Thanks for your interest in the workshops I’m planning to run to help construction professionals use Linkedin properly. After two days, here is a quick screenshot of the response so far:

Blue markers are single people, red are between 2 and 5, and yellow are more than 10.
There are clusters beginning to develop around North Essex, central London and Bristol/Cardiff. There is also a little interest in Cambridge, the West Midlands and the North West of England.

If you’d like me to come and do a Linkedin workshop in your area, why not speak to colleagues and friends and fill out the form below with your postcode and details. (This link also gives more details of the proposed workshop). An ideal number would be 15-20 people, but if we can get interest from more than 10 we’ll look at sorting out a venue and a date.

Privacy: I shall use your data only to keep you informed about these workshops and you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link on any email from me.

]]> http://www.justpractising.com/events/update-linkedin-workshops-for-construction-professionals/feed/ 0 http://www.justpractising.com/events/jacksons-fencing-and-security-factory-tour-and-gate_safe-summit/ http://www.justpractising.com/events/jacksons-fencing-and-security-factory-tour-and-gate_safe-summit/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:32:09 +0000 su http://www.justpractising.com/?p=1993

I’m working with Jacksons Fencing and Jacksons Security to help them work better with architects and specifiers, and spent a good day with them on Tuesday talking about the issues. Here’s a slide show of the factory tour I took with Helen from Zest and Marcia from Jacksons business development, who also runs their CPD programme.

Click on the images to see my notes, and don’t forget to scroll down below the slideshow to something else you might be interested in.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
If you can’t view the images above, you can also click through to see the photographs on the Flickr website.

The Gate Safe Campaign

After the death of two schoolgirls in separate incidents in 2010, Jacksons began to work to change the way automated gate safety installations deal with safety issues. The Gate Safe Campaign was launched at a summit at the IoD in September 2011 and the campaign has received the backing of the HSE. Gate Safe is working with the whole supply chain to bring about an improvement in gate safety by raising awareness of client, specifier, manufacturer, constructor, contractor and installer. Last year there were several more near-fatal accidents with automated gates, and the campaign continues to push for improved standards in gate automation.

On 8th February the second Gate Safe Summit will be held at the RIBA, 66 Portland Place from 10am-1pm and will be excellent CPD for everyone involved in specifying, building, installing or owning automatic gates. If you’d like to attend please book below – find out more via this Eventbrite page or email Lauren Soutan to reserve your place.

Jacksons have invited me to Live Blog the event, so if you’re unable to attend you’ll still be able to learn about automated gate safety and how to avoid deaths on your projects. If you’d like a reminder just subscribe and I’ll blog about the event nearer the time.

It was great to be invited to speak to the Kalzip TeamKal conference, not least because the audience of construction businessmen in their forties and fifties was always going to be skeptical about the value of Social Media to their own work. That made it a challenge, but also an opportunity, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Kalzip make metal standing seam roof and wall cladding systems. They have been holding conferences for their accredited fitters and suppliers for sixteen years, and evolved the format for the day into something that the audience, many of whom come year after year, like best.

This event is built around networking – opportunities to meet informally with each other and with the Kalzip people, catch up on the industry, review the year and build relationships. For this reason there are huge long refreshment breaks and meals, but no-one is leisurely at all, everyone is working very hard to make the most of the time they have together.

Somehow the organizers have managed to cram in an MC, six speakers, an awards dinner and a charity auction into the day and yet it felt really relaxed. The Kalzip marketing and production team have carefully honed the calm yet industrious atmosphere, and with help from staff at Carden Park in Chester made for a very productive day.

With the help of CIB Communications, Kalzip have set up a Facebook page and are encouraging their TeamKal members to join with them to help customers learn about the material’s applications. They are also beginning to experiment with blogging, and have been on Twitter for some time.

Kalzip’s team also videoed the event and talked to many of the participants. Though the speakers ranged from a Red Arrows pilot to a talk on BIM, the prevailing impression was that made by the social media talks.

