KA Connect Knowledge Architecture KA Connect Knowledge Architecture

KA CONNECT 2025 | Speakers + Program

We’re thrilled to announce the speakers and full program for KA Connect 2025, taking place August 12–15 at the incredible Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah.

We’re thrilled to announce the speakers and full program for KA Connect 2025, taking place August 12–15 at the incredible Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah.

This year’s theme—Unlocking the Promise of Knowledge Management with AI—reflects a transformative moment for AEC firms. As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible and practical, it’s reshaping how we share expertise, accelerate learning, and solve complex problems.

Over two mornings of general sessions, you’ll hear real-world case studies and actionable insights, from forward-thinking practitioners who are applying AI to amplify the value of knowledge management inside their firms:

Connecting the Dots: How LS3P Aligns Knowledge Management, Marketing, and AI
Katie Robinson, Chief Marketing Officer, LS3P

Upskilling the Next Generation: A Targeted Knowledge Management Strategy
Kari Shonblom, Knowledge Manager, BWBR

Rethinking KM Teams: When Your Newest Teammate Is AI
Todd Henderson, Director of Practice Improvement, Boulder Associates

What KM 3.0 Wants: How AEC Firms Can Thrive in the AI-Powered Era of Knowledge Management
Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO, Knowledge Architecture

Debating the Future: How Will AI Change the Way We Learn, Teach, and Work?
Kate Grimes, Director of Knowledge, Snøhetta
Chad Carpenter, Senior Project Leader, Snøhetta

How Video Became a KM Superpower at Shepley Bulfinch
Jess Purcell, Design Technology Manager, Shepley Bulfinch

Focusing on What Matters Most: Preparing for Synthesis LMS at RIOS
Gillian Hutchison, Project Operations Director, RIOS

Low-Code, High-Impact: Solving Real Business Problems with Custom AI Apps
Ron Heims, Director of Practice Innovation, RDG Planning & Design

More Than Just Talks

In addition to general sessions, our afternoon "choose your own adventure" format includes roundtables, hangouts, an intranet café, nature activities, and unstructured time to connect and reflect with your fellow KA Community members—all set against the inspiring backdrop of Sundance Mountain Resort.

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Early Bird Registration Ends May 24th

Take advantage of early registration pricing through May 24th!

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Office Hours, KA Connect Knowledge Architecture Office Hours, KA Connect Knowledge Architecture

INTRANET TOUR | Connecting Quality and Knowledge Management at DPS

Featured Guests

Tim Veltkamp, Director of Quality Management
Gregor Wells, Director of Information Technology

Summary

We’re excited to share this Deep Dive webinar exploring the connection between quality management and knowledge management at DPS.

Featured Guests

Tim Veltkamp, Director of Quality Management
Gregor Wells, Director of Information Technology

Webinar Summary

DPS launched Synthesis as their knowledge management platform in October 2019. It addressed many firmwide needs: connecting their offices, making information findable, and creating a space for new knowledge to live. As employees shifted to working remotely, then hybrid, Synthesis became even more important to business operations.

During this time, DPS was also in final development stages of their Quality Management System (QMS). The QMS includes procedures, responsibilities, and resources for making quality a basic business principal throughout the project delivery process. The impact of the QMS starts in business development and goes all the way through construction.

In 2024 these two efforts came together when Tim Veltkamp, Director of Quality Management and Gregor Wells, Director of IT joined forces to revamp DPS’s intranet as part of their transition to Synthesis 6.

We’re excited to share this Deep Dive webinar exploring the connection between quality management and knowledge management at DPS.

Enjoy!

