Revit Top Cat - Australia vs USA

So, now that both RTC AU and RTC USA are finished for 2011, who walks away with the honours for the Top Revit Top Cat?  The uber-Top Cat, if you like! :)

Let's examine the evidence..

In the heats, the overall benchmark for 76 assessments (AU - 36 / USA - 40), across all 3 disciplines of Revit combined, looks like this:

RTC ALL = 75% in 9 mins 22 secs.
RTC AU = 73% in 9 mins 27 secs.
RTC USA = 78% in 9 mins 23 secs.

So, first blood to the US of A!

How about drilling down to the 3 separate Revit flavours?  Here are the stats for each one:

RTC AU
RAC = 80% in 8 mins 49 secs (24 results).
RST = 66% in 9 mins 27 secs (5 results).
RMEP = 56% in 11 mins 37 secs (7 results).

RTC USA
RAC = 79% in 9 mins 7 secs (28 results).
RST = 75% in 9 mins 45 secs (5 results).
RMEP = 76% in 10 mins 10 secs (7 results).

So, for RAC, AU users take the prize by a nose, but RST and RMEP comfortably goes to camp USA.

And so to the Grand Final.  4 heat winners from Australia, 3 from the USA.  10 questions on advanced concepts of Revit Project Process.  These questions were pretty challenging!  Here's how the finalists compared:

RTC Final ALL = 63% in 8 mins 5 secs.
RTC Final AU = 62% in 6 mins 47 secs.

RTC Final USA = 64% in 9 mins 48 secs.

So, extremely close, but the USA just about takes the prize.  However, it is worth noting that the average time taken by the AU finalists was much faster.  It's also interesting to note that all 7 finalists were men!  

So what training issues did the data from the Grand Final highlight?  Even though every single one of the finalists proved themselves to be Revit champions, there is still more to learn!  Here are the top 12 training workshops, in priority order, from the Revit Project Process module:

Annotation, Key Schedules, Schedules, Tagging, Creating Views, Worksharing, Model Management, Clipboard, Families, Worksets, Local Files and View Types.

And last - the big one - who takes the title of overall Revit Top Cat?

Well, once again, the prize goes to the USA!  2 of the top 3 individual scores were posted by users from RTC USA.  And the overall Revit Top Cat for 2011... Brian Mackey from CAD-1.  

(Special thanks to Autodesk for providing a grand prize of an i-Pad 2, which Brian claimed as the overall winner.  (Although the RTC grapevine suggests that Brian's better half, Dezi, has the inside track for who gets to actually use the i-Pad! :) )).

So there you have it, the gauntlet has been thrown down.  The inaugural Revit Top Cat challenge has been won convincingly by our American friends.  Can the Aussies prevail in 2012?  Will the Europeans throw their parametric hat into the ring? Or perhaps a Top Cat Asia?  (Rory has graciously volunteered to travel over for the Caribbean leg of the contest!).  And perhaps a Grand Grand final, where the winners from each continent duke it out in a Winner-Takes-All Revit extravaganza??  The RTC Revit World Series?  The possibilities are endless..

R

Revit Top Cat USA - The Results

Last week, in the stunning location of Orange County, California, nearly 300 Revit aficionado's descended for 3 days of knowledge-sharing, teaching, learning, networking and a whole lot of fun.  After several years in the planning, the inaugural Revit Technology Conference (USA) had finally arrived.

Just like at the parent conference (RTC AU) which took place in May, on Australia's Gold Coast, KnowledgeSmart was tasked with delivering the 'Revit Top Cat' contest.  A practical skills assessment, pitching Revit top guns from across the industry, where only the bravest of BIM souls can prevail.

To recap on the format; Round One - a skills assessment comprising a mix of 14 knowledge and task based questions, using Revit 2011 across 3 streams (Architecture, Structure or MEP).

The Grand Final - where the 3 candidates with the best scores from each stream go head to head, tackling 10 advanced questions about Revit Project Process.

Congratulations to the following victors, from each heat (pictured left to right):

Charles Jolin  - Revit MEP - 96%
Brian Mackey - Revit Architecture - 100%
Priit Luhakooder - Revit Structure - 100%

And so to the finale. (And to give the proceedings even more spice, two of the three contenders were representing Autodesk ATC's!).  After 10 spine-tingling minutes, a new champion was crowned.  And the winner of Revit Top Cat USA 2011 is.....

Brian Mackey from CAD-1. (Editor's note: er, shouldn't that be BIM-1, Brian? :) ).


So let's take a look in more detail at some of the results from the competition..

The overall average for the 40 results was 78% in 9 mins 23 seconds.

Drilling down a bit more, there were 28 results for RAC, 5 for RST and 7 for RMEP.

The average scores for each discipline were:

RAC = 79% in 9 mins 7 secs.
RST = 75% in 9  mins 45 secs.
RMEP = 76% in 10 mins 10 secs.

So how did the boys vs girls stats look, this time around?  Well, unlike the RTC AU stats, this time the boys took the title, in the Revit battle of the sexes!

Boys = 80% in 9 mins 18 secs.
Girls = 66% in 9 mins 50 secs.

So what does all this mean,  in terms of performance and training?

For Revit Architecture, the top 10 training items were, in priority order:
Conceptual Massing, Shortcuts, User Interface, Dimensions, Principles of BIM, Coordinates, Shared Locations, Phasing, Floor Elements and View Properties.

