Dear IFMA-FMCC Members:

            As I begin my term of office as President of the Facility Management Consultant’s Council, I have feelings of gratitude and pride. Without the leadership and actions of my predecessors and the involvement of all the members of our Council, I wouldn’t have the honor of presiding over one of the largest and most vibrant Councils in IFMA.
            Our success is due to the efforts and participation of every member of this Council. Whether you serve on the Board, volunteer for a committee, utilize the listserv visit our web site or just read our newsletter, everybody is involved at some level and that’s what makes us as strong as we are.
            And, oh, by the way, we just won Council of the Year (again!) at World Workplace in New Orleans. Congratulations to all of us! 
            We plan on getting stronger. IFMA HQ is developing educational and communications tools that will improve what we offer as benefits and has provided us even more support to help us reach all our members. As new processes come on line, we will provide timely and informative updates as to how we will be able to better serve you.         

We held our annual meeting on Wednesday, October 24th. We had close to 40  FMCC members, which was great! One of the first things we did was set up for ‘Speed Networking’. All participants sat across from each other and presented their 30-second elevator speech as way of an introduction. Each pairing was allowed one minute before everyone moved on to a new partner. It was a fun way to break the ice and also provided insight into both what other members did for a living and how to polish up our delivery.
                           
After the FMCC Business was discussed, we all separated into groups for some   Roundtable discussions-

• “The Trusted Advisor”- was presented by Rich Fanelli, reviewing how consultants create loyal clients;
• Philip Martin chaired “Personal Growth & Organizational Development”. This session focused on Effective Communication, Trust accountability, Team Building and Leadership Development.
• In “Get Clients Now” Peter Notari dealt with how to find clients and how to let them find you.
• “LEED & Sustainability”- Bill Conley discussed how the green building movement has created opportunities for ‘value add’ services and a new dimension for FM Consultants.
• “Adding New Service Offerings to your Business”- Lila Bartoszek building on skills you have and listening to the needs of your customers.

Everybody enjoyed themselves and the general sense of those members who attended was that each was able to take away some valuable information.
We did collect a survey that was designed by Anita Ciminesi. Responses seemed very positive. We will utilize comments from this year’s meeting to make next year’s that much better. As a side note- IFMA staff was so impressed with the way the survey was laid out , they will be using it for other meetings in the future. The Council really made points across the board this year!
It really was a week of honors for our Council. Not only did we get awarded Council of the Year, but two of our members- Mark Sekula, CFM and Chris Hodges, PE CFM,  IFMA Fellow were installed as Directors on IFMA’s Board, and two members, Diane MacKnight  CFM, FRICS & Bill Conley  CFM, LEED AP were selected to be IFMA Fellows.
All in all, it was a great start to what we hope will be a great year. The Board of Directors looks forward to everyone’s further participation and input. If you would like to contact me directly, my email address is: bill @ cfm2 . net.

-- Bill Conley, CFM, CFMJ, LEED AP, IFMA Fellow