I’m happy to post this new ArchiCAD training lesson

Sometimes I get a bit silly, following a theme or an idea down a path to see how far it takes me.

I got an email from a Russian ArchiCAD user thanking me for my tutorial lessons. He wrote in broken English “I am very happy I found the man who help me achieve my demand and help me to overcome the cycle of ArchiCAD…” I gathered that he liked what I wrote, and that it made him happy.

As I wrote up my latest ArchiCAD training lesson, focused on the sixth of my 7 Keys to Best Practices — how to model better in ArchiCAD in order to draft less — it occurred to me that I love to model in 3D, but I’m not so keen on drafting stuff. 3D is more fun, of course!

So I followed this idea along, and made it a little bit of a subtext to the lesson – “how can you be happy working with ArchiCAD?” With a few word-plays along the way, I finished this lesson up and posted it tonight.

Which made me happy…

Local color

One of the things that I am enjoying the most, since I changed my focus from being an ArchiCAD reseller in California to offering ArchiCAD training online, is the opportunity to connect with users around the world. I get emails from people in all “corners” of the globe, sometimes thanking me, sometimes asking me a question or for some help.

Occasionally I read phrases that are best described as “local color” – regional expressions that are very evocative of the place they come from. For example, one Best Practices Course member in New Zealand wrote about being eager to get the course on DVD, since her internet connection was “as slow as a wet weekend.” It brought up a vivid picture of sitting around, waiting for something to happen, during the long rainy periods that must be common on those islands.

An email came in today from someone who I think is from Africa. This person wrote in response to my latest free ArchiCAD training “Record Your Design Intent”: “hay, thanks bob for this, u just cleared the mist from my  face and now i can see ghosts.” I guess that my words are helping this person to see more clearly how to approach using ArchiCAD better – but what an interesting way to say it!

Our local color is green these days, as spring brings a profusion of leaves and flowers, trees filling out, blue skies with varying cloud formations. It’s been a little cool, which is just fine with me – summer’s heat wave can wait a little while. It even rained a little bit last night, a rarity for this time of year.

Our son Ayden came home from college (2 hours away in Santa Cruz California) for the weekend, and we had a wonderful relaxing time together. It’s hard to believe he’s 21 and about to finish his Junior year. My wife Le’ema, Ayden and I went to see a concert by Tin Hat (an eclectic acoustic music group) at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House on Friday night, then saw a great French film “Queen to Play” at our local Rafael Theater art movie house. Ayden played a little on his guitar and piano keyboard, and brightened our lives again with his lovely musical gifts.

I have much work to do, so I’m going to finish up now – but it’s good to take the time to appreciate these colors, sights, words, sounds and people. They are part of the rich texture of my life and help to make all the work worth doing.

Eric

P.S. Right after I posted this, I went outside and there was a rainbow – the rain had interrupted a sunny day. Then there was a double rainbow – a second arc above the first, fainter, but still clearly visible. I turned to look towards the setting sun, just as it started to be hidden by some dramatic clouds, which were fringed in golden light. Sweetness and light…

Half-way through my new mini ArchiCAD Training on Best Practices

I’ve just created, posted and emailed the fourth installment of my mini-course on the 7 Keys to Best Practices in ArchiCAD: Record Your Design Intent.

I’m finding this an enjoyable process, and getting some really nice feedback. One person wrote to me “If you didn’t exist, someone would have to invent you.” I’m so glad to know I’m filling a need, helping people to learn and use ArchiCAD better.

I’m continuing to collect a lot of my old tutorials from around the web and placing a copy of them onto this site. When I compiled the names and links of everything I’ve published to hand to my outsourcing contractor (who is doing the web HTML pages) even I was impressed at the length of the list. And some of these articles are really, really meaty – we’re talking ten pages or more in Microsoft Word – a hefty body of work.

Speaking of hefty bodies, I’m not getting much exercise these days except occasional walks with our dog by the bird sanctuary or along the railroad track near our home. I’m devoting my time to developing the Best Practices Course, where I’ve compiled 9 weeks of training lessons (about 8 hours of video) and 10 recorded webinars (coaching calls totaling more than 17 hours of detailed question and answer demonstrations).

With the help of several course members, we’re developing a comprehensive course index, tabulating all the topics covered along with the time-stamps, to help people get quick access to the juiciest and most relevant tidbits from this smorgasbord of teaching materials.

You’re more than welcome to take a look at the Best Practices Course – Comprehensive Index. You can search it easily to see what’s been explained so far, and of course (pun intended) it will expand as more course materials are added.

The index is open to all, but you have to be a member of the Best Practices Course to watch the actual ArchiCAD training videos. Maybe it will tempt you to join the course when it reopens registration on May 24…

Eric

My exclusive interview with archiCADmonkey…

I’m excited to share with you some interesting news: I was interviewed by Apollo Spiliotis, also known as archiCADmonkey. He’s just posted the 42 minute audio clip on his blog at www.archicadmonkey.com.

