While making it to Chicago for this event may not be feasible, you can
attend some sessions online for a relatively small charge. The
website is:
http://www.aia.org/practicing/groups/kc/AIAB080829
I recommend "BIM Beyond Documentation: Improving Process and Workflow"
which will be presented by some VERY good Revit users from HNTB
Architects: Phil Read (formerly of Revit and Autodesk,) Eddy Krygiel,
AIA, LEED AP (Author of "Green BIM",) and Agnes Otto co-developer of
BIM-Trax. It's $95 for AIA members.
I also recommend "BIM Technologies that Inform Concept Design"
presented by Chuck Eastman of the Georgia Institure of Technology who
is, by some accounts, the originator of the BIM concept.
I will, at the very least, be watching the "BIM Beyond Documentation"
tomorrow myself.