For Revit Structure, the top 10 training items were, in priority order:
Brace Symbols, Structural Settings, Repeating Details, Drawing Lists, Project Information, View Properties, Visibility/Graphics, Beam Systems, Copy/Monitor and Crop Regions.

For Revit MEP, the top 10 training items were, in priority order:
Pressure, Pipe Properties, Pipe Types, Fixture Units, Plumbing Fixtures, Routing Duct, Duct Fittings, Duct Sizing, Duct Systems and Properties Pallet.

Overall, an extremely enjoyable conference.  Special thanks to Wes, Heidi and the RTC team for all their hard work, over the last year.  Thanks to the RTC AU committee (Clay Hickling, Michelle "Disco Diva" Leonard, Rodd Perey and Simon "90% even when blotto" Whitbread) for making the trip.  And thanks to the RTC USA committee (Jim "Gadgets" Balding, Bob "Saturday Night Fever" Bell, David "Blondie" Harrington, Nicholas Kramer, Steve "Keith Moon" Stafford and Phil Read) for all their efforts in hosting a knockout first conference.  Looking forward to RTC USA 2012 (somewhere on the East coast!).

R

Revit Top Cat AU - The Results

In the beautiful setting of Australia's Gold Coast, last week saw the gathering of almost 500 enthusiastic Revit professionals, for 3 days of learning, networking and general BIM shenanigans.  The seventh annual Revit Technology Conference was, in short, a tremendous success.

As part of the proceedings, KnowledgeSmart organised a practical skills contest for Revit gurus - from all 3 disciplines - to demonstrate their Revit knowledge and credentials.  And so 'Revit Top Cat' was born. (Recognition must go to RTC committee members Rodd Perey and Wesley Benn for their role in conceiving and naming the competition!).

The format was straightforward.  Round one - a skills assessment comprising a mix of 14 knowledge and task based questions, using Revit 2011 across 3 streams (Architecture, Structure or MEP, as appropriate).

The candidates with the best score from each stream would qualify for the grand final on Saturday. In the event of a tie for best score, the user with the fastest time gets the nod.

After some technical challenges (it's tricky to run a web-based assessment when you have no web! :) ), we eventually got everything set up.

36 brave souls stepped up over the course of the Friday afternoon, going toe-to-toe with their fellow Reviteers.  The results were tallied up and on Saturday morning the winners were announced, ready to take their place in the final.

Congratulations to the following victors, from each heat:

Andrew Bagnall - Revit MEP - 93%
Glenn Sinclair - Revit Architecture - 96%
David Harrington - Revit Structure - 100% *
Adam Sheather - Revit Structure - 100% *

(* David's time was a bit faster than Adam's, but as they both did so well, and we had an extra PC, Adam was also invited to take his place in the final.).

And so to the finale.  A new assessment module, comprising 10 questions about Revit project process.  Not for the faint hearted!  After 10 tense minutes, a new champion was crowned.

And the winner of Revit Top Cat 2011 is.....

Andrew Bagnall from GHD.  Many congratulations to Andrew and indeed the winners from all 3 streams!


So let's take a look in more detail at some of the results from the competition..

The overall average for the 36 results was 74% in 9 mins 17 seconds.

Drilling down a bit more, there were 24 results for RAC, 7 for RMEP and 5 for RST.

The average scores for each discipline were:

RAC = 80% in 8 mins 49 secs.
RST = 66% in 9  mins 27 secs.
RMEP = 56% in 11 mins 37 secs.

At the risk of courting controversy, we thought it might be interesting to see how the boys compared to the girls.  You could argue that this is an unfair comparison, as there were more scores posted by the boys than the girls overall, however a counter argument might be made that this was also reflective of the wider demographics at the conference.  Either way, we think it's a relevant metric, so here it is... it turns out that the girls comprehensively beat the boys - for both accuracy and speed - so no great surprises there! :)

Girls = 84% in 8 mins 40 secs.
Boys = 72% in 9 mins 33 secs.

So what does all this mean,  in terms of performance and training?  Well, not surprisingly, the overall level of performance, across the 3 disciplines, was very high.  But you might expect that to be the case at a user conference.

So what were the main training issues that were highlighted, in a detailed analysis of the results..?

For Revit Architecture, the top 10 training items were, in priority order:
User interface, Conceptual Massing, Shortcuts, Principles of BIM, Dimensions, Phasing, Coordinates, Floor elements, Shared locations and View properties.

For Revit Structure, the top 10 training items were, in priority order:
Drawing lists, Project information, Brace symbols, Crop regions, Roofs, Structural settings, View properties, Visibility/graphics, Repeating details and Floors/slabs.

For Revit MEP, the top 10 training items were, in priority order:
Plumbing, Fixture units, Pressure, Pipe sizing, System inspector, Pipe properties, Pipe types, Duct sizing, Duct systems, and Creating supply systems.

So, overall a thoroughly enjoyable conference, with many new friends made along the way.  A robust contest, across the three main disciplines of Revit.  The structural engineers posted the only maximum scores in the heats.  MEP engineers won the overall contest.  And the girls comprehensively beat the boys, in what may now turn into a Revit battle of the sexes!  And it all began in a small town on Australia's Gold Coast...

R