With baseball, perfection is batting 1,000. I’m thrilled to announce NFMT is batting 5,000! That’s right, our record-breaking attendance this year was a whopping 5,106. This represented an increase of 11%. Of course we can’t claim perfection – no matter how successful, because there’s always room for improvement.

Soon we will be compiling all the feedback we received regarding the educational sessions, exhibit hall and the overall general experiences shared by NFMT participants. Feedback is critical at this time because believe it or not, we’re already well on our way to creating NFMT 2009. But before I get ahead of myself, I want us all to take a moment to reflect on this year’s event and celebrate all that was accomplished.

• Record attendance!
• Solutions Exchange was a huge hit – the table discussions were so energized, they could have lasted all day
• The successful launch of the Safe Buildings Expo
• NFMT’s educational conference featured some of the most popular sessions in our history – especially the GreenTech presentations
• Bob Lang’s special general session, Keeping Students Safe was covered by television news station Fox 45 in Baltimore
• Laura Roberts won the Grand Prize trip to Paris and the French Riviera, sponsored by UGL Unicco
• Exhibit hall was packed with more product innovations and business solutions than ever before.

It’s all possible because of you. Thanks to our attendees, exhibitors and speakers. You made NFMT 2008 an All-Star event. You helped us knock it out of the park…and in this case, that means right into Camden Yards!

Again, many thanks! We’ll see you next year in Baltimore March 10-12, 2009.

P.S. – If you can’t wait a whole year for another NFMT, check out Facility Decisions, which will be held September 16-17, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas!

Here I am, reporting live from NFMT 08! If you’re considering joining us today and/or tomorrow, I highly suggest it you register now. The energy throughout the conferences and excitement in the exhibit hall is invigorating. Solutions Exchange this morning was once again a huge hit with the sounds of many intense and diverse peer-to-peer conversations filling the Pratt Street Lobby.

The buzz right now is about the Facilities 360 session this afternoon at 3:10 p.m. in Room 331. Four major industry associations will join together in a panel discussion to focus on workforce issues. Representatives from IFMA, APPA, BOMA and AFE will share their perspectives on trends, training, hiring, and the looming surge of retirements. It’s sure to be an informative and compelling learning experience.

Also this afternoon after the expo hall closes, IFMA Chesapeake will be hosting a Birds of a Feather Networking Reception where the topic will be USGBC LEED Ratings. All attendees are encouraged to join in the event.

And tomorrow we’ll be featuring our first ever Women in Facility Management panel discussion. “Real Stories, Real Successes” is a groundbreaking educational opportunity featuring insights from women who have climbed the ladder of facility management to accomplish and exceed their career goals and objectives. Sponsored by Building Operating Management magazine and IFMA, the session will take place at 10:00 on Thursday in room 337.

It’s time now for me to get ready for the opening of the expo hall. More than 500 leading companies are on hand to demonstrate their latest offerings and innovations. If you’re here in Baltimore, enjoy day #2. If you’ll be joining us later, enjoy all NFMT has to offer!

I recently celebrated my wedding anniversary. I can’t believe that my wife and I have been together for ‘three decades’ already. Time flies. I’ve been married too long to ever have experienced the phenomena known as ‘speed dating’, but when NFMT’s Vice President of Marketing likened our Solutions Exchange event to it, I was intrigued with the analogy.

Wikipedia defines speed dating as: “…a formalized matchmaking process or dating system whose purpose is to encourage people to meet a large number of new people.” Our goal at NFMT isn’t to encourage romance, but we do want attendees and exhibitors alike to meet new people in the industry. The more networking that takes place at NFMT, the better off we’ll all be when we leave Baltimore.

Solutions Exchange is a unique and popular event that has been apart of NFMT for the past four years. It’s peer-to-peer learning and idea sharing. This year, 25 tabletop discussions will be held every 25 minutes. In a round-robin fashion, at the end of each session, you move to another discussion topic of your choice. It truly is a high-octane, concentrated experience.

