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— Property Management Quarterly — November 2015
I
FMA’s WorldWorkplace is a pre-
mier conference held each year
for facilities professionals to
“collaborate to innovate.” It was
held in Denver this year for the
first time in nearly 20 years.
An estimated 4,000 attendees
came to the Colorado Convention
Center to gain inspiration in a sup-
portive and empowering environ-
ment, completely focused on the
needs and interests as facility pro-
fessionals. The event fosters new
solutions, peer-to-peer networking
and unique experiences to help the
facility manager professionals get
informed, inspired and involved.
Preconference activities included a
credential training fall symposium,
deeper-dive best-practice work-
shops, tours of unique and fascinat-
ing local buildings (such as NREL,
IKEA and Sports Authority Field), as
well as the Doug Underwood Golf
Tournament, which helps develop
facilities degree programs at colleges
and universities nationwide.
The conference engaged par-
ticipants from the get go, beginning
Wednesday morning with the com-
ponent leaders breakfast and first-
time attendee breakfast. Another
option allowed patrons to join a
wellness fitness class to get some
much-needed stretching in before
the jam-packed schedule of key-
notes, the expo hall grand opening,
and outside activities recognizing
recently credentialed and young pro-
fessional members.
The evening was capped off with
a welcome reception at the Grizzly
Rose – noted as a top 10 location to
see a concert in Men’s Health maga-
zine. A capacity
crowd was treated
to famed country
artist the Saw-
yer Brown band.
Known as the
“original” American
Idol winners –the
first Star Search
winners with Ed
McMahon in 1983
– they played their
hits from over the
years and threw
in a few surprises
to the enjoyment
of all.
On the sold-out
expo floor, there
were a variety of
excellent products
and innovation
displays to help
every high-rise to
multisite manager.
The Denver chap-
ter booth was hard
to miss in the hall
with its tower of
Legos, Hammond’s
caramels, chapter
lapel pins and mini
Lego sets giveaway
that represented
the city of Denver.
Just down the aisle
was a 400-square-
foot Lego Creations
display, which
included extremely
intricate scale
models of Repub-
lic Plaza, the Cash Register Build-
ing, an amusement park, as well as
mechanized Lego sets, a Super Bowl
Trophy and various mosaic designs.
This also was the area where mem-
bers could meet, greet and get auto-
graphs of former Broncos’ greats Ed
McCaffery and Randy Gradishar.
Framed by the dedicated exhibit
hall time, Thursday offered hun-
dreds of combinations of education
sessions throughout the day. When
the last education session was done,
the networking really began. There
were many receptions available to
attend, including the Denver chapter
event at 5280 Burger Bar.
Friday closed out the week. This
year’s entertainment, SoundDivi-
sion, was a memorable experience at
the Awards of Excellence Luncheon
and Banquet. Requesting audience
feedback during the awards portion,
SoundDivision came back later with
our own Collaborate to Innovate
facility management anthem. Sev-
eral participants provided percussive
accompaniment, while others sang
along to the tune. One of the chap-
ter presidents even played a rocking
guitar solo.
The Denver chapter pulled out all
the stops when it came to hosting
this year’s World Workplace, and
set the bar for future host chapters
to step-up their game. For everyone
who volunteered from the chapter
to help make this possible, we sin-
cerely thank you for your dedication
and hard work to make this one of
the best ever! For those of you who
attended World Workplace, we sin-
cerely hope you had a wonderful
time, and we can’t wait to have you
back the next time World Workplace
is in Denver.
s
Associations
Carolyn McGary
President, IFMA,
Denver
Darin Rose
Vice president,
IFMA, Denver
Byron Edwards
Past president,
IFMA, Denver
IFMA’s World Workplace was held at the Denver Convention Center in October, and an
estimated 4,000 people attended.
