we’ll put suggested topics up on the main conference screen and assign those topics to table numbers. Here’s the cool part — conference attendees will suggest the Hangout topics and moderate the discussions.

What makes for a good Hangout topic?

What burning issues are keeping you up at night? What ideas, technologies, or strategies are you most excited about heading into 2013? Or most curious about?

Hangouts are meant to be very fluid and dynamic discussions with your peers. They are not presentations.

To get you thinking, I have pulled together some Hangout topics from KA Connect 2012:

How to share your Hangout Topics with us

We’re ready to start collecting topics now. You can submit your idea in one of three ways:

1) Via Twitter using the #KAConnect2013 hashtag.
2) E-mail us at connect@knowledge-architecture.com.
3) Come to the KA Connect 2013 Information Booth during the conference and tell us in person.

So, what do YOU want to talk about at KA Connect 2013?

“Research is the business of generating surprises.”

This quote above comes from Z Smith, Director of Sustainability and Building Performance at Eskew+Dumez+Ripple (EDR).

I love it.

Amanda Walter recently profiled EDR’s paid Research Fellow program on her blog. According to the post:

“Eskew+Dumez+Ripple invests 3% of its revenue in this research initiative. Smith spends half his time on the research program, 25% of his time on ‘applied research’ linked to particular projects, and the remainder is spent directing projects for which he has responsibility.”

It’s an interesting story. I encourage you to check it out.

This post is the opening salvo in a new study on Thought Leadership in the AEC industry which Walter Communications is running with the Cameron MacAllister Group. Amanda will be presenting their findings at KA Connect 2013 in a talk called “The Landscape of Thought Leadership in the Built Environment Professions.”

I’m excited to learn what they find out. I bet they’ll generate some surprises.

KA Connect 2013 is just two months away

KA Connect 2013 is two months from today and we’re looking forward to connecting with our clients, partners, and friends for our fourth annual conference. (That’s right, fourth. I don’t know how that happened so fast.)

We’ve had record registration this year, which I think speaks to the quality of past events as well as this year’s program.

If you are already registered, we’ll see you in May. If you haven’t registered yet, we hope you will join us.

http://www.ka-connect.com/conference.php

Have a great week,
Chris

What will the rise of the Millennials mean for architecture?

Image Credit: Architect Magazine

Architect Magazine’s January issue is focused on Millennials. Specifically, who are they and what do they want.

I shared my thoughts in the attached story.

What about you? How do you think Millennials will change our industry?

Phil Harrison on Innovation at Perkins+Will

Here’s a great clip of Phil Harrison talking about innovation at Perkins+Will. Phil talks about innovation in the context of Spout Space™, a “healthy, sustainable, and flexible modular 21st Century classroom” that Perkins+Will is bringing to market in collaboration with Triumph Modular.

I particularly liked this excerpt:

“Rather than simply doing the work that clients are asking us to do, we (can) actually create projects out of things that need a solution. This is one of the first projects where we saw something that needed attention, designed something, and now we’re figuring out how to implement it in society.”

The idea for Sprout Space™ came out of Perkins+Will’s Innovation Incubator, a microgrant program of time and money that “helps people within the firm take ideas like Sprout Space™ and make them more real.”

Interested in learning more about innovation at Perkins+Will?

Yash Chitale, one of the early organizers of Perkins+Will’s Innovation Incubator, and Murali Selvaraj, Perkins+Will’s Chief Information Officer, will be talking about the past, present, and future of Perkins+Will’s innovation programs at KA Connect 2013.

We’d love to have you join us.

What makes KA Connect unique?

It’s all about who’s in the room.

Early Registration ends February 7

Before February 7th, 2013 $995.00
Before April 7th, 2013 $1,195.00
After April 7th, 2013 $1,395.00

About KA Connect 2013

KA Connect 2013, our annual conference, will take place at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on May 7th and 8th, 2013.

Our focus will be on Connected Practices–architecture and engineering firms who integrate research and development, thought leadership marketing, and knowledge management to develop and sustain a competitive advantage over their more siloed competition.

Senior and emerging leaders from top AEC firms will tell us how they are connecting systems, people, and ideas to make their firms more efficient, engaging, and competitive.

Join us for an inspiring event filled with short talks, collaborative discussion groups, and networking with some of the smartest folks in the industry.

Register here.

“The engineer is more than an engineer.”

I watched “Traces of Peter Rice,” Arup’s documentary on the career of Peter Rice this morning.

According to Arup, “This documentary explores the life, career and legacy of Peter Rice, the celebrated RIBA Gold Medal-winning engineer who died 20 years ago this year. It examines Peter’s approach to engineering and to design and shows how his way of working broadened the horizons for both engineers and architects in his lifetime, a legacy that is still relevant today.”

Near the end of the film, Ian Ritchie, an architect and fellow co-founder of Rice’s of RJR, says that Rice’s true legacy is “that the engineer is more than an engineer. And that’s, I think, what we need today. We talk about the twenty-first century being the century of the engineer, but we need engineers who are very, very broad in their makeup. And very rich, poetically, in their thinking.”

Whether or not you are already familiar with his work, and I am ashamed to say that I was not, I think you’ll find the film deeply moving.

You can watch it here.

Array Architects on using Pinterest in a Design Firm

Meaty post from Emily Posey at Array about how and why her firm is experimenting with Pinterest.

You can read the post here and check out Array’s Pinterest page here.

How about you? Is your firm using Pinterest?

TEECOM on The Future of Technology

I’d recommend watching this short, thought-provoking video from TEECOM on The Future of Technology.

Special Bonus: TEECOM CEO David Marks, who opens the video, will be giving a talk called “The Social Building” at KA Connect 2013.

12 Reasons to Attend KA Connect 2013

“The Social Building”
David Marks, CEO, TEECOM

“The Landscape of Thought Leadership in the Built Environment Professions”
Amanda Walter, Owner, Walter Communications

“EYP’s AE16 Platform: Connecting Generations, Disciplines, & Knowledge”
Brad Horst, Chief Information Officer, Einhorn Yaffee Prescott
John Pocorobba, Chief Operations Officer, Einhorn Yaffee Prescott

“Crowdsourced Urbanism: Engaging Communities and Building Better Cities”
Zach Flanders, Urban Planner, BNIM

“Building a Knowledge-Based Practice in the Digital Age”
Carl Davis, President and CEO, Array Healthcare Facilities Solutions

“Connecting Engineers”
Pardeep Jhutti, Project Engineer, Degenkolb Engineers

“Communications and Knowledge Management: Evolution to Revolution”
Susan Stewart, Global Strategic Development and Change Manager, Woods Bagot

“Making Big Data Meaningful at Fehr & Peers”
Matt Henry, President and CEO, Fehr & Peers

“R&D at Weidlinger: Past, Present, and Future”
Raymond Daddazio, President and CEO, Weidlinger Associates

“Secrets of Highly Connected Practices”
Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO, Knowledge Architecture

“DLRUniversity: Design Culture – Culture Connections”
Griff Davenport, Managing Principal, DLR Group

About KA Connect 2013

KA Connect 2013, our annual conference, will take place at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on May 7th and 8th, 2013.

Our focus next year will be on Connected Practices–architecture and engineering firms who integrate research and development, thought leadership marketing, and knowledge management to develop and sustain a competitive advantage over their more siloed competition.

Senior and emerging leaders from top AEC firms will tell us how they are connecting systems, people, and ideas to make their firms more efficient, engaging, and competitive.

Join us for a fun and dynamic event filled with short talks, collaborative discussion groups, and networking with some of the smartest folks in the industry.