THANK YOU TO OUR SUSTAINING CORPORATE SPONSORS!

Announcing ... the IFMA Orlando 4th Annual Golf Tournament - Friday, October 10, 2008

In 2007, over 100 golfers participated and raised $3500 for The Russell Home of Orlando!  For more information about the Golf Tournament or to join the planning committee, please contact David Kalser at  David.Kalser@alliedbarton.com.

May 2008 Luncheon Recap: "Green Initiatives: A Fad or the Foundation for the Future?"

We met at Dubsdread on May 22nd to learn about the state of the green initiative in the Orlando area, as well as practical ideas for going green at home and work. Thanks to our wonderful speaker, David Dunn, CFM, of the City of Orlando, our own chapter Program Director. David is the Government Liason Director for USGBC Central Florida Chapter, the Director of LEED Efforts for City of Orlando and is currently pursuing LEED AP accreditation.

We had an excellent turn-out for this luncheon - 81 attendees - so this was clearly a popular topic. If you missed the meeting or want a refresher on the details, members can download David's presentation by clicking here. (It's a large file, but well worth the wait.)

Attention Members: Win a trip to World Workplace 2008

Be sure to attend as many of our events as possible. For each luncheon you attend, your name will be entered in a drawing to win free registration and airfare to World Workplace 2008 in Dallas, Texas. The more events you attend, the better your chance of winning!

President's Month in Review
APRIL 2008

April was eventful I made a trip to Denver to set up our newest office. I haven’t been to Denver in 20 years. It was nice to see the sky and mountains again and how much the city has grown. Denver is the size of Atlanta and very transit oriented. My company hopes to soon be working on parts of the rail & transit buildout taking place for the next 20 years. Lots of bikes, walkers, and free buses on the 16th St mall, one of the few outdoor malls that survived from the 70’s. Our office is an 1,800 sf storefront in an old leather factory on 18th St, a block from the Rockies new stadium.  I came home, sick, two days before the IFMA monthly program. “I’m going, come hell or high water”, I told my wife… she says, “Oh, so you’ll go shake hands and get 50 other people sick?” So I’m sorry I missed the program, which I hear was stellar.

The  board continues work on the annual member survey, it should be out in June (yeah it keeps slipping, but we make time to hear all the voices on the board). The next major item is the strategic plan review, with a planning session mid-June.

Jaime Hayden improves the website every week, and I’m getting comments about how good it looks. Next we’re looking to start a member blog, post the strategic plan, and board meeting minutes.

I cycle to work, every day, and  the critical mass ride in April had 150 people! If you don’t know about critical mass, find out here… www.criticalmass.org . At work we celebrated National bike to work day with 27 cyclists riding to work, out of 130 employees.

IFMA National is promoting World Workplace www.ifma.org . It’s a great place to get your annual professional development education & networking accomplished, compressed into 3 short days. A highlight for me has always been the Keynote and Closing addresses, normally world class speakers. I always fill a couple index cards and they find their way into my annual plan somewhere. We still have rooms available WWP, write Renee at IFMAorlando@ifmaorlando.org and she’ll let you know how to reserve in your name.

The popularity of CFM roundtables continues, make note they are now held the FIRST Tuesday of the month, at  Sprint Maitland. We are working out details to host a CFM review in July here in Orlando as well. Trying to do whatever we can to help you get certified!

Drop me or any member of the board a note anytime, especially if you want to be more involved in the chapter. We have a lot of good things going on, your efforts will pay great dividends. All our addresses are on the website www.ifmaorlando.org on the board or committees pages.

My company encourages us to be active in the community. 25 of us mentor in a reading program at Fern Creek Elementary. One of our partners started it 10 years ago, and one person can make a difference… 2 years ago, when FC had come back from the depths, jumping from a “C”, not to a “B”, but to an “A” school, we were quite proud. We repeated last year, and expect to do it again this year. I’m in my 4th year of mentoring, which is all about the kids, here’s a pic of me and Willie at our Pizza Party last week.