Hosted by software company AVAIL, Confluence is a series of professional development events that bring design technology and product management leaders from the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry together in collaborative discourse. In 2023, TRXL Media Director Evan Troxel and AVAIL CEO and Founder Randall Stevens launched the Confluence Podcast to invite a broader audience to join these industry-leading conversations. At Confluence San Francisco 2025 in April, AVAIL Marketing Director Laura Zolman sat down with Evan, who offered a behind-the-scenes look at what makes Confluence events and the podcast critical touchpoints for AEC technology leaders ready to shape the future.
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TRXL Media Director Evan Troxel (left) co-hosts the Confluence Podcast with AVAIL CEO and Founder Randall Stevens (middle) and has participated in both Confluence signature Lexington and regional events.
For AEC technology leaders, what is the value of the conversations you're having on the Confluence Podcast?
To me, the people are what make the industry tick, not the software.
Watching guests on the podcast talk through how they approach solving a problem is magical. That human side of software development is super important.
People listen to these shows, and then they know so much more about that person and the way they think. If they build relationships through listening to leaders tell stories, that actually opens the door to having deeper conversations.
Key insights for AEC Technology Leaders from Confluence Podcast Season Two
After two seasons, which conversations have you enjoyed the most?
My favorites are the ones with Christy Chapman and Brent Seales about the Herculaneum scrolls project, because they’re just so different.There's so much convincing that has to happen behind the scenes. It totally applies to AEC. You have to get everybody on the same page.
Christy spoke about how Brent is an academic with a degree in computer science. He has this scientific, engineering vocabulary … but then you're talking to somebody who holds the keys to this scroll, and you can't talk like that to them. It’s about working together.
Architects do this all the time. When you're presenting, you can't talk like you're talking to another architect. They don't know what the words mean that you want to use. So how do you communicate effectively to build consensus, make decisions, and move things forward?
Hosted by AVAIL’s Randall Stevens and TRXL’s Evan Troxel, the Confluence Podcast is a director’s commentary track for AEC industry software. One of Evan's favorite episodes features Brent Seales, Alumni Professor of Computer Science at the University of Kentucky, who led the team that digitally unwrapped ancient Herculaneum scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius.
For fans of the podcast, how would you describe a Confluence event?
It’s an un-conference conference. Confluence is the best kind of conference there is, because it's less about sitting and receiving and it's more about just talking. There's no pressure.
At normal conferences, the best conversations are always the ones in the hallway after the presentation anyway, because the presentation just sparks the ideas that you then want to talk about.
Confluence is low intimidation because it's a smaller group. With smaller numbers, you can be more open.
Confluence Lexington 2023 explored the realities of AI and ML in the AEC industry and featured YegaTech CEO Mehdi Nourbakhsh (left) as a speaker.
Why should AEC technology leaders attend a Confluence event?
Building your network is the absolute best way to spend your time at any kind of conference. This conference prioritizes that, and, therefore, it has a higher impact.
You're meeting people who have been in this industry for a long time. And if you haven't been in the industry for a long time, it's a kickstart. To build those relationships with people, I think that that sets you on a different path.
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 Media Director Evan Troxel.
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. AVAIL’s customers include industry leaders Gensler, Perkins&Will, IMEG, LEO A DALY, and Populous.
