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Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Reflecting on BILT Europe 2019 in Scotland

I recently returned from the BILT Europe 2019 conference in Edinburgh Scotland.

In today's post I will reflect on the event, sharing several photographs. Overall, the entire trip was amazing... from a great conference, an evening event where my kids got to sword fight each other at a historic estate, to a family excursion into the Scottish Highlands.


Keep reading to learn more...

Committee Provided Photos

This first grouping of photos was provided by the BILT committee, which where taken by their talented photographer, Peter Somogy-Toth from Skyart Media.

The venue was the Edinburgh International Conference Center. This first picture is in the main entry lobby, where the registration desk was located. I can be seen on the far left, talking with Frank Wolbertus and two others from Holland.


This was the largest BILT Europe conference yet!


There was a lively exhibit hall with several great vendors; some old and some new!


A few images of the Gosford House, where the Thursday evening social was held. A beautiful estate with the largest private art collection in Northern Europe, I was told.



My family... sword fighting in Scotland!


The energetic and colorful BILT Europe Committee member, Silva Taurer addressing the delegates.


The Autodesk superstars ready to talk to delegates in the exhibit hall... Martin Schmid, Harlan Brumm and Sasha Crotty.


The Enscape both, in the Exhibit hall...


Here I am, talking to Kaj from Enscape...


Wesley Benn, "the guy who started it all (well RTC/BILT, anyway)" talking to Becky Chen and Tracy Wang from MSI.


The Autodesk folks sitting on a panel, answering any and all questions:)



My Photos

Here are several photos I personally took... this is the exterior of the conference center.


Registration desk...


Super-sized schedule...


Not sure who this guy is... just kidding... Marcus Fich, BILT Europe committee member, doing a great job kicking things off!

  

The list of exhibitors...


And speakers... there may have been a second slide as I don't see LHB listed:(


Amazing music greeted us as we entered the Gosford House...


My kids sword fighting...


Silvia, again...


Sasha explaining why she is proud to work for Autodesk!


A great presentation by Alberto Dominguez and Alfonso Monedro, from Heatherwick Studio, on landscape architecture workflows for design and visualization.


My friends from Minnesota, Oliver Turan and Shawn Zirbes, from CTC Software.


Here is Johan Hanegraaf at his Arkio booth; his tool allows you to design in VR. Check out his interview by Marcello on the Simply Complex podcast.


Another exterior photo...


I was standing at the Enscape booth and a name tag jumped out at me... it said "Bob McNeel". Wait, what! The father of Rhino was at BILT Europe... so cool. This was the first time I met him, although I have been using his software since the early 90's. Check out this post about AccuRender (which was the first rendering engine in Revit, btw): My Ancient Renderings from the 90's.



Kelly Cone, from ClearEdge3D, showing Wesley Benn a backpack-based portable scanner. BTW, Check out how Kelly is able to convert this into a high tech guitar in this tweet: https://twitter.com/DanStine_MN/status/1182935172066545666



The final gathering at the end of the conference on Saturday featured my tweet about Revizto's Rhys Lewis striking a pose at the Gosford House! Yes, that is a sword in his hand.


A lovely speaker gift...


The speaker debrief... what worked, what didn't... be honest.


Family trip to the Scottish Highlands...


The day after the conference my family was touring the Edinburgh Castle and ran into a few committee members doing the same. I grabbed a few selfies; Rui Gavina.


And, Wesley Benn.


The big question, at the end of a conference that moves around each year, is: where will it be next year? BILT Europe 2020 will be in Valencia, Spain! I highly recommend you start saving now, as this is a memorable event.



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I also write blog posts for Enscape - a new paradigm in rendering, animation and VR for AEC.