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(Meeting Archives at page bottom) |
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December 2007 General Meeting Recap |
Our Facility Holiday general meeting at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland was an outstanding venue for networking, relationship building, and just plain fun. Several members  brought toys for the Spark of Love and got their picture taken with Santa (Thanks Bob Barry). We had great support with seven sponsors contributing to the success of this event.
During lunch, Dian Coles, our President made several announcements including having several sponsors come up and raffle off prizes they donated. Jennifer Shramo awarded the Volunteer of the Month to Edie Fey of Resources Global Professionals for all her work with providing her faciltiy for the last Career Development session. Edie was very through and helpful and that made it a success. The Grand Prize winner was Dean Pearson of CRC Consulting Group, Inc.
After lunch, those members who wished to participate in a tour of the Grand Californian split up into groups and were treated to a very interesting and insightful view of how the facility was envisioned, designed and built. Among other things, we were able to visit the two main restaurants including the Napa Rose, a beautiful place to visit for a fine dinner with friends.
A huge thank you goes out to all of our sponsors for this event and to the Program Commitee for organizing such a great event.
MORE PHOTOS
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November 2007 General Meeting Recap |
IFMA had one of our largest attendances of the year at the November programs meeting held at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. 61 members and 16 non-members were treated to a wonderful turkey dinner. Our hosts included Facility Manager, Ed Quiroga and the Chief Engineer and Head Electrician.
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Ed told us the history behind this internationally known house of worship and the amazing 31acre, 260,000 sq. ft. campus of beautiful buildings. Robert Schuler started the ministry in 1955 and the current location for the Crystal Cathedral commenced in 1960. We were told the history behind how they get the “angels” to fly. All members received a beautiful coffee table book about the Crystal Cathedral and 2 tickets for preview shows to the Glory of Christmas! Some of the professional members toured the buildings with the Engineer and Electrician, while others sat in the 2500 plus seat sanctuary to get a rare look at rehearsal for the Glory of Christmas show. 
President Diane Coles shared chapter news including Mike Darger named as Volunteer of the Month. We also learned about the December party, Winter Faire, Westfac, World Workplace, and an Industry Leaders forum from Bob Reeves, Kathy Reid, Cookie Avila-Currier, Tony Soriano, and Jennifer Corbett-Schramo respectively. It was a fun evening packed with great information and entertainment. Don’t miss our next event!
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October 2007 General Meeting Recap |
Our October general meeting really 'cleaned up' with great attendance, good eats, and an outstanding and very informative speaker. Dave Frank, the president of the American Institute for Cleaning Sciences (AICS) presented his career’s experience in the building cleaning industry. Because he began at the ‘ground floor’ level as a janitor, he has always operated at the ‘reality’ altitude instead of at 30,000 feet. As with few other industries, there are varying degrees of professional point of entry into the 200 billion dollar cleaning business.
 This service industry is highly fragmented, lacks uniform qualification criteria, has a hyper-competitive cost driven environment, and difficulty in distinguishing organization. The facility manager and others who secure cleaning services have a challenge sifting through the dirt to find guality clean. Some things to know and understand are how to reduce risk, define quantity, and reduce cost of poor quality. Dave emphasized that an industry is measured by how it looks. Whether it is a single building, a campus or multi-tenant structure, a clean environment is a healthy environment.
An average building lasts about 40 years. In that time, 20% is the cost of the building while 80% is maintenance. It takes strong planning and management to maintain a clean environment while making sure upper management supports the strategy. Dave shared with us the CIMS (Cleaning  Industry management Standard) prequalification tools including the certification checklist and reviewed a few of the critical issues to understand. Thanks to the Program Committee for bringing us a highly informative and interesting speaker. And thanks to Waxie for hosting this month’s meeting. 
This evening's meeting was conducted by our Chapter Treasurer, Gary Bittner of Servpro of Tustin in Diane Coles' absence. Gary Acknowledged the Volunteer of the Month, Tony Soriano of Linc Services for all his efforts, creativity and leadership with the Annual Golf Tournament. As it turned out, it was Tony's birthday so the group offered up the birthday song! Information about upcoming events and important committee information was dispensed. Also, there was recognition of Bentley Prince Street (Betty Freidichs) for being a major sponsoring of World Workplace to the tune of $35,000!
