| Programs |  |
Photos of this event, click here
Barry Widder unknowingly set the pace for the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter’s second roundtable September 15 at the Grandview Café with an email pleading for budgetary help in his new position as facility manager at NetJets, based locally at Port Columbus International Airport.
Widder wrote:
“I was recently promoted to the FM position at NetJets…It has never been my responsibility to prepare a departmental budget, and …the company is requesting we prepare a budget for three years. The current budget is very reactive and has little detail. I am looking for some input on how to put together my budget, I have the line items where our current spending is, but if someone has a good budget template to make sure I am forecasting monies for all the necessary line items, that would be great.”
While the second “FMs First” program covered a number of other pressing issues—water treatment, job sharing, security, ergonomics, and outsourcing—the 17 attending came well prepared to help Widder with his dilemma. Not only did he receive his requested templates and information on how to obtain another through IFMA, it was suggested he:
Justin Murphy, Program Committee co-chair said the group’s willingness to help a recently promoted facility manager with his budgeting concerns was the “highlight” of the event.
“The group was very open to helping and sharing ideas. I think this is exactly the goal of the roundtable, and it can prove to be an invaluable tool for facility managers. The event last night was better attended (than the first two months ago), with more energy. It was great to see an active group talking through topics such as design, budgets, security, and how you can do more with less.”
Donna Byrom, who heads the chapter’s Roundtable Committee and was instrumental in developing the FMs First program, agreed the event was successful.
She said, “So many different subjects were discussed, I can’t remember them all—doing more with less, budgets, accreditation for interior designers, water treatment, job sharing, space crunching, security and weapons, ergonomics, outsourcing, etc.
“We had a very diverse group…some veteran facility managers, some new facility managers, some new to the whole industry, many designers, and some associates in the fields of landscaping, moving, heating and air conditioning, water treatment, and cleaning. At the first roundtable we split into groups. At this session, we stayed together in one group…. I enjoyed the single group because everyone got to hear everything that was discussed.”
Ken Mulligan, chairman of the Education subcommittee, said, “The meeting went really well. We had a great turn out, and I was really excited to see facility managers working to help each other. The atmosphere was so relaxed that they felt comfortable to assist one another. It was a great opportunity for them to learn what has worked and what hasn’t worked in many different environments and organizations.”
Chapter president Eileen Smith, who did not attend the first because she was out of the city, described the roundtable as an “awesome event.”
Byrom served as facilitator for the roundtable and kept the group moving from topic to topic during the two-hour meeting until most, if not all, of the bases had been touched. Another of the highlights was the response generated during the doing- more-with-less discussion.
These included: Getting employees to help with housekeeping by cleaning their workstations and emptying their waste baskets, recycling modular furniture, outsourcing, cross training and job sharing, using deduct meters for landscape watering, and special programs to keep employees onsite at lunch time.
Fred Timm, former chapter president, suggested that these ideas could be collected and recorded to provide a valuable resource for all members.
Smith zeroed in on ergonomics and gave each person an ergonomic desk reference card produced by her company, Verizon Wireless. One side of the card provides information on how to set up a workstation that helps keep physical problems to a minimum. The other side details a series of exercises that workers may use to help prevent discomfort and injury.
The roundtable was so successful that the next, planned for January, was moved back two months to November 17. It also will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Grandview Café and will center on educational programs that chapter members attend at World Workplace October 17-19 in salt Lake City.
Next month members will tour the 200,000-square-foot facility at NetJets at Port Columbus International Airport. The tour will be at 4 p.m. October 13. The complex includes an 80,000 square-foot-hangar with an additional 45,000 square foot support area. The hangar space is large enough to house 30 aircraft at any time.