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June 2006

Slam Dunk In Chicago continued

Meanwhile, the Chicago Bulls Cheerleaders congratulated Alan Smith, lead IT analyst for health information systems at Murray, UT-based 3M Health Care. Smith, a frequent TFM Show attendee, was the lucky winner of this year’s $50,000 basketball free throw competition.

After the Best of Show awards, Tuesday’s “Series of Shots” basketball competition was an exciting highlight for many attendees, and for one man in particular. Alan Smith, lead IT analyst for Murray, UT-based 3M Health Care, won the $50,000 challenge held on the trade show floor.

Smith, frequent attendee of the show and loyal reader of the magazine, won this incredible sum despite the unbelievable odds against him. First, he needed enough luck to be one of the 10 randomly picked participants eligible to compete for the jackpot. Then, he was required to sink a series of four shots: lay up, foul line, three point, and half court.

Despite little athletic experience, Smith easily made his first three shots to the wild applause of the crowd. When told to aim carefully on the final try, he replied, “I can’t even see the thing!” Nevertheless, this deserving attendee thrilled his new fans by making all four baskets and walking away with the $50,000 prize. Ted Coene remarked, “The basketball shot that Alan made was the exclamation point on an already very exciting and successful show—in fact, this has been our best show to date!”

Exhibitors remained busy throughout the day displaying their products and explaining their services to interested facility professionals who packed their booths.

Smith wasn’t the only attendee to leave the Navy Pier with more than he brought. The exhibit hall giveaways attracted a lot of attention at the TFM booth, as an Xbox360, iPod, Nextel BlackBerry, portable DVD player, and dinner at the show were awarded. Winners were blindly selected from a pool of business cards. Drawings were held at intervals throughout Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

To tap into this festive mood, networking receptions were held in the hall both afternoons. Appetizers and drinks were served, creating a comfortable atmosphere where facility professionals could confer with one another, create or reinforce connections with vendors, and get up to date with others in the management field. As one attendee commented, “What I’m finding most useful is the networking with other people, especially when I can learn some of the things they’re doing.”

The exhibition floor was humming with the traffic from all of these events, but what really drew crowds were the exciting innovations presented. Great connections were made between vendors and attendees, resulting in lasting and mutually beneficial relationships.

One vendor told TFM, “I’ve received leads from an electrical company in Indiana, a college in Ohio, a bank in Florida—I’ve got the youth centers in Chicago. I mean, I’ve just got a million of them!” The TFM Group was pleased to be the conduit for vendors and facility executives.

Traffic was steady during the dedicated hall hours on Monday and Tuesday.

“A true measure of the success of a show is the willingness of exhibitors to rebook their booths for the following year’s event,” said Susan Coene. “The TFM Show was extremely successful because, even at this early stage, more than 80% of the exhibitors have expressed strong interest in coming back, and over 60% have already signed up to participate in the 2007 show. Many firms have indicated they will be increasing the level of their participation next year, so this is very encouraging. We’re certainly looking forward to 2007.”

Indeed, Monday was not yet over when Exhibitor Art Dickerson of Paul Davis National commented, “So far, it has been a great experience. We’re thinking about doubling our booth size for next year, because it has gone over so well.”

Recognizing Excellence
Stu Carron, the Facility Executive of the Year Award recipient gave an inspiring speech at the dinner.

On Tuesday night, TFM was proud to present Stu Carron with the Facility Executive of the Year Award, sponsored by W.W. Grainger. Carron was recognized for his work on the LEED-EB Gold certification of JohnsonDiversey’s headquarters in Sturtevant, WI.

Carron has been with parent company S.C. Johnson for 17 years and joined the facilities team for JohnsonDiversey in 2000. The headquarters building, constructed in 1997, was intended to meet a high level of efficiency, but Carron saw room for improvement when the LEED for existing buildings (EB) concept was developed in 2002. He had the foresight and ingenuity to recognize that green buildings would be the next major trend in facility management.

JohnsonDiversey’s headquarters achieved LEED-EB certification and went on to produce energy savings exceeding $90,000 per year. The building was designed based on green principles, extensive use of natural lighting, and individual control of workspace environments.

The Fourth Annual Award Dinner, held at Chicago’s Intercontinental Hotel, started off with a cocktail hour in the Toledo Room before moving into the Spanish Room for dinner, where guests were welcomed by Susan Coene and treated to opening remarks from Laura Brown, vice president of W.W. Grainger. Following these speeches was a video presentation, detailing Carron’s achievements, character, and the importance of his role at JohnsonDiversey. The video was a first for the Facility Executive of the Year Award, and it was a fitting tribute to a man who refused to accept the status quo; Carron aimed higher and reached his goals.