Additional Pics in the Gallery
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Thanks to our Sponsors
ABM Janitorial Services w Servpro of Tustin w RAM Engineering |
The September general meeting was our first luncheon meeting of the new year. The Gas Company and Paul Gomez hosted the event. There were over 40 in attendance for a very informative speaker and his topic. Mr. Herman Jett, Consultation Area Manager of Cal-OSHA lead us through some of the laws that a Facility Managers and others present should be aware. He explained the process of obtaining and maintaining compliance in your organization. Mr. Jett also went through the alphabet of parts of OSHA and others terms that we should become familiar. He emphasized the use of the IIPP (Injury & Illness Prevention Program) along with the updated forms. The watch phrase is, “Always be prepared.”
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If OSHA visits you, know that it is a random event. Today a company is picked arbitrarily via a computer program. Some people feel  they have been targeted but Mr. Jett assured us that was not the case. He indicated that ignoring issues found out of compliance would not go away. First a letter is sent confirming the company’s commitment and obligation to fix the problem. Ultimately, strong fines will be applied which typically gets the company’s attention.
Other issues included safety training. You may have safety training sessions but it is vital to maintain records of such meetings to prove you are doing them. You can also have OSHA come out to assess a new piece of equipment to verify it is compliant. Be aware that if something about the equipment is out of compliant, be prepared to rectify it. This is another situation  where you cannot ignore the solution.
Diane Coles, our Chapter President started the meeting with a few items of note such as upcoming events. She had Betty Friedrichs step up to discuss World Workplace, acknowledged Bill Conley as our latest IFMA Fellow (a very important and prestigious honor), and awarded Doug Green the Volunteer of the Month. New members were also identified and welcomed.
If you couldn’t attend July’s general meeting at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, you missed an interesting tour, great food, and camaraderie with your fellow IFMA members! There were fifty IFMA members and guests on hand to see the new $18.2M gymnasium. Mater Dei’s VP for Advancement, John Tufo presented a slide show of how they overcame obstacles in building this  state-of-the-art complex on time and on budget.
The gym is part of a $60M renovation to the Catholic school. The planners, architect, and general contractor successfully dealt with issues of time for completion, budget, labor, work space, moving existing utilities, and material inflation. The event was put together by Director of Plant Management. Jess Rivas. Ram Air Engineering and Merchants Building Maintenance sponsored the event while the Newport  Rib Co. supplied the delicious dinner. Broadcom’s Barbara Blair addressed the group about how IFMA membership has helped her professionally and personally. Diane Cole’s first meeting as this year’s chapter president was a worthwhile and successful event. Don’t miss the next one!
Thanks to Our Sponsors:
RAM AIR Engineering
Merchants Building Maintenance
See more Pictures
Our May General Meeting was held at Members Building Maintenance in Irvine. The meeting took place in their ‘truck bay’ that looked more like a showroom. It housed several outstanding examples of the best of the automobile such as a Bentley and Ferrari. Once the group of over 40 members did some networking and feasted on south of the border fare, Mike Darger, our president, provided an update of IFMA OC activities and other important information. The Professional Member drawing was conducted with Miguel Cevallos’ name drawn. Unfortunately, Miguel was not in attendance so the pot moved from $175 to $200 for the next general meeting.
 John Secor introduced a speaker that hardly needs any introduction. Our own Joe Soter who was our most successful IFMA OC job search and networking group chairperson provided information that he has collected over the years regarding the art and science of searching for a top job using some very effective networking tools. Joe talked about a few things to do to be prepared for the future:
1. Stay aware of your corporate surroundings in the event there are changes to safeguard your career.
2. Keep a copy of your project notes that can be used in that next resume
3. Keep learning; once you stop you start falling back.
4. Stay abreast of your company and the industry
Joe also discussed using ‘PAR’ – Problem Action Results, to build a solid file of projects and problems you handled.
1. Describe the problem
2. Describe the action: coordination, management team, etc.
3. Describe the results: financial or time savings, numbers, percentages
Another thing Joe indicated that will help with the job search was asking for a meeting versus an interview. To some, an interview is a turn off. Sharing a job lead with others that may not work for you but may be good for another is a positive step with fellow job searchers. Joe wrapped up with some commonsense ideas such as, get Internet savvy, have a professional email address, and don’t send anything with a virus. He left us with a web  site that could help you build your network resources. That address is www.Linkedin.com. Thanks Joe for a very informative presentation.