The interview was pretty wide-ranging, including some bits about the history and evolution of ArchiCAD (you know I go WAY back to almost prehistoric times with ArchiCAD), my thoughts on how to achieve more efficient workflows, my previous career as a professional dancer, and the origins and philosophy of MasterTemplate.

Apollo commented about some of the things he’s learned from my video tutorials, and we discussed my teaching style and approach. In the interview I also talk about the upcoming launch of the Best Practices Course, and the wonders of connecting with people digitally from across the globe.

Apollo is a pretty interesting fellow himself. He’s a young designer based in Greece, but who has lived in the U.S. and the U.K. for much of his life. He’s built up a lively website with articles and podcasts about a lot of technology stuff, mainly built around ArchiCAD and Artlantis but with increasing forays into other realms. HIs podcasts on Youtube and Vimeo have accumulated over 160,000 views, and he’s even created his own iPhone app called archiCADmonkey – search for it on the iTunes store!

His interview with me will be available on his website and also through his archiCADmonkey iPhone app.

Please check out the interview, and tell your friends about it. I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to your comments and feedback.

15,962 Fans for ArchiCAD on Facebook!

I’ve been on the periphery of the whole social media revolution. Of course, I am a techie, and have created multiple websites and made lots of email broadcasts over the years, but until recently I hadn’t done much with Facebook or Twitter or even real blogging.

Now my wife is another story. Each day she goes onto Facebook and interacts with lots of friends, watches videos, laughs a lot, shares some of her stories and gives encouragement to anything and anyone that brings beauty, truth and light to the world. It’s a major part of her routine. Occasionally I help her out – I’ve set up a few fan pages for her, and posted some events to promote her yoga and dance workshops.

Our son is very conversant with all of this as well. He’s 21, in his third year at university, and of course he was brought up with this stuff. He’s too busy to spend that much time on it, but I’m sure it’s all second nature.

I’ve been an avid student of internet marketing for the past year or two, and have learned so much. I’m adjusting my style to be more personal, to share my thoughts, to appear prominently as an individual in relation to my professional offerings – rather than hiding behind a company, even my own company. It feels incredibly comfortable, as I stop trying to pretend to be big (e.g. “We’d like to announce…”) and instead share myself – my gifts as a teacher, as an author, as an ArchiCAD expert, and as a caring indivdual.

ArchiCAD on Facebook?!

Which brings me to the title of my blog post. As of today there are now 15,962 individuals who “Like” ArchiCAD’s page on Facebook! How incredible! Not only are there lots of ArchiCAD users out there, these are people who proudly say “I like ArchiCAD”. They don’t need to fit in with the crowd who use Brand X, in fact they’re happy and passionate about their software tool of choice.

What else does this say, beyond the fact that ArchiCAD has a substantial user base? It says that professionals are using Facebook, that it’s no longer just for the college kids and the people who aren’t busy working. It’s becoming THE place to network, with 500 million members and growing.

Of course, LinkedIn and Plaxo and other social networks specifically focused on business and professional connections are growing too. There is a thriving ArchiCAD group on LinkedIn – but it’s got 947 members – a substantial gathering, but nowhere near the number of ArchiCAD fans on Facebook.

However, there is one thing that LinkedIn has that Facebook lacks (at this point) – a discussion board. There are many discussions in the ArchiCAD group, and lots of intelligent discourse. This plays a different role in the ArchiCAD community than ArchiCAD-Talk (also a VERY valuable resource), which tends to be more focused on technical questions rather than the more open-ended and personal discussions I see on LinkedIn.

archicadMonkey?

Another big surprise: recently I connected with a person who goes by the Facebook moniker archicadMonkey, a young man by the name of Apollo Spiliotis. He’s Greek by birth, although he was brought up partially in the U.S. and partly in the UK and he retains a bit of an American accent. He’s made a series of video podcasts on ArchiCAD and Artlantis that you can find on his website and on Youtube and Vimeo. He’s also made his own archicadMonkey App for the iPod, iPhone, iPad and now Android, that showcases his podcasts.

What’s so surprising about this? Apollo told me that his videos have logged over 100,000 views on Youtube and 60,000 views on Vimeo. WOW! And it’s not like he’s made 100 videos each with 1,000 views – I counted a total of 17 so far. One of his videos has 37,792 views. So there’s a real audience for this stuff, after all!

So where does this leave me? Now I’m becoming an avid student of social media, as well as internet marketing, video, website design, and of course…ArchiCAD. I’ve started blogging, Tweeting (@EricBobrow), Facebooking (Eric Bobrow) and posting my video tips on Youtube. I invite you to connect with me!

One can never stop learning, or to put it in a positive way – one can always keep learning. And I’m hungry to learn more. Another world to explore!