Hello all, I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far. We are in full summer swing here in the Connecticut River Valley. You can always tell summer is here when the shade tobacco plants take off (they often grow to heights of 12-14 feet within a 4-5 month period). Unfortunately, another sign for us is that some of the "local youth" has begun to "recreate" on our undeveloped properties. Ahhhh, but to be young again. But I digress, and will leave this small piece of advice, make sure your no trespassing signs are still there and visible, not only will it help deter some people, but it will also help police control unlawful activity on your property. It has been "BOMA busy" since we were last here. Locally, we held our annual Nine/Wine/Dine event on May 15th at the beautiful Wintobury Hills Golf Course. A fine time was had by all. A great night for golf, and an even better night for a fine gourmet meal paired with some fantastic wines. And as anyone who attended can attest, the cocktail they paired for desert was pretty darn good as well! On June 12th, we had a great program on The Blue Book Network (It's not just a book anymore!). This program was very informative to our members. A huge thank you to Mark Souza and his team from Blue Book Network, for not only providing us with great information, but also sponsoring the program as well. We all learned about the changes that Blue Book has made to keep up with technology, including their web-based solutions and a team of people that can help you meet your challenges and improve workflow. You can find more information on their website http://www.thebluebook.com. The 2014 Every Building Conference & Expo was held at the beautiful Gaylord Palms Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, June 22-24. After not being able to attend the show last year in Seattle, I was very excited to be able to attend this world class show I had only heard about in the past. First up at the conference was an early Saturday morning flight for a lunchtime board meeting with the other locals in the Mid-Atlantic Region. I will tell you one thing, there are some amazing people involved with BOMA, and some of the biggest and brightest stars are right here in the Mid-Atlantic. With big, strong locals like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. (AOBA) complimented by some of the smaller locals, such as mine in Greater Hartford and others in the region, the MAC is hard to beat! And the connections and bonds that exist are priceless in our industry. On Sunday the highlight was the board of governors meeting, these are always interesting, as they are BOMA's own little United Nations meetings. This year, representation was added from Russia, Greece, and Panama! Also on Sunday, the educational sessions began. There was a full slate of great programs with topics ranging from energy efficiency, to multi-generational workforce management, to tax issues. A little bit of everything for everyone. The trade show itself was open Sunday through Tuesday with over 400 exhibits. There were so many great companies there with such great products and services that you needed the full 3 days just to make sure you got to see everything and talk to everyone. And of course if you needed a foam stress toy, a stuffed bear, some jelly beans, or hand sanitizer, it wasn't a bad place to be either! The highlight of the conference was Tuesday night with The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) awards program and Banquet. Fourteen properties were awarded the prestigious International TOBY from BOMA International. Congratulations to all TOBY winners. By the time this article prints we will have had our signature golf event, the Annual Gus Johnson golf outing. It was held at Avon Golf Club once again this year on July 14th. I hope to see you there (or hope to have already seen you there, depending on who and when this is read?!) We are currently working to shore up some programming for the fall/winter, so please stay tuned for that. We are also keeping an eye towards the horizon for 2015 as well. Working with our current board has opened my eyes to what a great group we have, and given me a very positive outlook for the future of Greater Hartford BOMA, beyond my term as President. But don't count me out yet, I still have ½ a year left and am looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish. And please don't forget, we can always use your help to make our group stronger. We have committees that could use a little help, we have sponsorship opportunities available, and of course we are always happy to welcome in new members. Feel free to stop by and check us out at http://www.bomahartford.org. Wes Nicoll is the president of BOMA Greater Hartford, and is with Griffin Land, Bloomfield, Conn.Wes Nicoll, Griffin Land