Clearing Off The Desk

My gosh, it’s August! Despite the extremely unusual nature of this year―work from home, locked in― time seems to be flying right on by. I figure it’s time for another quick hit version of the blog. Here goes:

• Façade Tectonics kicks off this week and this excellent letter from the legendary Mic Patterson (yes, he is a hero of mine) who brings his insight of doing the right thing during very challenging times.
• FTI’s month of tremendous content leading into GlassBuild Connect for a month is flat out awesome for the industry. So much learning at so many different levels. Two events back to back that are difference-makers.
• The big social news out was that John Wheaton is starting a podcast. That will be an absolute must listen! Once it drops, I’ll make sure to share here.
• Sharing this fantastic Chris Phillips blog from last week. Great take on relationships now versus the past. Things change, and we have to keep rolling with those punches! 
• Revit and other technology were a part of a panel I had moderated at a previous BEC. So this story on sluggish development and frustrated architects really caught my eye. I wonder how it is affecting the power users in our industry?

Last this week: comments on the NGA Glass Conference. I thought it was very strong and well done. Some key quick takeaways from me:

• Vaughn Schauss from Kuraray was sharp and his piece on security glazing and laminating continued to drive home the point that laminated glass is a massive product area.
• Mike Burk delivered again, as always, this time nailing the sentiment of automation and its importance. When he was saying that, I could imagine my friends Michael Spellman and Manny Borda at IGE Technologies nodding their heads feverishly. (They are always on me about that subject.) Automation is so crucial to our industry going forward.
• As I have mentioned here many times, the Bird Friendly piece is big and Marc Deschamps of Walker was absolutely on fire with his presentation on it. In 15 minutes, he covered the subject matter perfectly. Nick Resetar, one of the NGA Advocacy “heroes” also covered it in depth nicely on Thursday. The interest and growth here are no flukes. This is a major application area. 
• The “Architects Questions Answered” panel was so good. For some it may have been very elementary, but I really liked the very clear explanations and approaches the panel provided. Hopefully that session is utilized at future events like GlassBuild and AIA/Architect conferences.
• Props to the great Dr. Tom Culp who, during one of his sessions, clearly laid out how glass and glazing is a big part of occupant comfort with a push to the high performance side of things.
• Connor Lokar of ITR. The economic forecast … plain and simple, and if you missed it, you missed incredible forecast insight. It wasn’t all great news, but I also found more positive than others. Glass Magazine covered it here. By the way, if you did not attend this session it was announced that Connor will be presenting during GlassBuild Connect! So that is an absolute must view then.

Off topic comments on the people at or involved in the event:

• If AJ Piscitelli of FeneTech wanted to moonlight as a radio talk show host he could; not only is the guy insanely intelligent but he’s also got a great set of pipes! Awesome presenter.
• I wish I had just a tiny bit of Brad Thurman’s, from GGI, brains and skill set. His style and approach are always so incredibly impressive, and I always leave any interaction with him (either in the rare in person or a presentation like this) feeling smarter.
• It was very exciting that so many architects attended. Given that day 3 of the conference also coincided with another big online architectural conference, it was nice to see the attendance hold up.
• As I noted last week, the sponsors really were impressive. What a group. Thank you again if you were one of them. Your support of the industry is appreciated! 
• Kudos to the team at the National Glass Association who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this fly. From the presentations, to the Grub Hub cards, they were hustling to make sure everything was right and the experience valuable. This was not easy, and they nailed it.

Now on to GlassBuildConnect!

Links of the week...