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OUR SPONSORS
RAM AIR ENGINEERING - Table Top Sponsor
COFFEE AT WORK - Coffee Sponsor
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THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS FACILITY CHALLENGE
Our long awaited night of the Most Outrageous Facility Challenge was hosted by our very own Bob Reeves, Facility Manager for Cycle Beverage Corporation. Bob illustrated the point that as facility managers get together, they become each other’s support group by exchanging stories and nightmares each has encountered. We found a few that may just top them all!
Vanessa Doyle won the grand prize (blonde hair white shirt) for her horror story. A teenage rounding the corner of her office going between 75-80mph crashed into her building taking out six, yes, SIX work stations. We’re glad Vanessa is with us today as the car landed on the other side of her work area.
Gary Bittner, Diane Coles and Mike Darger received honorable mention for their facility challenges. One, a sewage pipe burst in a parking garage that SERVPRO of Tustin handled; two, a flooded parking lot after a storm, and three, wreckage to a Carl’s Jr. drive-thru after a riot and complaints to a boss for a new parking space to do your cosmetic surgery. 
Preceding the challenge and competition Tom Grochow of the OC Register and Trish Secor of Archetype International informed us of the Facility Challenge they faced in putting together the OC Post in 45 days! This followed by a tour of the OC Post. What a difference was seen from the rest of the building to the Post area! Bright, spacious, modern, clean, a great work area and GREAT work in such a short period of time. Wonderful work Trish and John Secor!!
 
Just want an Oil Change? A little high lift creativity Just a small sewer leak
 
 
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OUR SPONSORS
RAM AIR ENGINEERING BENTLEY PRINCE STREET
ABM FAMILY OF SERVICES |
 There are many architecturally beautiful buildings in Orange County but the Renee & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall has to be at the top of the list both inside and out. We began the evening at Leatherby's Cafe Rouge, the Concert hall's exclusive restaurant, to network, make new acquaintances, and catch up with familiar faces.
The tour began with us making our way to the floor of the concert hall, a dazzling combination of designed curves, colors, and layers. Our guides, Ellory Brown VP of Operations and Robert Sheriff with Fluor (the company that built the building) gave us the details of the structure and answered many questions from an inquisitive audience. Everyone could see the facade of pipes for the organ that will soon be installed. A cool 2.5 million for a pipe organ that will be a showcase piece of the hall. The pipes will take several weeks to tune and won't be started until June. The dust has to settle first.
 Behind the side balcony seats large accoustical 'doors' open into baffles to control the sound according to the such citeria as number of instruments on stage and size of the audience. There is also seating behind the orchestra area called the choral terrace. This is seating for choirs as needed or as Ellory called them; the 'cheap' seats. However, these cheap seats allow the viewer to almost feel like they are part of the orchestra and able to watch the conductor face to face. The hall seats about 2,000.
From the hall floor, we climbed to the 'attic', the space above the concert hall where among other things was the cabling system that controlled the accoustical canopies. Ellory explained how the system operated. From there, we walked across the upper rear level of the hall. An amazingly blended piece of architecture and technology. Now, let's go to a concert!
 We returned to the Cafe Rouge for diner and our meeting. The dinner was by far the best we've ever had from salad to dessert with medallions of beef in between. And what a presentation. After dinner, President Mike Darger dispense chapter information and pulled another Professional member's name for the Profession Member Attendance drawing. There was $125 at stake and, unfortunately, the member was not present so the drawing goes to $150 next month. Jeff Woolf from the IFMA Board of  Trustees had a few words as well about the state of the organization. He mentioned the upcoming joint council meeting being held in Atlanta, Georgia from  May 2nd to the 4th.
A tremendous thank goes out to Trish Secor and her Program Committee members for organizing such a great venue and tour. Also thanks to our sponsors for whom made this event possible:
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OUR SPONSORS :
RAM AIR ENGINEERING BENTLEY PRINCE STREET
ABM FAMILY OF SERVICES |
February 2007
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September 2004
August 2004 - No Meeting
July 2004
June 2004 - No Meeting (Awards Banquet)
May 2004 - No Meeting
April 2004
March 2004 - No meeting (Golf Tournament)
February 2004
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October 2003
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2002
IFMA OC Association Office
1405 Warner Avenue
Tustin, CA 92780
Larisa Edwards
LEdwards@associationplanet.com
714-258-8362
714-258-8391 (Fax)
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