Saturday 23 June 2012

Seven key slides to include in every BIM presentation


1000 tweets
Over the last two or three years I have been to a number of BIM presentations. To celebrate 1,000 tweets I have written a short sketch taking a light-hearted look at the slides that are required to make a truly great BIM presentation.

1. The wedge diagram
Every presentation needs this. It shows the BIM maturity development process from Level-0 to the holy grail "Level-3 BIM".  Never mind the UK Gov mandating BIM on projects, all events should mandate the inclusion of this diagram in every presentation. Imagine eight presentations in one conference? - you'd get to see this slide eight times - and it gets better each time as the day goes on.
Slide 1 - Bew-Richards diagram
2. Clash detection illustration
This must show a clash between a structural and services element. Bonus points are given if the colour "Ceefax-Magenta" can be used.
Slide 2 - Clash detection
3. The BIM circle of life
The Disney film The Lion King introduced the "circle of life" - but BIM fans have their own diagram showing the "BIM circle of life". Right click "save as..." and remember to include this one.
Slide 3 - The circle of BIM
4. 3D? No way! How high can you go?
Everyone knows that BIM is more than just 3D. It's 4D - cost. It's 5D - schedule. It's 6D - carbon. But wait, it's 7D - labour, can we go 8D and maybe 9D. Reminds me of the seven day abs idea the hitchhiker has in the film Something About Mary.
Slide 4 - BIM is nD
5. BIM model
The actual content of what you are saying will be lost on half the audience if you ever are naïve enough to say the phrase "BIM Model" as they'll spend the next 20 minutes on Twitter poking fun discussing #fluffykittens.
Think “ATM Machine”. Think “PIN Number”. Think “NUFC Football Club”. Think “BIM Model”.
Slide 5 - BIM Model
6. The COBie man
This is the bloke from the USA who was once pictured next to a few boxes of drawings and manuals in a basement. Now he features worldwide in every presentation as an illustration of what clients don't want. They don't want this bloke standing next to big boxes of paper. They want COBie! *
* Update - @liccle_em reliably informs me that this chap is called COBie Carl
Fig 6 - The COBie Man

7. Quite literally BIM-believable
Finally, nobody even gets off the starting block unless there is a truly terrible BIM pun used in the title.

  • To BIM-finity and beyond
  • To BIM or not to BIM?
  • It's BIM up north
  • From builders BIM to builders BUM
  • Living in BIM
  • Ring-a-ding-BIM
  • Tim nice but BIM
Fig 7 - Nothing is BIM-possible
...So next time you put a BIM presentation together, remember the seven golden tips above. See how many of the seven you can get in.

(and I am sure I have managed to do seven out of seven a few times).

And remember - always be passionate about BIM.

Update 23/06/12 - 17:15
Shame to stop at seven - let's go for a nice round ten...

8. Comparison with automotive and aerospace industries
The process for designing, constructing and testing in the building industry is not as advanced as in the automotive and aerospace industries. A slide therefore is necessary showing how many parts go into a car and how that industry manages the process.
Don't however mention that producing 13million identical Nissan Micra's has a slightly different dynamic to it than refurbishing a huge 1960s office block with six fellow consultants from different companies that all detest each other.
Fig 8 - Cars are built using digital models
9. The complex chart proving the benefit
Curves going down, curves going up, arrows, areas under humped lines.
That's that BIM is proven without doubt. Fact. Next slide...
Fig 9 - The complex chart
10. The visualisation of the skyscraper
Nothing will convince the sceptics of the benefits of BIM more than a visualisation or two of a skyscraper. This helps people visualise how BIM can work for them on their next attic conversion project that is starting later that month.
Fig 10 - The power of visualisations
Update 31/10/12
Due to *incredible* demand - an accompanying free #BIMBingo resource pack is now available:
Download your BIMBingo pack now!
http://constructioncode.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bim-bingo-free-essential-resource-pack.html

11 comments:

  1. Very good! . . . but I will now have to go back and redo all my BIM Presentations and remove ALL of them - darn! @ScotBIM

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  2. outstanding...now I gotta start coming up with more...

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  3. This post alone is a presentation. Great images, ideas and concepts! @rbcameron1

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  4. Thank for for sharing! Would it be possible to have the images available in a better quality, please? Those are rather small...

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  5. Glad to have you include COBie. The BIM Man's name is Lyle.

    Here's a question for your readers. Tell me three reasons why Lyle is a good facility manager.

    You should be able to deduce this based on the information in the photo.

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  6. Kevin Fielding27 June 2012 at 22:00

    Although amusing, the reference to BIM Model is valid if you are refering to a Building Information Management Model as some peope are currently.

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  7. @Bill

    I wonder if Lyle (great to know his real name) is a good facility manager because:
    a. He has the boxes of paper on palettes so they don't get wet if the boiler room floods?
    b. Because he has the most important documents in the box at the top for easy access
    c. Because in his mind he is really thinking "What I really, really want instead of these boxes of paper is a database full of quality information to the COBie UK 2012 schema?" :)

    Nice to have you on the blog by the way - I have blogged about some of your COBie work in the past:

    1. COBie post 1
    2. COBie post 2

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  8. "BIM Model" is a proper statement. Building Information Modeling is the method, Model is the output file.

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  9. you forgot the picture of a boat named "change order". haha, excellent list!

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  10. You missed 'BIM-go' for 7 and 10. Lite relief while writing a paper "The use of POE and BPE within BIM and BeMS" lol

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  11. Remember to place credit where credit is due. The "BIM Circle of life" is actually from here: http://catenda.no/archives/63. Originated by Lars Bjørkhaug some time in 2002 - 2003. :)

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