Askthefm’s Weblog

In my previous post on up coming conferences I covered what I think of as the majors. (post here: http://askthefm.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/conferences-upcoming-for-facility-managers-and-real-estate-professionals/)

However there are quite a few other more specialized or smaller conferences that are useful and enjoyable as well as often more affordable. A good example is a southern California conference - WESTFAC which is held yearly in Anaheim CA (Link here: http://www.westfac.com/Home.aspx). There others are many and varied and I recommend the list to be found on FMLink here: http://www.fmlink.com/News/Events/

This list includes everything from the National Fire Protection Association conference in Las Vegas NV to the FM Expo being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I think you can consider this a fairly complete list! Good luck and happy conferencing!

As always I thank you for your time and interest. Please take the time to Digg, or add to the other social network of your choice to help me spread the word about these issues. Please forward any questions or suggestions to: askthefm@gmail.com

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There are more than a few conferences that have advertisements showing up in my mailbox each year. There are more and more all the time. Some are meant to be all encompassing, while others are very specific.

Those that try to be appealing to a wider spectrum are often good for no one. However these are recommended as good general choices:

IFMA’s World Workplace: Oct 15 - 17 2008 Dallas TX. http://www.worldworkplace.org/

This is put on by the International Facility Management Association and generally rotates across the country with one year being on the east coast, then in the middle of the country and then onto the west coast. It has generally a very large vendor display area and lots of classes. Most of the classes support the continuing education for IFMA’s own CFM and FMA certifications and are often excepted for other professional certifications where such credits are also needed.

Today’s Facility Manager: TFM Show 2008 April 22 - 28 2008, Chicago IL. http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/groupc/tfm2008/public/enter.aspx

This show is already over for this year and it looked to be as complete as the upcoming IFMA show. It is held every year in the same place so I have never attended as I could never justify the travel from California.

Neocon: World Trade Fair 2008 June 9 - 11 2008 Merchandise Mart Chicago IL http://www.neocon.com/

This show tends to somewhat furniture and fixture heavy but offers a full slate of seminars and classes that qualify for continuing education for Architects, Interior Designers and Facility Managers. There is also a west coast version of this show: August 21 - 22 2008 at the L.A. Mart in Los Angeles. http://www.neoconxpress.com/

Disaster Recovery World magazine presents: DRJ Fall World Sept. 14 - 17 2008 San Diego, CA http://www.drj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2072&Itemid=597

This conference is all about Disaster Preparedness and recovery solutions. I recommend this highly if you are tasked with the responsibility for planning in your organization.

Commercial Construction Show: June 6 - 8 2008 Orlando FL. www.cc-show.net

Very specific show as you can probably tell from the name.

BOMA Intl., The Office Building Show June 21 - 24 2008, Denver CO. http://www.bomaconvention.org/BOMA2008/public/Content.aspx?ID=782&sortMenu=104000&ActiveMenu=104

This is the show that truly caters to the commercial landlord and property manager, highly recommended.

Buildings Xchange: Being held at Park City Utah on Sept. 14 - 17 and features a section focused on interiors and another on engineered and energy solutions. http://www.buildingsxchange.com/

I hope that you get to go to one or more of these as I find that the experience can be really eye opening.

As always thank you for your time and I hope that you will please Digg this article if you found it useful or add it to one of the other social networking sights that you may prefer. It really helps me get the word out. Please send any questions or suggestions to askthefm@gmail.com

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Sorry I didn’t post last night as I didn’t get back from Sacramento into Long Beach until 10pm.

However going green was a big topic at the conference with one institute on Monday, five sessions on Tuesday, and three on Wednesday. That over 10% of the conference sessions! Not to mention that they had a new section of the vendor area, called the solar spot which was a tent outside on the patio with several well versed green technology vendors ready to share their expertise.

I have several of the presentations from one of Tuesday’s sessions, “New Programs for funding Solar Power on Existing Buildings” that can be found here:

http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=11

http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=10

http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=9

However in my opinion the most informative of the “green” sessions was the last one on Wed. that finished out the conference, “Residential Green Building Programs -Putting them all together”.

It featured representatives from the Heschong Mahone Group, a consulting firm who has been administering the investor owned utilities (IOU) energy effciency and rebate plans for the last several years and who has also been retained for the 2009 programs. Also there where speakers from PG&E, Green Point Rated and Davis Energy, the LEED for Homes Consultant for California and Nevada.

They were all very well informed and presented well. I have the matrix which shows a snapshot of all of the green rating and a good selection of the energy rebate programs.

http://askthefm.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=12

It seemed to me that these certification programs are coming of age very quickly and that even some or most of the cost for these certifications can be covered by utility rebate programs, at least in the case of Green Point Rated’s program. Especially since most of the requirements for the certification are a direct match to most of the tax credit financing (TCAC) requirements. I apologize in advance that the links in the matrix above are not active, however I have inserted a few of the more important below for you:

Utility Energy Efficiency Site: www.flexyourpower.com

Heschong Mahone Group: www.h-m-g.com

California Solar Energy Site: www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/

Green Point Rated’s Site: www.greenpointrated.org

Davis Energy(LEED Consultant): www.davisenergy.com

Well I have covered quite a bit of information in this post. There is certainly a great deal more about green technology and especially solar power that has been in the news lately and I feel I have only just scratched the surface. If any of you have specific topics in this area you are interested in please drop me a note at askthefm@gmail.com and I will get busy trying to bring that to you!

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The talk this morning by Lynn Jacobs, Director of Housing and Community Development was indeed all about the various sources of funds available for low income housing and about the current project to secure a permanent and ongoing source of funding for development.

The highlights included the fact that all of the current RFP’s and NOFA’s have received 150% of funds available in good quality applications.

However the proposal for the new funding stream is to be finalized by June 30th and will go to the governor for fiscal 2009!

The second part of this morning’s session was given by the principals of Action Media and a good summary of their talk can be found here:

http://www.actionmedia.org/services/frameissues.html

Finally the lunch session was covering the need for all of us to defeat Proposition 98 and to pass Proposition 99. The slogan is “We hate 98 but 99 is Fine!” More details can be found here:

http://www.no98yes99.com/

Well it is late and I will sign off for now. I will cover the the sessions I attended today and those tomorrow in my next post.

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Hello Everyone,

Monday is the day of the institutes, which are a long form session dealing more in depth on a specific topic. Everyone I spoke to found their sessions full of helpful content and very enjoyable.

If you want to see what type of subjects are being covered at the conference the link is here: http://www.housingca.org/events/annualconference/

Tomorrow there are two items of significant interest. The first is the morning keynote address to be given by Lynn Jacobs, Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development. In it she will discuss the progress toward developing a permanent source program to present to the governor.

Secondly at the lunch keynote the campaign to defeat proposition 98 and to pass proposition 99 will be covered. I will try and bring you highlights of both talks here by the end of the day.

If you have any specific questions about anything at the conference please drop me a line at: askthefm@gmail.com

See you tomorrow!

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