Hosted by AVAIL founder and CEO Randall Stevens and TRXL Podcast director Evan Troxel, The Confluence Podcast goes behind the scenes of your favorite software for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, telling their development stories and tapping into the ethos behind these technologies and the people designing them. We wrapped up the first season with our twelfth episode, The Evolution of TonicDM, in May. Here’s a look back at Season One’s episodes, the AEC technology we unpacked, and the value AEC leaders can glean from each.
Jump to
- S1E1: What is Confluence?
- S1E2: Designing AVAIL's Channel Groups
- S1E3: Creating the Revit 2024 Sample Project
- S1E4: VIM’s PowerBI Dashboards
- S1E5: Looking Forward with AI in AEC
- S1E6: AI Governance and Ethics in AEC
- S1E7: Overhauling Knowledge Architecture’s Synthesis v6
- S1E9: Building IMEG’s AI Assistant
- S1E10: Democratizing 3D Content with FOVEA
- S1E11: Veras, the AI-Powered Rendering Tool
- S1E12: The Evolution of TonicDM
The Director’s Commentary Track to AEC Technology
The Confluence Podcast co-host Evan Troxel calls this a podcast for nerds, the director’s commentary track to software for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry.
An extension of AVAIL’s Confluence professional development event series, each episode of The Confluence Podcast is conversational and engaging while diving deep into the inner workings and motivations behind some of the AEC industry’s most impactful software like Autodesk’s Revit and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Season One guests ranged from renowned author and educator Paul F. Aubin to CTOs from the likes of EvolveLab of YegaTech, and founders such as Reg Prentice of TonicDM and Christopher Parsons of Knowledge Architecture—just to name a few.
Bringing unique perspectives from the architecture and technology worlds themselves, hosts Evan Troxel—director of TRXL Podcast—and Randall Stevens—CEO and founder of AEC software company AVAIL—lead guests in dynamic discussions that bring the process of innovation for these AEC industry leaders into the spotlight.
As Season Two of The Confluence Podcast begins, we take a look back at Season One.
S1E1: What is Confluence?
Tech Topic
The Confluence Podcast brings AEC leaders in conversation about the industry’s most pressing technology challenges.In Conversation
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
This is The Confluence Podcast origin story. Go back to see where we started and what we wanted to create.S1E2: Designing AVAIL’s Channel Groups
Tech Topic
AVAIL’s content management system (CMS) platform and Revit application tools help firms take control of their intricate network of files in one visual, streamlined solution.
In Conversation
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
Narrowing in on the development process of a new feature, this episode goes behind the scenes of The Confluence Podcast co-host Randall Stevens’ software company AVAIL. Randall and Evan discuss the rationale behind the new Channel Groups feature, its design process, and the tools used in development by AVAIL’s team.
S1E3: Creating the Revit 2024 Sample Project
Tech Topic
The technology that needs no introduction, Autodesk’s Revit BIM software platform dominates AEC.
In Conversation
- Paul F. Aubin, Author and Educator
- Harlan Brumm, Revit Product Manager at Autodesk
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
Two Revit heavy hitters—renowned author and educator Paul F. Aubin and Autodesk’s Revit Product Manager Harlan Brumm—join Randall and Evan to discuss the creation of the long-awaited sample project that was released in Revit 2024. As you can imagine, there are many challenges in developing a realistic and comprehensive project that showcases Revit capabilities across multiple disciplines. This is a fascinating how-it’s-made discussion about something many of us use every day.
S1E4: VIM’s PowerBI Dashboards
Tech Topic
VIM makes it easy to explore real-time, interactive analytics of BIM data using Microsoft’s PowerBI.
In Conversation
- Joel Pennington, Former Head of Product at VIM
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
Why Listen?
VIM has mastered PowerBI optimization. Former head of product at VIM, Joel Pennington, discusses the future of this AEC software as a product and the company’s marketing strategy.
S1E5: Looking Forward with AI in AEC
Tech Topic
Cloud computing company Amazon Web Services (AWS) opens the door for more AI initiatives in AEC.
