There are a lot of people from Boston who make the annual trek to World Workplace. For many of them, it is a seasonal highlight and they look forward to it each year. There are also many IFMA Boston members who have never attended and are completely unfamiliar with what this conference is about. Some of members greatest memories of IFMA have occurred during the conference and it would be safe to say that many close relationships within the local chapter have resulted simply because of experiences and memories during World Workplace.
For those who are "on the fence," or feel that it would be challenging to get your company to sponsor your attendance of this conference, IFMA put together a "Letterman List" to help you to organize your thoughts and prepare your cost justification to your management:
1. Expand Industry Knowledge: World Workplace is arguably, the single greatest resource for leading edge, current educational seminars and sessions. Over the course of two days, you can select courses from a variety of tracks that will absolutely expand your knowledge on topics that are specific to your industry.
2. Career Development: Beyond industry based educational sessions, there are numerous courses that are strategically designed to assist you in furthering your career. Additionally, there are certification courses that are designed to assist you in achieving your CFM credential.
3. Benchmarking: At World Workplace, you will be elbow to elbow with facility professionals from around the world. In that environment, it is absolutely natural that you would begin knowledge sharing with peers who are in similar industries, challenged with the same issues you are. Being able to use this forum as a mechanism to field test your best practices, is immeasurably valuable.
4. Research: The trade show component of World Workplace allows you unlimited access to thousands of products and solutions that are state of the art and current. Vendors who present at World Workplace, provide the most up to date innovations required in the workplace today and are there to share their working knowledge with you.
5. Industry Leader Access: On the trade show floor, you will likely be introduced to the senior level leadership of many companies whom you are already doing business with. This access allows you the opportunity to express your honest opinions of their products and services. These introductions create a foundation for established relationships with which you can leverage later on should you need to.
6. Tours: Each host location of World Workplace provides a series of guided tours of that city's most innovative, or iconic properties. These are behind the scenes tours lead by industry insiders who understand the topics and considerations that are forefront to your interests. Many of these facilities are not often seen in this manner by the general public.
7. Expand your Geographic Horizons: World Workplace is hosted in a different location each year. This travel will absolutely expose you to different parts of the country, many of which you have not experienced before. Through the eyes of the local IFMA chapter, you can immerse yourself in their local culture and traditions. If you plan your schedule accordingly, you can take in many iconic tourist attractions that you might perhaps never get to see under any other manner.
8. Networking: World Workplace allows to exponentially expand your own professional network. During the course of the 3 or 4 days that you spend there, you will ultimately be introduced to hundreds of facility management professionals - many of whom could potentially bring your career to the next level. This is not just about business card sharing, this is about pouring foundations for lifelong relationships.
9. Connecting With Your Local Chapter: Boston, in particular, takes great pride in organizing events and activities for its own members on the ground in World Workplace. Beyond just booking a block of rooms together, there are numerous social occasions scheduled such as cocktail receptions, luncheons etc. that are strategically designed to help members get familiar with one another. In many cases, the roots of some of the best chapter relationships have formed as a result of networking on the World Workplace stage.
10. Social: Bottom line? World Workplace has numerous social events scheduled. Between the parties, receptions, and ad hoc get togethers that occur, not a day will go by where you are not called upon to celebrate in a large way. It should go without saying that most of these parties are gratis - and if you play your cards carefully, you will not have to pay a single dime to eat and drink during the entire conference. Everyone knows that there is a social component to every business endeavor. These gatherings will absolutely propel your casual knowledge of those in your industry into relationships that can be built upon in the future.
If you're convinced and you'd like to join us at World Workplace 2013 in Philadelphia, you can register online and meet-and-greet with local IFMA Boston members who are headed to the conference on September 18th.