Scotchy Scotch Scottsdale; BOMA Winter Business Meeting 2015
The Winter Business Meeting was an eye-opening experience for me and had the effect of making the many chapters of BOMA feel like a community with common problems and common solutions. The conference answered questions I had about the relationship between BOMA and BOMI, BOMA International and the chapters, and between the chapters and the BAE’s. Again and again, BOMA International encouraged the chapters to reach out to them for support. They asked that we give them suggestions for webinar topics and actively partner with them in planning educational sessions. BAE’s from a couple smaller chapters shared about a recent Industrial Summit they held and expressed confusion over the Industrial Floor Measurement Standard. Everywhere we went, we saw BOMA members who had come to Arizona to find out more about what BOMA is doing and how they can make their chapters better.
When BJ and I arrived at the Kierlan Westin in Scottsdale, the first people we saw in the lobby were Craig Benedetto, Dave Stucky, Mike Nelson, and Tom Magnussen. That feeling of familiarity set the tone for the whole weekend. The BOMA San Diego team agreed in advance who would attend the various committee meetings and forums that might be of interest to our chapter. After each session, we sat near the lobby’s gila monster terrarium and talked about where we could incorporate the good ideas we’d heard into BOMA San Diego. Our group dinners at the end of each day were lighthearted and fun but also full of conversation about how we could improve our fantastic chapter even more.
The most interesting sessions to me were those related to education within BOMA. BOMA International informed us that over the next six months, we can expect an update to BEEP (Building Energy Efficiency Program) and the release of an Industrial Floor Measurement Standard workshop. One big change they announced is that the BOMA Foundations class, which our chapter holds each year and which consistently gets a great response, will no longer count towards the RPA designation. BOMI (an entirely separate entity from BOMA) no longer offers the comparable Fundamentals class and will therefore not grant RPA credit to students who take the Fundamentals exam after January 1, 2015.
The keynote speaker was also excellent. Jason Roberts, founder of Team Better Block, packed more words per minute than I thought possible into a riveting depiction of how he and a rag tag group of Dallas residents bypassed the usual (and legal) channels to neighborhood rejuvenation a reality in one weekend. You can read about the organization’s vision here: http://teambetterblock.com/about/ and watch the first better block project in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdZpJ5MwbqA.
Hopefully, our chapter will soon experience some of the ideas that the WBM generated within our San Diego team. If you have any questions, please reach out to one of us! Attendees included Kristin Howell, Lynn Hulbert, Mike Nelson, BJ Van Aken, Tom Magnussen, David Stucky, Audrey Doherty and myself.
When BJ and I arrived at the Kierlan Westin in Scottsdale, the first people we saw in the lobby were Craig Benedetto, Dave Stucky, Mike Nelson, and Tom Magnussen. That feeling of familiarity set the tone for the whole weekend. The BOMA San Diego team agreed in advance who would attend the various committee meetings and forums that might be of interest to our chapter. After each session, we sat near the lobby’s gila monster terrarium and talked about where we could incorporate the good ideas we’d heard into BOMA San Diego. Our group dinners at the end of each day were lighthearted and fun but also full of conversation about how we could improve our fantastic chapter even more.
The most interesting sessions to me were those related to education within BOMA. BOMA International informed us that over the next six months, we can expect an update to BEEP (Building Energy Efficiency Program) and the release of an Industrial Floor Measurement Standard workshop. One big change they announced is that the BOMA Foundations class, which our chapter holds each year and which consistently gets a great response, will no longer count towards the RPA designation. BOMI (an entirely separate entity from BOMA) no longer offers the comparable Fundamentals class and will therefore not grant RPA credit to students who take the Fundamentals exam after January 1, 2015.
The keynote speaker was also excellent. Jason Roberts, founder of Team Better Block, packed more words per minute than I thought possible into a riveting depiction of how he and a rag tag group of Dallas residents bypassed the usual (and legal) channels to neighborhood rejuvenation a reality in one weekend. You can read about the organization’s vision here: http://teambetterblock.com/about/ and watch the first better block project in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdZpJ5MwbqA.
Hopefully, our chapter will soon experience some of the ideas that the WBM generated within our San Diego team. If you have any questions, please reach out to one of us! Attendees included Kristin Howell, Lynn Hulbert, Mike Nelson, BJ Van Aken, Tom Magnussen, David Stucky, Audrey Doherty and myself.