I think this development is promising for architects. If contractors and suppliers are beginning to take an interest in Web 2.0 as a business tool, could we look forward to the waning of traditional ‘push’ marketing and the number of unsolicited letters and cold calls? That would be most welcome.

It has been an interesting twelve months for me, to say the least. This time last year I was in the uncertainty of hospital tests, but by April I had a 100% clean bill of health and could make plans. By the end of the summer those plans were set and I’ve spent the last few months of the year as a freelance consultant – the first time in my life I haven’t been an employee.

The last twelve months have been pretty uncertain in the construction industry too, what with the National Planning Policy Framework, the Localism Bill which will become law in the spring, the to-ing and fro-ing over Feed in Tarrifs, and the lowest numbers of new orders in construction since the 1980s. It all looks pretty bleak.

At this time of year the media traditionally looks back on all that has happened and tries to predict the future. As architects we’re often left hoping that the phone will ring half way through January as our clients start to enact their plans to make something happen in 2012. Will the phone ring for you? And what if it doesn’t?

On 20th December Brian Green looked ahead in his brickonomics blog, expecting that the forecasts for construction will again be trimmed back, but pointing out that this climate we should be looking at new opportunities, not dwelling on the lost ones.

“while workload is likely to decrease in 2012, that does not mean that the opportunities for smart thinking and resourceful construction firms need also shrink”.

Brian mentions the opportunities to repurpose buildings – whether they are empty shops, offices or homes. This changing climate also means we should be looking at opportunities to repurpose our businesses. What is it that we are doing which is working, and why? As our customers move their priorities, will they still need our skills, even for other reasons?

Since I left Barefoot & Gilles at the end of October I’ve been all over the country speaking at events, live blogging and meeting some of the thousands of people I’ve met online in the last seven years but not had the opportunity to meet in real life. Meeting them has confirmed that we have a growing community online supporting our real life networks, helping them reach further and achieve more. Surely a useful tool in our planning not only survive in 2012, but to flourish.

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On 23rd January I’ll be speaking closer to home for once, at the Foundation Works first event for construction people in Colchester.

The Foundation Works, which already has a well established home in Norwich, is run by Daniel Connall Partnership, who have invited me to share my thoughts about how new online tools have helped me and my colleagues survive the recession thus far, and how things might develop in the future.

The event is free and refreshments will be provided afterwards. If you’d like to come and meet fellow consultants, hear a few stories and take in the new FirstSite gallery’s auditorium (aka the Golden Banana) please sign up online here. I look forward to meeting you in the flesh.

Work with Su | Talks and Publications | Get in Touch

Friday’s RSAW Conference with architects in Wales was an excellent opportunity for practitioners from across the country and beyond to get together and think about running their practices.

As promised, here are the slides from my presentation. You can view them here simply by clicking on the deck below, or you can ‘view on slideshare’ by clicking the link.

Don’t forget that additional information is available direct from the slides by clicking on the images or the blue text.

There was a great deal of very positive feedback after the session and a flurry of business cards were exchanged. I’m looking forward to hearing more about your firms and what you’re hoping to achieve online. You can contact me on twitter or via the contact form here on JustPractising.

Several people asked me if I solely work for Barefoot & Gilles; though I did for five years I’m now acting as consultant to the firm and can also offer my support in various ways to other companies. You can read more about what I could help you with here.

The #RSAW11 hashtag which was created for the conference, was very active. You can see the archive of tweets here, which shows you the range of participants who are already using twitter and were at the conference, or listening in via twitter. The event was picked up by several participants from the United States, for example.

If you’re already using twitter, you can follow the RSAW at @ArchitectsWales, and don’t forget to let them know you’re tweeting so they can put you in their Architects list. If you get in touch with me at @Subutcher I’ll be able to help you there too, and you can try following my @JustProfs account which shares advice on social tools, specifically Linkedin and Twitter.

I mentioned several books during my presentation, and for your convenience have included links to them on Amazon below.