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
00:00 Welcome and Speaker Introductions
01:51 Synthesis Background at DPS
04:09 Approach to Synthesis 6 Transition

DPS QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
05:28 Making Quality Part of the DPS Culture
08:04 DPS Quality Management System
09:46 Stages of the Quality Management Cycle
12:06 Ongoing Intranet Content Development

QUALITY PLANNING
15:00 Overview
15:39 Design Process + Design Community
18:35 Design Typologies

QUALITY ASSURANCE
22:33 Owners Project Requirements
25:45 Drawing Fundamentals
27:08 Code Analysis
28:11 DPS Documentation Standards

QUALITY CONTROL + IMPROVEMENT
29:25 Quality Control
30:12 Quality Improvement
31:37 Examples

LEARNING + DEVELOPMENT
35:40 Learn + Grow Community

Q+A
39:14 Q: Can we take a closer look at the Starter Detail library?
42:41 Q: How do you avoid duplicating content?
44:50 Q: How do you point junior staff to this information?
47:37 Q: Who can contribute?
50:55 Q: How do you allocate time for this work?
53:37 Q: How do you encourage use of the content?
56:08 Q: What are your quality metrics?

 

More Case Study Webinars

Featured
DEEP DIVE | Building Marketing Knowledge Agents: How LS3P, EUA, and Muller Engineering Are Putting Knowledge to Work with Synthesis
DEEP DIVE | Building Marketing Knowledge Agents: How LS3P, EUA, and Muller Engineering Are Putting Knowledge to Work with Synthesis

Featured Guests

Katie Robinson, Chief Marketing and Knowledge Officer, LS3P
AJ Zandt, Marketing Specialist and Content Writer, EUA
Shayna Lindeman, Senior Communications Specialist, Muller Engineering

Webinar Summary

AEC marketing teams have spent years building and maintaining some of the richest knowledge collections inside their firms: structured CRM data, employee resumes, project descriptions, proposal language, client testimonials, past proposals, market research, and insights captured from subject matter experts.

Synthesis Knowledge Agents offer a new way to put all of that knowledge to work by helping marketing teams find, connect, and apply what their firms already know. The result can be faster workflows, stronger content, and fewer repetitive demands on both marketing teams and the subject matter experts they rely upon.

In this 90-minute webinar, Katie Robinson, Chief Marketing & Knowledge Officer at LS3P; AJ Zandt, Marketing Specialist and Content Writer at EUA; and Shayna Lindeman, Senior Communications Specialist at Muller Engineering, shared the marketing knowledge agents their firms are building and using as participants in the Synthesis Knowledge Agents beta.

Through three 15-minute case studies, they demonstrated real-world agents designed to support marketing, business development, and communications. Their examples showed how firms are using knowledge agents to reduce repetitive work, uncover relevant experience and evidence, and give marketing teams a stronger starting point for creating thoughtful, tailored content.

We explored:

  • How firms are identifying high-value opportunities for marketing knowledge agents

  • How agents help teams research RFPs, surface hard-to-find project evidence, and turn it into stronger proposal language, resumes, and qualifications

  • How agents can reduce repetitive work and make the day-to-day experience of marketing professionals more productive and rewarding

  • How agents can reduce demands on subject matter experts, allowing them to spend more time on billable work and serving clients

  • How firms are structuring grounding knowledge and instructions to produce useful, trustworthy results

  • What marketing teams are learning as they build, refine, and introduce agents within their firms

  • Where human expertise and judgment remain essential

  • How agent ownership and content stewardship may reshape the role of AEC marketing teams

Following the presentations, Susan Strom, Chief Client Officer at Knowledge Architecture, facilitated an open conversation with the speakers and audience about what it takes to build useful agents, what these early implementations are revealing, and where marketing knowledge agents may go next.

Read more →
WEBINAR | Product Update: The Future of Synthesis
WEBINAR | Product Update: The Future of Synthesis

Featured Guests

Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO, Knowledge Architecture

Webinar Summary

Over the last two years, Synthesis has evolved from a social intranet into an integrated knowledge, learning, and AI platform for AEC firms.

In this webinar, I shared the next phase of that evolution and demonstrated how new Synthesis LMS, AI, and integration capabilities are coming together to help firms put their knowledge to work.

