R-CON has exploded this year! What's changing? Take a look...
FULL EPISODE
I've been telling people for months now, the last five years have been preparation for this one. This feels like a graduation year for R-CON.
For those who haven't been to R-CON before... it's one of the fastest growing independent gatherings for the reality capture, digital twin, and emerging technology ecosystems across the built environment industry, where laser scanning, LiDAR, drones/UAV, photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting, BIM/VDC, point cloud to BIM workflows, digital twins, AI, and robotics all come together under one roof. The conversations range from hands-on technical workflows to enterprise-level strategy... how companies are deploying these tools on real projects, where the industry is headed, what career paths look like as the technology evolves, and how service providers, software platforms, and equipment manufacturers are all starting to work together rather than in silos. It's part conference, part trade floor, part community reunion for an industry that's growing faster than most people realize!
Who should be in the room... R-CON draws from across the built environment and emerging technology landscape, land surveyors and geospatial firms, AEC and construction companies, reality capture and scan-to-BIM service providers, robotics and drone manufacturers, software and point cloud platform companies, infrastructure and utilities teams, and government and public sector groups. It's just as valuable for a solo technician learning the ropes as it is for a global enterprise looking to hire a service provider or a startup looking for its first investor. If your work touches LiDAR, drones, BIM/VDC, digital twins, or robotics in any capacity, there's a reason to be here.
How we got here
R-CON started small, with the first event being in 2021. Year one and two, we were at the Knitting Factory, a small music venue in downtown Boise. Years three through five, we grew into Boise State University and the Morrison Center, which felt like a huge step up at the time. Beautiful stage, great energy.
But here's the thing both of those venues had in common... they were built around the stage, not around the floor. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE the main stage focus, and that is never going away for us as a core of the event. However, as our exhibitor and sponsor interest grew year over year, we kept running into the same wall. There just wasn't room to spread out. We were squeezing 30 vendors onto six-foot tables down hallways because that's all the space we had.
That constraint is exactly what pushed us to make the leap this year into the Boise Centre, our biggest event space yet, with room on a scale we've never had access to before! We're taking up the entire event center, over 85,000 sqft of main stage, expo hall, workshops, and more!
What's actually changing this year
A real expo hall. Instead of three tiers and hallway tables, we now have an expo hall, 70 exhibitor booths in one massive room! That's more than double our previous capacity, and it means I can finally bring in companies and technology I've wanted on the floor for years but simply didn't have space for.
Hands-on technical workshops. This is brand new. Our main stage has always been about high-level insight, case studies, panels, where the industry is headed. But the feedback I kept hearing from you all was that people wanted a chance to break down into more technical workflows and get specific into different ecosystems. So this year, we're running four workshop rooms simultaneously across two afternoons, covering things like aerial LiDAR, photogrammetry, Gaussian splatting, and land surveying fundamentals. It's the testing year for expanding our training grounds, helping people get specific gaps filled in their training and workflows.
A hackathon and Innovation Village. Two years ago we ran our first startup pitch competition. It told us something important, there's real appetite from startups, investors, and corporates to connect in this space. So this year I'm expanding it into a full hackathon and innovation village built around real industry problem statements, things like wildfire response and rare earth minerals, leading into the in-person Innovation Village with low-cost startup tables and its own stage for demos.
A room designed for people, not rows. The new main stage space is round tables instead of theater seating, with a massive stage, LED walls, and multiple screens. Meals happen right at your table during main-stage sessions. It sounds like a small detail, but it solves a real accessibility problem we had (people squeezing in and out of rows), and it makes the whole room feel more like a gathering than an audience.
An actual VIP experience. I'm building out a full VIP lounge, with relaxation areas, work space, snacks, drinks, and games, open the entire conference. And for the first time, we're moving the VIP dinner to the very last night, after the full agenda wraps, so it becomes its own dedicated, unhurried experience rather than something squeezed into the middle of a busy day. You'll get a chance to meet all the speakers, executive guests, and other VIP ticket holders. We'll do intentional networking, fireside chat, open Q&A, and I'll be there helping make some personal introductions for those in the room. (Passes on this are limited as we want to keep it intimate and high value!)
Flexible ticketing. Full conference and VIP passes still include everything, but I added an expo-hall-only pass for people who just want to walk the floor and network in the afternoons, and an evening happy-hour pass for people who can't make the full event but want in on one of our big networking evening events! I want it to be easy for you to step in at whatever level makes sense for you.
Why the evenings matter as much as the days
If you've been to R-CON before, you already know we're known for our happy hours, and I'll say it plainly, nobody else in this industry does what we do. We don't run one happy hour with one drink ticket. We run three to four full evening events, including renting out Boise State's football stadium for field goal kicking, cornhole, and food right on the field.
That's not just for fun, though it is fun. If a conference ends and everyone disperses to find their own dinner, the networking dies right there. People end up with whoever's standing closest to them and lose the thread of everything they just learned. When I build out real evening experiences, you get to keep talking with speakers, with vendors, with each other, in a relaxed setting. It's the same logic as closing a deal on the golf course. You're not at a desk. You're not in a session. You're just talking, and that's where the real relationships form.
Why I do this
People leave R-CON with new jobs. New clients. Massive projects. New collaborations.
My bigger goal, every year, is bringing clarity to an industry that's genuinely complex... reality capture, digital twins, BIM/VDC, robotics, drones, point cloud to scan-to-BIM workflows. Where's the opportunity? Who should you be talking to? What does a career path even look like here? Small companies are looking to collaborate. Mid-size companies are looking to hire. Enterprise companies are looking for solutions they can't build alone. Everybody's looking for someone, and that's exactly why this works.
My background is 15+ years in reality capture and land surveying, and I built this event by bringing my own relationships into the room in year one. That's still my mission now, just at a bigger scale... using this community to make those same connections happen for everyone, not just the people I personally know, but offer my entire network, my entire reach, the entire community, to YOU! But you have to show up to be part of it.
If you've been on the fence, or if you've never been and don't know what to expect, this is the year to come see it for yourself. We expect attendance near 1,000 people, and everything about this new venue, the workshops, the Innovation Village, is built to make sure that growth translates into a better experience for you!
R-CON 2026: October 12-15, Boise Centre, downtown Boise.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, send me a message anytime!ctually great at. That is not a small thing.
Catch the full conversation R-CON 2026 Is Leveling Up — Bigger Venue, Bigger Vision, Bigger Opportunities on Youtube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