Solutions Exchange is a must-not miss event at NFMT. The more participants, the more insight and industry knowledge will be shared. All attendees are welcome – and, did I mention, free coffee will be served? See you there!

Solutions Exchange
Wednesday, March 5
Pratt Street Lobby
7:45 a.m. - 8:50 a.m.

What do you think about when someone mentions the city of Baltimore? Besides NFMT, of course. Many people think of Cal Ripkin or the Inner Harbor. There’s so much to enjoy and explore -- no matter how many times I visit, I always discover something new.

Did you know… jazz singer Billie Holiday is from Baltimore? That Babe Ruth was born a few blocks from the Baltimore Convention Center? That Baltimore's World Trade Center is the world's tallest five-sided building? The lesser-known facts about Baltimore round out a city culture rich with history and activity.

As you plan to experience the city for yourself (for the first time, or perhaps the seventh), I thought you might benefit from a helpful few links:

General Guest Information
http://www.guestinformant.com/bacva_books/bacva.shtml

Neighborhoods
Little Italy: http://www.littleitalymd.com/
Mount Vernon Cultural District: http://www.mvcd.org/
Federal Hill: http://www.historicfederalhill.org/
Fell's Point: http://www.fellspoint.us/

Restaurants
http://www.citypaper.com/eat/default.asp

Baltimore has been very good to NFMT. In the heart of the Mid-Atlantic, Baltimore is in close proximity to significant metropolitan centers for facilities professionals such as Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York City. And as a major transportation hub, it allows easy access to travelers from anywhere. I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy “Charm City” after you’re done learning and networking at NFMT.

We’re always working to improve NFMT, but our latest additions are even more noteworthy. We have two newly announced general sessions that are sure to draw a standing-room only crowd.

On Tuesday at 8:00 a.m., Gary Christensen, owner of The Christensen Corporation, a commercial development firm, will be sharing how he attained the status of LEED Platinum for an eleven-story building in Boise, Idaho -- within 90 days. This special general session will provide inspiration and practical advice for practitioners embarking on their own green missions.

Then on Thursday morning – also at 8:00 -- Bob Lang, AVP of Strategic Security and Safety at Kennesaw State University will present “Keeping Students Safe.” In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech last year, this general session will examine the challenges educational institutions face as they develop security and mass notification plans for their facilities and campuses. Lang will provide fresh insight as his presentation will be coming off the heels of a recent, thorough notification systems investigation conducted for Kennesaw. The session is a must for any facility manager working in a campus setting – educational, commercial or corporate.

Both general sessions are free to registered attendees.

I’m also excited to announce our first-ever forum for women in the facilities management industry. Join us on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. in room 337 for “Women in Facility Management: Real Stories, Real Successes” – co-sponsored by IFMA International and Building Operating Management magazine (BOM). This groundbreaking forum will be moderated by BOM associate editor Naomi Millán and will feature insights from women who have climbed the ladder of facility management to rank among the field's top practitioners.

The list of new NFMT offerings doesn’t end there, of course. We are dedicated to producing a conference and trade show that always delivers -- no matter if it’s your first year attending, or your eighth.

Happy New Year!

Peter Drucker, famed writer, management consultant and university professor once said:
“…the demand for lifetime education stems from profound changes in society. We live in an economy where knowledge, not buildings and machinery, is the chief resource and where knowledge-workers make up the biggest part of the work force.”

As a producer of an educational conference for the facilities industry, that sentiment resonates with me. The obvious and most talked-about benefit of continuing education is personal and professional advancement.  But we also need to step back and take a look a how continuing education fuels the economy of our industry. As facilities management practitioners and decision makers, we rely on the ability to adapt and excel. We can’t do that without continuing education.

Although Drucker’s reference to buildings and machinery was not specifically intended for an audience of facilities managers, we can derive our own meaning from it. The components and operations of a facility stand still without a knowledge-driven work force of professionals.

