Jim Kent gave one of the funniest and most insightful talks at KA Connect 2012. In “The Social Nature of Engineers,” Jim suggests that architects and engineers approach social media differently because of the fundamental differences between their natures, passions, and relationship to facts. 

Whether you are architect, engineer, or work with them, you’ll find Jim’s reflections on the industry to be both thoughtful and profound. 

I’m really excited to announce that the talks from KA Connect 2012 are live on the web. You can watch them here:

http://ka-connect.com/talks.php

Our speakers shared their stories, ideas, and insights with us on topics ranging from social media to research and development, from innovation to thought leadership, and even a few skunkworks projects.

I hope you enjoy them and share them with your tribe.

Best,
Chris

We’ll be running five hour-long Hangouts at KA Connect 2012 — two one-hour sessions in the middle of both days and one more at the end of Day 1.

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. A tribe within a tribe if you will.

Our response to this desire is something we are calling "Hangouts." Each table at KA Connect 2012 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 that you think this group can help you with? What ideas, technologies, or strategies are you most excited about heading into 2012? Or most curious about?

Hangouts are meant to be very fluid and dynamic discussions with your peers. They are not presentations. We want you to be able to organize yourself around the topics and questions that are most important to you.

Sample Hangout topics might include — Using Social Media on Projects, Do Innovation Competition Programs Work?, or Cloud Computing Challenges and Opportunities.

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 #KAConnect2012 hashtag.
2) E-mail us at connect@knowledge-architecture.com
3) Come to the KA Connect 2012 Information Booth during the conference and tell us in person.

So, what do you want to talk about?

30 passionate speakers on the cutting edge of research, marketing, and technology in the AEC industry are all going to be in San Francisco on April 11th and 12th

Join them as they share their insights on driving the industry forward at KA Connect 2012.

Register here.

KA Connect 2012 Speakers

Barrett, James
NATIONAL DIRECTOR, INTEGRATED BUILDING SOLUTIONS, TURNER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

Bleiman, David
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, RUTHERFORD & CHEKENE

Brennan, Lee
PRINCIPAL, CUNINGHAM GROUP

Castillo, Maribel
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, T.Y. LIN INTERNATIONAL

Collins, Georgia
MANAGING DIRECTOR, NORTH AMERICA, DEGW

Ferrari, Cristina
SENIOR BRAND STRATEGIST, FRCH DESIGN WORLDWIDE

Godwin, Andrew
BUSINESS AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS COORDINATOR, MAKE

Grauman, Frank
PRINCIPAL, BOHLIN CYWINSKI JACKSON

Guttman, Mario
DESIGN APPLICATIONS RESEARCH LEADER, PERKINS+WILL

Harvey, Tom
PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR ADVANCED DESIGN RESEARCH & EVALUATION (CADRE)

Holt, Nicholas
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, SKIDMORE, OWINGS & MERRILL

Horst, Brad
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, EINHORN YAFFEE PRESCOTT

Kent, James
CHIEF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, THORNTON TOMASETTI

Kreysler, Bill
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, KREYSLER & ASSOCIATES

Le, Trung
PRINCIPAL, CANNON DESIGN

Miller, Sam
LMN ARCHITECTS, PARTNER

Morgareidge, David
SERVICE LEADER, OPERATIONAL MODELING AND SIMULATION, RTKL

Parsons, Christopher
FOUNDER AND CEO, KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE

Peck, Sarah
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST, SWA GROUP

Pinckney, Christopher
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, PSOMAS

Rayes, Bob
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, SHW GROUP

Rocha, Larry
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, WATG

Serriere, Alex
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, TEECOM

Sinclair, Mark
PRINCIPAL, DEGENKOLB ENGINEERS

Smith, Ryan
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR & DIRECTOR, ITAC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

Squitieri, Amy
VICE PRESIDENT, ENGINEERING AND HISTORICAL SERVICES, MEAD & HUNT

Wheeler, Jim
PRESIDENT, AYERS SAINT GROSS

Whitelock, Carmen
HEAD OF ONLINE STRATEGY, ARUP

Wolff, Howard
MOST SENIOR PERSON, FULL-HEIGHT ADVICE

Young, Ken
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, HOK

• Building a Research Function
• Converting Knowledge into Products
• Skunkworks
• The Technology Studio
• Thought Leadership 2.0
• Service Innovation
• Social Media
• Innovation in Practice

Cool, right?

As a reminder, early registration pricing ends on January 11th. So if connecting with other progressive minds in your industry is one of your New Year’s resolutions, now’s a great time to sign up. 

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

Register before January 11th for $995. (Full price is $1,395.)

We’re just about four months away from KA Connect 2012. Between the speakers we’ve confirmed, the topics that are emerging, and the attendees who have already registered, I can tell that this is going to be the best KA Connect yet. I recorded the video above to share my thoughts on the conference with you.

I hope we’ll see you in San Francisco next April.

Open Space is an approach for hosting meetings, conferences, corporate-style retreats, and community summit events, focused on a specific and important purpose or task—but beginning without any formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme.

The idea is to recognize two things: 1) That the folks who attend a conference are equally as interesting as the speakers up on stage. 2) Important topics and questions will come up in the week leading up to the event and throughout the day that the organizers could not have anticipated and planned for in advance.

We’ll be dividing the Open Space session into (3) 45-minute blocks. We’ll have 4 tables set up, each with a flipchart. Each table will have an event organizer present to help keep the conversation on track, but other than that, Open Space is meant to be very fluid and dynamic. We want you to be able to organize yourself around the topics and questions that are most important to you. We’ll post the final list of topics right after lunch.

Example Open Space topics might include "Social Media for Smaller Firms," "Building a Market Research Database," or "Communications Challenges in a Global Market."

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

1) In the comments of this discussion on the SMPS-NY LinkedIn Group.
2) Via Twitter using the #TME2011 hashtag.
3) Find me at the event and pitch me.

So, what do you want to talk about?

Who should submit their project?

You’re an architect, engineer, technologist, marketer, or researcher working in an AEC firm who is building something awesome, probably in your spare time, most likely just to see if it can be built. Maybe it is a mobile app, or a social media program, or a BIM plug-in, or a cloud service. Or something we’ve never even fathomed. You’ve got a skunkworks project going on and we want to know about it.

Perhaps people have told you that your idea is crazy. Or that your innovation is ahead of its time. Cool. That’s just what we’re looking for.

Hit Us With Your Best Pitch

We’re looking for up to ten speakers to give short talks (under 7 minutes) about their most innovative skunkworks projects at KA Connect 2012.

Interested? If so, please send us a short video (again, under 7 minutes long) about your project to connect@knowledge-architecture.com by the close of business on Friday, December 16th. The video doesn’t have to be professional; we’re looking for the power of the idea and your personal passion for innovation.

If we select your project, you’ll receive one complimentary registration to KA Connect 2012 on April 11th and 12th in San Francisco. Your talk will be recorded and posted on the KA Connect website and iTunes. Perhaps most important, you’ll connect with a tribe of folks who are all pushing our industry into the future.

We want to hear from you. What are you working on?