CFC Education

Overview

The Corporate Facilities Council believes that knowledgeable members can be our best resources! We seek out the experts among us to provide education for our membership in the form of articles for our newsletter, teleseminars, webinars, and presentations at our conferences and World Workplace meetings.

Periodic teleseminars on subjects such as security, technology, space management, leadership, and other subjects of interest to facility managers have offered opportunities to stay on the cutting edge. Our First Wednesdays webinars have been hosted by members with valuable experience who are willing to share their expertise. We depend upon articles from our membership for our quarterly newsletters, and we welcome material that is educational and informative (without marketing references).

Our various conferences, held throughout the country, and our annual meeting at World Workplace frequently showcase presentations by talented members with command of specific industry-related issues.

We invite you to share your proficiency! Contact Education Chair Joe Selby.

Premier Series

IFMA's Corporate Facilities Council has introduced a new series of webinars, available only to members of the council. The CFC Board has designed the program to add an additional high quality session of topics and speakers to enhance member benefits. These sessions will be done on a quarterly basis, each with a different topic and directly related to facility professionals dealing with headquarters, campuses, and office environments. The sessions are designed to be 90 minutes of presentation from an outstanding and experienced speaker. These presentations will be in addition to the current First Wednesday program. There is no cost to participate in these webinars, however there is limited seating.

The first session took place in November 2009. Stormy Friday’s 90-minute presentation provided FM professionals with pointers and specific implementation measures to help ensure a more secure FM career. The presentation discussed characteristics of successful FM professionals, how they market themselves, how they utilize mentoring, and how they add value to their parent organizations. The objectives for this session were: how to focus on your FM career, how to create a career strategy, and working the "Seven F's" of career development.

First Wednesday

In mid-2007 IFMA's Corporate Facilities Council introduced a live webinar series occurring on the first Wednesday of each month, available only to members of the council. The CFC Board, along with Joe Feldkamp and Steven Pons, past CFC education co-chairs, designed the program to enhance member benefits. These sessions have become so popular, with the numbers of attendees increasing each month, that the series has been extended through 2010.

First Wednesdays webinars are one-hour discussions on a variety of member-designated topics with highly interactive dialogue. Each session is moderated by a CFC member with an expertise or affinity for that month's topic. The emphasis is on increasing productivity, reducing the cost of implementing the security measures, investing in emergency management and security management, updating skills and awareness, staying current with advances in technology and avoiding the cookie-cutter mentality.

Moderators encourage discussions that take people out of their comfort zones as well as motivate those with work experiences to share and encourage active participation for the benefit of all. Previous topics included: outsourcing, safety and security, ergonomics and disaster planning. The sessions are approved for CEU and CFM/FMP Maintenance Points.

Heavy participation among CFC members demonstrates an ongoing interest in these dialogues. It has spun-off sidebar discussions when there is a need for clarification and understanding of what is most appropriate for small, mid-sized and large companies, as well as for multi-tenant environments such as office buildings and commercial parks.

For more details, please contact Kari Stein at kari.stein@ifma.org.