Happy New Year: A look at 2011 and a preview of 2012

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready to face 2012 head on! In 2011 we held 35 events including industry specific network events, social networking, programs, tours, special events, and educational opportunities that garnered nearly 2,500 attendees! Our Awards of Excellence Event in May honored the best in the industry including TIAA-CREF, Biogen Idec, Manulife/John Hancock, The Museum of Fine Arts, EMD Serono and Ropes & Gray. We held our first Casino Royale Membership Drive and found who our high rollers are. We had sellout crowds at our annual Schmooze Cruise in July and our Holiday Gala in December to benefit Boston Medical Center's SPARK Center. And we had another beautiful day on the golf course at our annual Golf Classic. As we gear up for 2012 we have some wonderful opportunities to network and share the spotlight. This year's Northeast Buildings & Facility Management (NEBFM) Show and Conference will be held June 6-7 at the Boston Convention Center. This event draws more than 1,000 A/E/C professionals together for the Expo and 30 one hour seminars with products and topics germane to Facility Managers at all levels. NEBFM is currently seeking speakers for their seminars so if you have a case study, best practice, or topic to share to the Boston FM community, don't delay. You can fill out a speaker request form at www.nebfm.com. The call for speakers ends February 17th. Have you completed a project since April of last year that deserves recognition? Do you or a colleague deserve to be recognized for their contributions to their company, the A/E/C community or the Boston Chapter? Have you and your staff developed a best practice within your organization that has saved your company money, energy, or increased efficiencies? Then you need to nominate yourself, your project, process and/or colleague for an IFMA Boston Award of Excellence. Each year, the Boston Chapter of IFMA shines the light on the best of the best in the FM community with Facility Best Practices awards for projects and processes of all sizes, sustainability and individual awards of recognition. Visit www.ifmaboston.org for more information on nominations today. This year's event will be held at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel on May 24th at 5:30 p.m. The chapter has many great programs coming this Spring. We just completed a behind the scenes look at The Country Club in Brookline that provided the membership with a once in a lifetime view of the oldest country club in the country. On February 2nd, the Healthcare Network in conjunction with Programs will be presenting IPD in Action: The MaineGeneral New Regional Hospital at TRO Jung|Brannen. The Emerging Leaders and Career Development committees are hard at work on a program entitled Make the Most of Your Career in the New Year to take place on February 9th at the Allsteel Showroom. Programs in conjunction with the R&D Network will be conducting a panel discussion and tour of the new Astra Zeneca project in April. And while we may have snow on the ground now, it will be Spring before you know it. So save the date for this year's IFMA Boston Golf Classic to take place at Stow Acres Country Club in Stow on Tuesday, June 19th. Want to network with the best and brightest in the A/E/C community? Then attend one of our upcoming events, visit our website at www.ifmaboston.org and/or volunteer to be on one of our committees. We have opportunities for everyone! We'd love to see you at an upcoming event! If you are not currently receiving our monthly event updates, send us an email at ifma@ifmaboston.org; we'll add you to our list. I look forward to seeing you at a future event. Alicia Dernier, CFM, is the 2011 president of IFMA Boston.