In the presence of his family, friends, colleagues, and vendors, Carron gave a heartfelt and moving speech that brought the audience to its feet in a standing ovation. This was validation not only for this one man’s incredible success, but also for the important work that all facility executives do on a daily basis. Because of Carron’s achievements, JohnsonDiversey has not simply acquired LEED-EB certification with net savings of over $130,000 a year—because of his work, the world is a cleaner place.

Ward Komorowski, FEY 2005 presented him with the Green Jacket as Susan Coene looks on. In this emotional moment, they fumbled and put on the wrong jackets before they realized their mistake, laughed, and switched jackets.

After the award presentation, last year’s Facility Executive of the Year, Ward Komorowski, presented Carron with the traditional Green Jacket to symbolize his membership in the exclusive club of professionals honored by TFM. This ceremony completed the awards dinner.

The TFM Group and W.W. Grainger were proud to recognize Carron for his accomplishments.

The Total Facility Management Experience!

While difficult to top the excitement of the exhibit hall, the educational benefits of the classes, and the impressive presentations of the Fourth Annual Facility Executive of the Year Awards Dinner, Wednesday’s final event—the facility tour of the Art Institute of Chicago—was another highlight for many fortunate attendees. After the final classes wrapped up, an anxious group of executives from as far away as the Philippines and as important as the United Nations eagerly selected their box lunches and boarded the bus.

Susan Coene presented a Best of Show award at the 1-800-Got-Junk booth.

Greeted by several key personnel from the Art Institute, the group quickly made its way to a private conference area where Meredith Mack, VP of operations and Barry Quinn, project manager from the RISE Group, presented a brief slide show explaining the plans for the new Modern Wing. Designed by world famous architect Renzo Piano, the 260,000 square foot building is scheduled to open in the summer of 2009.

After a brief Q&A session with Mack and Quinn, attendees split off into smaller tour groups. The majority viewed the site (where ground was broken in May 2005) from the Millennium Park Room and continued through to other visual and architectural highlights of the landmark building and its collection.

Another small group took advantage of a surprise offer to explore the inner workings of the building with William D. Caddick, executive director of museum facilities and off site properties. Attendees walked through the extensive vitrine building workshops and snuck a peek at one of the touring exhibits as it was in the process of being set up.

Caddick did a wonderful job answering questions and speaking the true language of facility management. He even told the story of a leaking humidifier and a $5 million painting that was saved by his decision to apply common sense over bureaucratic protocol—after being on the job only two months! (He went from immediate unemployment to departmental hero in less than 24 hours.) It was an enlightening experience for those attendees who chose chillers over Cézanne.

Many facility professionals who opted for Caddick’s tour were thrilled at the opportunity walk in his footsteps for just a few hours. Julie Potter, manager of facilities, security & administrative services for Yellow Book USA™ of Cedar Rapids, IA says, “I intend on writing a personal thank you note [to Caddick] for his exceptional, enthusiastic, and personal tour that he gave to attendees. It truly was one of the highlights of the conference for me!”

“The tour was the highlight of the entire show for me,” echoes John Kuypers, RPA, FMA, PMP, director of national accounts with Jones Lang LaSalle.

And on the heels of another outstanding opportunity to learn, network, and reinforce their importance in the world of business, TFM Show attendees reluctantly ended their 2006 experience. In the words of Potter, “I found it to be an incredible networking opportunity and came away with many invaluable insights and an overall ‘big picture’ perspective of the facilities world.”

Members of this group were treated to a special tour given by Caddick (center, with suit and tie), who gave them the extraordinary opportunity to view the inner workings of the museum, including “vintage” (top) and state-of-the-art equipment.”

Jeff Albert of the Curtis School in Los Angeles, CA summarizes his TFM Show experience by saying, “Thanks to everyone for putting on such a fabulous show. I really enjoyed everything. Fantastic! Kudos!”

For attendees, it’s clear the 2006 TFM Show exceeded their greatest expectations. In addition to yielding important relationships with peers and vendors, the event highlighted new products, taught attendees about strategic approaches, and delivered so much more—particularly for one very fortunate facility professional who will surely be among the many to return next year.

Don’t miss the 10 year TFM Show celebration, scheduled for April 17-19, 2007 at Chicago’s Navy Pier!

Additional reporting by Heidi Schwartz.

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