President's message: Fall is my favorite time of year

Fall is my favorite time of year. It's partly because of the great weather in the season and also because fall brings a sense of a fresh start. Children head back to school, college students return to the dorms and the whole region gets ready to get back to work. Whether you spent many days on the Cape, the golf course, or even at work, it's tough to ignore that July and August are collectively our time to take life just a little slower. At our last board meeting in June, IFMA Boston's past president, Joe Flynn, cleverly gave solar-powered battery chargers as year-end gifts to all of the board. The gift was cool because we all love gadgets, but the symbolism was also meaningful: take this summer to recharge yourselves and get your energy levels up because in the fall, there's a lot to do. And WOW does IFMA Boston have a lot to do! We are so excited to get the 2014-2015 year started! The chapter has a packed agenda as we focus on delivering value to our membership and our industry. What are the programs, educational events and community projects that are meaningful to you and how do we make those offerings as effective as possible? We've already planned a great number of activities that we think will deliver the value we're shooting for. The year kicks off with the new member breakfast, hosted by Commodore Builders. It's a great place to meet our many new members, acknowledge new CFMs and do a little World Workplace planning. Next week we'll host our September program: The Innovation and Design Building. The panelists will review the challenges of renovating and revitalizing this 1.4 million s/f property, from permitting to infrastructure upgrades to leasing and more. CFM study halls start in September as well. If you've ever thought of taking the CFM exam, this is a great opportunity to prepare with a dedicated group of your peers as well as receive coaching and mentoring from a professional who has passed the CFM exam. Next, at least 80 members of IFMA Boston are headed to New Orleans for IFMA's annual World Workplace conference and expo. This year's timely conference themes are Strategy and Innovation and the conference promises a packed schedule. If you haven't booked already, now is the time to do so. Also, make sure that you check in with us so we can get you connected with our IFMA Boston-hosted events while we're in The Big Easy. The great events don't stop in September. October brings the program: Beyond the Huddle which is a highly popular event that had to be rescheduled due to a snowstorm last winter. The Emerging Leaders will host their annual Speed Networking event where we can all practice our networking skills and have some fun at the same time. You can also count on other fun and informative programs, educational series and special events. More gets added to our calendar all the time so be sure to check out our website regularly. Speaking of websites, ours will also be re-energized this fall so check that out. If you need information on the go, take a chance to download our app, which is available through the App store (just search for IFMA Boston). For more regular updates on what's going on with IFMA Boston, you can now follow us on Twitter. Many of us tweet regularly so you can search for IFMABoston to find any one of us. Most of all, I'm looking forward to the fall because it's a new chance to catch up with those of you whom I already know and a chance to meet those of you I don't know yet. I can't wait to see you at an event soon! Happy Fall! Jessamine Wigfall, CFM is the 2014 IFMA Boston president, Boston, Mass.