In Conversation
- Adam Chernick, Senior Spatial Computing Solutions Architect at AWS
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
Adam Chernick’s team at AWS helps companies build prototypes and test new technologies, using AWS as the backbone. Adam, Randall, and Evan discuss how the AEC industry can leverage spatial computing to improve productivity in our daily workflows, along with exciting developments like Luma Labs' scanning application for 3D Gaussian Splatting (G-splats) and XR headsets including the Apple Vision Pro.
S1E6: AI Governance and Ethics in AEC
Tech Topic
YegaTech is all about AI, helping firms operationalize AI initiatives.
In Conversation
- Sam Zolfagharian, Ph.D., CTO of YegaTech
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
As an AEC data and AI strategy consultant, YegaTech CTO Sam Zolfagharian, Ph.D. teaches us about AI governance and ethics in AEC, emphasizing the significance of fairness, transparency, and accountability and the importance of implementing measures to minimize the risks.
S1E7: Overhauling Knowledge Architecture’s Synthesis v6
Tech Topic
Knowledge Architecture’s Synthesis is an intranet software platform for AEC firms.
In Conversation
- Christopher Parsons, CEO and Founder of Knowledge Architecture
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
This discussion begs the question: When it comes to building technology systems, how much of your own destiny do you want to be in control of? Originally built to leverage Microsoft SharePoint, Knowledge Architecture overhauled the platform to be standalone. We discuss why that decision was made and what the transition was like with CEO and founder Christopher Parsons.
S1E9: Building IMEG’s AI Assistant
Tech Topic
In-house AI tools like engineering design firm IMEG’s assistant Meg.
In Conversation
- Steve Germano, Software Engineer Team Lead at IMEG
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
Many firms are exploring AI to build tools specifically for their team’s needs. IMEG’s Meg, for example, functions as a conversational chatbot and search engine for company data running within Microsoft Teams. The lead of IMEG’s software engineer team, Steve Germano, discusses Meg’s development, feedback from IMEG’s broader team, and Meg’s ROI.
S1E10: Democratizing 3D Content with FOVEA
Tech Topic
ArchVision’s FOVEA is a 3D model configuration system that simplifies the process of translating and sharing 3D content across different platforms and file formats.
In Conversation
- Corey Rubadue, CEO of ArchVision
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
ArchVision’s CEO Corey Rubadue discusses how FOVEA came to be and its functionality in eliminating the need for manual file conversions between platforms like Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, Blender, reducing the risk of data loss for firms.
S1E11: Veras, the AI-Powered Rendering Tool
Tech Topic
EvolveLab’s Veras is an AI rendering tool for Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, and more that creates stunning architectural diffusion-based visualizations.
In Conversation
- Benjamin Guler, Partner and CTO at EvolveLab
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
- Evan Troxel, Director of TRXL Podcast
Why Listen?
EvolveLab’s CTO Benjamin Guler gives a behind-the-scenes look of this unique rendering tool, discussing Veras’ development process, the team’s ambitions for further innovation, and what this means for AEC projects in the future.
S1E12: The Evolution of TonicDM
Tech Topic
TonicDM is a cloud-based project information management solution.
In Conversation
- Reg Prentice, Founder of TonicDM
- Randall Stevens, CEO and Founder of AVAIL
Why Listen?
Two founders, Reg Prentice of TonicDM and co-host Randall Stevens of AVAIL, sit down to discuss the challenges of developing software, their entrepreneurial journeys, and the philosophies driving their businesses.
About Confluence
Hosted by software company AVAIL, Confluence is a series of architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry professional development events that bring design technology and product management leaders together in collaborative discourse. Its signature conference, Confluence Lexington, is a three-day, invite-only event themed around a pressing industry technology issue and held in the fall every year. In the last few years, regional, one-day events have also been added, as well as a podcast hosted by AVAIL CEO and Founder Randall Stevens and TRXL Podcast host Evan Troxel.
Learn more about Confluence and the upcoming Lexington 2024 event
About AVAIL
Founded in 2016 as a solution for architecture and engineering firms to find the information they need faster, AVAIL creates software for the global architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. AVAIL’s content management system (CMS) platform and Revit application tools help designers and engineers take control of their intricate network of files in one visual, streamlined solution. Spun out of ArchVision, a provider of Rich Photorealistic Content (RPC), AVAIL’s customers include industry leaders like Gensler, Perkins&Will, IMEG, LEO A DALY, and Populous.