We explored:

  • How the Search Connector API enables firms and technology partners to build custom connectors and bring more firmwide knowledge into Synthesis

  • How firms are using Synthesis Knowledge Agents across informational, creation-based, and process-based use cases

  • How the Synthesis MCP Server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and other compatible AI platforms to a firm’s knowledge and learning foundation in Synthesis

  • How Assignments, Recommendations, and Notifications in Synthesis LMS will help firms deliver the right learning to the right people at the right time

  • How SCORM support in Synthesis LMS will allow firms to centralize access to courses from learning-content partners and the course-authoring platforms they choose

  • The emerging vision for the Synthesis Knowledge Marketplace, which will bring trusted industry expertise into a firm’s knowledge, learning, and AI ecosystem

This session is useful for current Synthesis clients, firms evaluating Synthesis, and AEC leaders responsible for knowledge management, learning and development, technology, AI, and digital transformation.

Enjoy!

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WEBINAR | Launching Synthesis @ SMRT
WEBINAR | Launching Synthesis @ SMRT

Featured Guests

Nicole Rogers, Senior Principal and Director of Architecture
Graham Parker, Knowledge Manager

Webinar Summary

What changed when SMRT Architects & Engineers implemented Synthesis wasn't just the platform. It was the mindset.

After four intranet iterations spanning nearly two decades — from hand-coded HTML to ThoughtFarmer to SharePoint — SMRT, a 130-person integrated architecture and engineering firm based in Portland, Maine, made a different kind of commitment. They decided that internal work is real work, that their firm is a worthy client, and then treated their Synthesis implementation accordingly.

Nicole Rogers served not just as executive sponsor, but as principal in charge. Graham Parker, who had already proven the ROI of data-driven process improvement on the accounting side of the business, moved into a dedicated knowledge management role. A project number was created in Deltek. Hours were tracked on timesheets. The implementation got the same rigor and attention SMRT gives its external clients and the results showed.

That investment didn't end at go-live. Nicole has continued to drive adoption at the senior leadership level because SMRT understands that launching Synthesis is just the beginning, not the finish line. Meanwhile, Graham has expanded his work into AI, helping build the digital knowledge foundation that makes tools like Synthesis Knowledge Agents and AI Search valuable. 

Knowledge management can't be the ninth thing on somebody's to-do list in the AI era. SMRT's story is a case study in what happens when it isn't.

In this webinar, Nicole Rogers, Senior Principal and Director of Architecture, and Graham Parker, Knowledge Manager, share their firm's story — from the organizational shifts that unlocked knowledge management to a live look at where they're headed with AI and learning management.

We explore:

  • How treating the Synthesis implementation like a real client project changed the outcome

  • The change management and internal marketing work that drove adoption before, during, and after launch

  • How Nicole's continued executive sponsorship keeps the platform alive and growing past go-live

  • How and why Graham moved from the finance team to a dedicated knowledge management role 

  • What it takes to build the digital knowledge foundation that enables AI agents to actually deliver value

  • A live tour of CALVIN, SMRT's Synthesis platform, and a look at their early work with Synthesis Knowledge Agents and LMS

If your firm has struggled to give its knowledge management program real momentum, SMRT's story offers an honest, hard-won perspective on what it actually takes: the right investments in mindset, people, process, and culture — alongside the right technology.

Enjoy!

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WEBINAR | Synthesis Knowledge Agents: Live Demo + Insights from the Private Beta
WEBINAR | Synthesis Knowledge Agents: Live Demo + Insights from the Private Beta

Featured Guests

Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO, Knowledge Architecture

Webinar Summary

Knowledge agents are emerging as one of the most promising applications of AI for AEC firms—helping teams accelerate learning, scale expertise, and streamline workflows.

In this webinar, Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture, will provide a live demonstration of Synthesis Knowledge Agents, showing how agents are created, refined, and deployed to solve real business problems.

Along the way, Christopher will share what we're learning from firms participating in the Synthesis Knowledge Agents private beta, highlighting the patterns and strategic insights emerging from early adoption.

