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Ecmweb 22400 Bim Cave Neca1024
Ecmweb 22400 Bim Cave Neca1024
Ecmweb 22400 Bim Cave Neca1024
Ecmweb 22400 Bim Cave Neca1024

Techtopia Gives NECA Attendees a Glimpse of the Future

Oct. 10, 2018
Highlights from this year's technology pavilion

NECA’s Techtopia presenters all had a common message for NECA members: It’s time to check out all of the technological tools designed to help them do their jobs faster, more efficiently, and more profitably. Over three days at the NECA event, held September 30-October 2 in Philadelphia, the Techtopia pavilion offered attendees brief, 18-minute sessions on topics like inspecting job sites with drones; using app-based software to manage paper flow on projects and keep all players on the same page; and augmented or virtual reality to re-imagine project designs.

Dahlia El Gazzar of the Dahlia+ Agency, a tech and marketing consulting company based in Boston, also did several presentations designed to help electrical contractors market their companies better and operate more efficiently like web-based apps and operate like WhatsApp for team meetings and document sharing, Grammarly for spot checking emails and memos for correct grammar usage, and LastPass to protect passwords. She also offered strategies on designing more professional web sites and harnessing the marketing power of social media tools like LinkedIn.

Many of the Techtopia presenters had their booths right near the presentation area. Our favorite was Sanveo’s BIM Cave, which gave attendees the chance to see a virtual three-dimensional design of a hospital room with augmented reality/virtual reality glasses. In addition to giving attendees tours of the BIM Cave, executives from the Newark, Calif.-based Sanveo discussed additional value-added services they now offer, such as electrical engineering, seismic design for MEP systems, and field layout solutions (BIM to field).

Irshad Rasheed, the company’s COO, said in a press release about the new services, “Sanveo has been consulting some of the biggest and most prominent electrical contractors in the country for the past decade. While working closely with these electrical contractors, Sanveo recognized a severe need in the market space for a technology consulting firm that can provide end to end solutions for all phases of a project. We’re talking about a company that has strong capabilities in design, pre-construction, construction, and facility management, and we are confident that Sanveo will fill that void.”

About the Author

Jim Lucy | Editor-in-Chief, Electrical Wholesaling & Electrical Marketing

Over the past 40-plus years, hundreds of Jim’s articles have been published in Electrical Wholesaling, Electrical Marketing newsletter and Electrical Construction & Maintenance magazine on topics such as electric vehicles, solar and wind development, energy-efficient lighting and local market economics. In addition to his published work, Jim regularly gives presentations on these topics to C-suite executives, industry groups and investment analysts.

He launched a new subscription-based data product for Electrical Marketing that offers electrical sales potential estimates and related market data for more than 300 metropolitan areas. In 1999, he published his first book, “The Electrical Marketer’s Survival Guide” for electrical industry executives looking for an overview of key market trends.

While managing Electrical Wholesaling’s editorial operations, Jim and the publication’s staff won several Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence, the highest honor in the business press, and numerous national and regional awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He has a master’s degree in communications and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J. (now Rowan University) and studied electrical design at New York University and graphic design at the School for Visual Arts.

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