Digital Construction Podcast

How I Built a BIM Community with Machiel Basson

Digital Construction Podcast

Show Notes

BIM can be the most isolated job in construction. Here’s how one engineer built the BIM community and network the industry never had.

Website: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com Episodes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episodes Episode notes: https://digitalconstructionpodcast.com/episode/how-i-built-a-bim-community-with-machiel-basson

Host: Andrea Ciaffi https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-ciaffi-548413113 Guest: Machiel Basson https://www.linkedin.com/in/machielbasson/

BIM professionals occupy an odd place in construction. They sit somewhere between the project team and tech support, often seated away from the people they work with, and unlike engineers or architects they have no chartered pathway, no mandatory CPD, and few associations built around their work. That gap is exactly what makes an informal community worth paying attention to.

Machiel Basson founded Sydney BIM Brews out of necessity. Having landed his internship and first job through networking, he entered the industry just as COVID shut those events down, so he built the monthly gathering he wished existed rather than wait for someone else to. The conversation traces how that simple idea became a three-year-old community, and what running it taught him about connection in a relationship-driven industry.

Underneath the practical lessons is a quieter argument about isolation, and why a young, fast-changing discipline needs to share hard-won knowledge rather than rediscover it project by project. Anyone thinking about building a community, or simply feeling disconnected in their own field, will find something usable here.

00:00 Intro 05:50 Why he started Sydney BIM Brews 11:55 A casual format with no sponsors or CPD 15:20 What changes when you remove the agenda 18:45 The story behind the orange balloon 20:20 LinkedIn, email and growing the community 25:50 Skepticism, support and starting your own 31:00 Isolation and the conversations BIM needs 36:40 The future of Sydney BIM Brews 40:35 Advice for anyone feeling disconnected

Main events page is https://events.humanitix.com/host/sydney-bim-brews Signing up for an event will add you to the email list

Find all the events on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14313654/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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