We'll explore:

  • A live demonstration of Synthesis Knowledge Agents, including how to create and refine agents from scratch

  • Real-world examples spanning informational, creation-based, and process-based use cases

  • The progression from informational AI assistants to workflow-transforming knowledge agents

  • The common characteristics shared by firms making the fastest progress with knowledge agents

  • How firms are capturing and structuring knowledge to power more capable agents

  • Where knowledge agents are headed and what that means for AEC firms

This session offers a practical look at how knowledge agents are evolving and what early adopters are teaching us about the future of AI-enabled work in AEC firms.

Enjoy!

Read more →
WEBINAR | Designing Modern Learning Experiences at Lionakis and Fuscoe
WEBINAR | Designing Modern Learning Experiences at Lionakis and Fuscoe

Featured Guests

Kristina Williams, Design Technology Director at Lionakis
Brandon Norton, Senior Multi-Media Manager at Fuscoe Engineering

Webinar Summary

As AEC firms rethink how knowledge and expertise are shared internally, learning is beginning to move beyond traditional training formats. Instead of relying solely on live sessions or long recordings, firms are increasingly designing learning experiences that are shorter, more flexible, on-demand or hybrid, and accessible in the flow of work.

This shift is being accelerated in the Knowledge Architecture community by Synthesis, a platform built for Modern Learning Organizations, that combines intranet knowledge, learning management systems, AI-powered search, and knowledge agents to enable employees to discover and apply expertise exactly when they need it.

In this webinar, Kristina Williams, Director of Design Technology at Lionakis, and Brandon Norton, Senior Multi-Media Manager at Fuscoe Engineering, shared how their firms are designing modern learning experiences that take advantage of this new paradigm.

Each presented a case study of a high-priority learning experience their firm is building or modernizing—experiences designed not only for formal learning, but also to support self-directed exploration, knowledge reuse, recall, and AI-powered discovery through Synthesis.

We explored:

  • How firms are identifying high-value opportunities to modernize learning experiences

  • How learning content is being structured for both human learning and AI-powered retrieval

  • How on-demand courses and hybrid learning experiences are designed to support self-directed learning

  • What early feedback firms are receiving from staff using these new formats

  • Lessons learned from the first generation of modern learning experiments

  • What these efforts may mean for the future of knowledge management, learning, and firmwide expertise development

Each speaker shared a 20-minute case study, followed by discussion and open Q&A.

This session offered a practical look at how firms are beginning to redesign learning experiences for a new era—one where knowledge, learning, AI search, and knowledge agents work together to help employees access the right expertise at the right time.

Enjoy!

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WEBINAR | Unlocking Collective Intelligence with AI Search and Knowledge Management @ MBH Architects
WEBINAR | Unlocking Collective Intelligence with AI Search and Knowledge Management @ MBH Architects

Featured Guests

Hillary Thompson, Principal

Webinar Summary

As AI-powered search and learning tools become more capable, their effectiveness depends on something far more fundamental: the quality, structure, and completeness of a firm’s knowledge foundation.

Over the past year, MBH Architects has advanced a series of focused initiatives to strengthen how knowledge is captured, structured, and maintained across the firm. What began as a small proof of concept quickly expanded into a broader effort spanning marketing, studio-level practice knowledge, structured project data, and now firmwide learning.

In this webinar, Hillary Thompson, Principal at MBH Architects, shares how MBH is deliberately investing in its knowledge foundation to enable better AI outcomes, improve access to expertise, and create a continuous pipeline connecting project experience, institutional knowledge, and learning.

We explore:

  • How MBH scoped and executed targeted knowledge capture initiatives to demonstrate early, measurable value

  • How capturing practice knowledge, studio standards, and best practices is becoming essential groundwork for smarter retrieval and collaboration

  • The role of structured project data in unlocking new possibilities for search, storytelling, and institutional insight

  • How MBH is beginning to translate project experience and expertise into scalable learning through Synthesis LMS

  • Practical strategies for communicating value, building momentum, and sustaining long-term knowledge management initiatives

This session offers a practical, behind-the-scenes look at how one firm is strengthening its knowledge infrastructure to ensure the right knowledge reaches the right person at the right time—and how that foundation is enabling the next generation of AI-powered knowledge and learning.

Enjoy!

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