Books I mentioned in the talk:

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

BIM and Integrated Design by Randy Deutsch

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

Did you attend the conference, or do you have any questions? Please share your thoughts in the comments below, we look forward to you joining the conversation.

]]> http://www.justpractising.com/events/building-a-better-architecture-business-with-social-media/feed/ 0 http://www.justpractising.com/events/green-vision-leeds-retrofit-reality-empire-state-building/ http://www.justpractising.com/events/green-vision-leeds-retrofit-reality-empire-state-building/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:45:12 +0000 su http://www.justpractising.com/?p=1921

On Thursday 1st December I’ll be joining Martin Brown (@fairsnape) in providing live blogging for the next seminar in Green Vision Yorkshire and Humber’s autumn networking series on eco retrofit – aka #GVis2011.

GVis2011 is a unique series of events hosted by Leeds Metropolitan’s Centre for Knowledge Exchange and the Construction Sector Network, which bring together the building industry’s leading experts in sustainability. Integrating live social media activity alongside roundtable debates attendees are encouraged to share content online and project the discussions onto a global stage.

One of the most fascinating presentations is likely to be that of Clay Nesler, Vice President of Global Energy and Sustainability at Johnson Controls, who will talk about the project to retrofit the Empire State Building to make it one of the most energy efficient commercial buildings in the United States.

The half-day conference, which is fully booked for ‘real life’ attendees, will be live streamed over the internet as well as live blogged. You can register your interest in being a ‘virtual attendee’ on the Be2camp website and follow the live stream and live blog here.

Find out more about Green Vision on their website or join the Green Vision Linkedin Group.

Following the 1st December event there will be a Sustainability QuestionTime session followed by a #tweetup somewhere in Leeds (at time of publication the pub has not been chosen) from 8pm. If you can’t get to #Gvis2011 perhaps you can come to #Gvis2011tweetup?

Also make space in your diaries for the BIM global GVIs2011 event on 14th December – advance information here.

]]> http://www.justpractising.com/events/green-vision-leeds-retrofit-reality-empire-state-building/feed/ 7 http://www.justpractising.com/events/architectural-practice-changing-cardiff-rsaw/ http://www.justpractising.com/events/architectural-practice-changing-cardiff-rsaw/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:32:07 +0000 su http://www.justpractising.com/?p=1902

This year the Royal Society of Architects in Wales
(RSAW – @ArchitectsWales) autumn Conference is called “Practice Makes Perfect”. We’ll be looking at how the practice of architecture is changing in the UK.

The current recession is dragging on and it is now three years since the first swathe of redundancies in UK Architecture, and in that time hundreds of young practicioners have lost their jobs or have been unable to get jobs. What have they been doing? Some of them have found new ways of working.

At the same time existing firms have come under increased pressure to find new ways to work too. How to differentiate themselves from their competitors, how to get out and meet new people, the right people. How to take their business to where the clients are.

The conference will look at these issues and more, through great group of speakers, and breakout workshops for participants.

Speakers include:

• Christine Murray, Editor of the Architects Journal;
• Fran Balaam and Michael Core of Pie Architecture;
• RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2011 winner Phil Coffey;
• Young Architect of the Year David Kohn;
• (and me)

Workshops include:

• Edmund Fowles and Fergus Feilden of Feilden Fowles, on starting a practice in the recession;
• Lorna Parsons Looking to new media for ideas and inspiration for the future of practice;
• Micheal Holliday and Chris Hall of Roots Design Workshop, exploring the concept of Archivan, the architect’s mobile office; and
• Andy Thomson of BCA Landscape.

There will follow an Inspiration Hour led by Deborah Saunt of DSDHA.

The conference is a full day in Cardiff and costs just £78 if you book before 20th November.

There is also some £10 student tickets still available – Ring 02920 228987 or email RSAW rsaw@riba.org if you’d like to come.

Download the pdf brochure and booking form here.

If you’re thinking of setting up in practice, want some inspiration, or just want to find out what is happening to architectural practice, come and join us.

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