A Professional Organization for Facility Managers
Why would you, as a busy business manager, want to take on one more thing - like membership in an organization that meets once a month, has a one-day seminar once or twice a year, and has an annual three-four day conference? The advantages and benefits will far outweigh the time and effort required to participate. Whether it is all or only part of your job, if you are responsible for the facility in which your business is housed, you should consider membership in the International Facility Management Association.
First of all, IFMA can benefit the busy facility manager by providing a very useful network of professional contacts, both locally and globally, to help him (or her) with any issue that might arise. You can join a local chapter (Eastern Iowa Chapter) and attend its monthly meetings and annual seminar. This provides you with a local network of other facility managers to contact when you have specific needs, questions, and work challenges. You can attend professional seminars sponsored by other chapters or by IFMA Headquarters, or you can attend IFMA's World Workplace Conference and Expo, an international event that is held annually. You can work to acquire professional certification through IFMA's Certified Facility Manager (CFM) program or Facility Management Professional (FMP) programs. There are “Councils” for IFMA members in specific industries, e.g. museums, higher education, utilities, corporate headquarters facilities, consultants, etc.
IFMA membership can benefit your company by bringing increased efficiency and productivity to your facility management team, providing benchmarking studies, reducing your firm's liability risks by keeping staff informed of important issues and legislation affecting the workplace, and provide your business with access to state-of-the-art, cost-effective product and service solutions to meet your diverse workplace needs.
The Eastern Iowa Chapter of IFMA was founded in 1989, has 75+ members representing over thirty companies from the entire eastern section of Iowa and meets the second Tuesday from September through May. IFMA members receive regular communications and publications from IFMA headquarters and the local chapter. For more information on IFMA see the headquarters' website.