At NFMT, our conference schedule was developed to address the forces of change that impact the facilities management mission. And we intend for productive dialogues to emerge that will continue throughout the year. There will always be profound changes in our business, just like there are in society overall. It’s up to us to remain committed to our most valuable resource: knowledge.

Today is a big day: Registration is officially open for NFMT 2008. It may be difficult to believe the show is only three months away. But, one by one, as thousands of facility professionals register and plan for their trips to Baltimore, it all becomes very real.

The opening of registration is an annual milestone -- one that brings much enthusiasm and anticipation. We are excited to provide something new every year, whether it’s additional educational sessions or networking opportunities. We are thrilled to have more than 500 exhibitors preparing to showcase their latest innovations in the NFMT exhibit hall. We challenge ourselves to deliver something fresh for returning attendees and a superlative experience for each new attendee. 

I encourage you to register early to secure your place in the premiere educational event for facilities professionals next March. You can’t go wrong with 100 hours of world-class facilities education and access to the industries biggest suppliers – all for free. Let the countdown begin!

Did you ever wonder how NFMT gathers all of its top-notch speakers, panelists and presenters? They truly are the cream of the crop. Speakers are actually hand-picked by the NFMT Conference Committee. This committee is composed of several highly regarded magazine editors along with NFMT’s director of education, education program manager and vice president of content development. The speaker selection process is actually a two-pronged approach.The call for presenters is a major recruitment effort communicated to candidates across the country . At the same time, our Conference Committee, specifically the editors of Building Operating Management and Maintenance Solutions, reaches out to key players in the industry, leveraging relationships developed by covering the business of facilities management. In both cases, potential speakers submit detailed, in-depth applications qualifying their standing in and contributions to the industry. Only the best of the best are chosen. Repeat speakers not only need to re-apply, they are also required to hold exceptional scores on the speaker evaluation forms submitted by, well, attendees like you!Our goal every year is to deliver a paramount learning experience, at no cost to facility professionals. In doing so, we aim to cover the fundamentals while presenting current, timely challenges and solutions, all in a free three-day conference.

If you have any ideas for future educational sessions, or want to share your opinion on a speaker, feel free to contact Wendy Dietzler, director of education for NFMT at wendy.dietzler@tradepress.com.

A Web site redesign is a lot like housework. Just when you’re finished and things are looking great, it’s time to start all over again. But unlike housework, new technologies and design practices make the work involved in a redesign…well, fun.

If you haven’t noticed (and I hope you have), NFMT.com has been completely redesigned to deliver more information, quicker and easier to attendees, speakers and exhibitors. While exploring the site, you might also notice a new structure to the show itself, which is reflected throughout NFMT.com.

Think of NFMT (no &) as a “mother show.” NFMT is the proud parent of four shows: The National Facilities Management & Technology Conference & Expo (NFM&T) – which started it all, Maintenance Solutions, GreenTech, and new this year, Safe Buildings Expo. With all this growth and change, it’s no wonder we needed a new Web site.

Please, feel free to share your opinions with us about the new NFMT.com. Like I said earlier, the next redesign is closer than it appears.

I can’t believe autumn is here already. As I looked out onto my front yard wondering when my seasonal raking duties will officially commence, I got to thinking about this time of year, which is so strongly linked to kids returning to school. When I was a kid, I always liked fall and the start of a new school year. It was a fresh start and I was a year older and wiser.

That’s the same feeling I get now as we ramp up our preparations and planning the NFMT 08. Before we know it, registration will be open, speakers will be finalizing their presentations and exhibitors will start bringing the expo hall floorplan to life. That going-back-to-school feeling has a lot more to do with education than the crispness in the air.

Every year facilities professionals do go back to school too – at NFMT. As the show grows each and every year, I continue to be energized by the number of people who set aside three days out of their busy schedules and dedicate their time to professional development. That dedication to advancement and growth is at the heart of the future of facilities management as a whole.

Education, innovation and networking is what will drive the industry into the future. The big difference between this and school – the goal isn't graduation, rather we aim for unending growth and steady momentum.