From October 26 – 28, 2021, the annual IFMA World Workplace was held in Kissimmee, Florida.  Believe it or not, this was the first time that some of our members saw each other face to face for the first time.

The conference began with Facility Tours and some housekeeping items with the Annual House of Delegates meeting on Monday.  During the House of Delegates meeting, the Board presented the State of the Association and declared that IFMA is officially debt-free as of 2021.  They also announced multiple partnerships with other associations such as ISSA, ASHRA, and BIFMA, to name a few.  These partnerships will allow us to have access to discounted training by industry thought leaders.

Tuesday was crammed full of valuable educational sessions and a great opening keynote speaker. Topics ranging from discussing the FM Salary, Compensation, and Facility Operations Benchmarks, to building a better workplace after the pandemic kept our members engaged and learning.  I also got a chance to meet our scholarship recipients for the first time, Shyann LaFay and Brielle Butler.  Through your generosity, our chapter raised $10,000 towards scholarships for these two young ladies.  Shyann is interested in Disaster Recovery specific to museums and cultural institutions, and Brielle is interested in understanding how vendors and contractors may overlook work when completing projects.  If anyone would like to talk with them about their projects, please let me know.

There were a lot of great vendors at the Expo, which opened up on Wednesday.  There are so many new products and tools out there to help ensure the safety of our customers when we begin returning to the office that it can make your head spin. Being able to talk to the vendors and give them details of a situation proved valuable.  We ended the evening with a Carolinas Chapters Mixer sponsored by our very own Budd Group and Charlotte’s Cotton Holdings Inc. We even adopted some new members from other chapters and additional student members with who we look forward to connecting again next year.

Check out event photos HERE!