How our needs shape the future of the built environment
The Portuguese Facility Management Association will host its 14th Annual Conference in 2020.
We look at presentations as a way to spark innovation, foster dialogue and drive collaboration as we meet some of our greatest challenges.
This year, we have shifted to a totally online experience which will allow us for a more diverse and populated program, as room space is no longer an issue.
As we have been doing every year, we are proud to connect Portuguese speakers and specialists with a rich presence of colleagues from around the world, especially from other European countries and Brazil, which means that we allow for three languages on stage: Portuguese, Spanish and English.
On 25 June, the European Facility Management Network hosted the third and final session of its ‘Stay Connected’ series. After the Research Symposium and the Student Festival, this time it was the turn of the business community represented in the organization to hold their Online FM Summit. The series was introduced after the association had to postpone its renowned annual EFMIC Conference, scheduled for the beginning of June in Barcelona till the end of October. Altogether, the three online sessions (spread over four 2-hour Zoom meetings throughout the month of June) attracted 115 researchers, students, young professionals, practitioners, and ambassadors of EuroFM.
During the concluding EuroFM Online FM Business Summit, the organization celebrated its 30th anniversary and for this reason, current President Goran Milanov (Vidako, Bulgaria) and founding President Keith Alexander (UK) reflected on the rich history, challenges and opportunities for the FM profession and the role that its European umbrella has to play in connecting the three areas of expertise: Research, Education and Practice of FM.
“Organisations don’t want facilities, they want a productive workforce”
The online Business Summit also addressed current trends and developments in areas like technology, sustainability, and innovation. Opening keynote Yvette Watson, co-founder of PHI Factory, presented 5 innovations defining the future of FM. Andrew Mason, Chair of SAFMA and EuroFM Ambassador for South Africa, leaped into the future to present an ‘FM Futurespective’ of the workplace. “Organisations don’t want facilities, they want a productive workforce” as he explained the new mantra of FM.
In between keynotes, the network provided the platform to the three finalists of the Student Competition featuring in the previous week’s Student Festival. Whereas an independent jury of professors and teachers had selected the three finalists, now it was the turn of the participants to cast their vote after the finalists had introduced their video. Winners became Kristin Euchner, Randi Kleist, Diana Vidal, and Sakithya Shanmugaratnam from DHBW Stuttgart. All videos including those of the three finalists can be viewed on EuroFM’s YouTube Channel.
“Fun, inspiration, knowledge and networking” The team was congratulated by one of their competing finalists Robin Ganninger from the University of Applied Sciences in Münster, who added: “We were more than happy to be a part of this year`s European Facility Management Network student competition! I had the pleasure of participating in this competition for the second time and I really appreciate that EuroFM has once again organized a fun and inspirational event. It is always a great opportunity to share knowledge and get in contact with people all over the world.”
“A promising mix”
In between these plenary sessions, EuroFM ambassadors, including overall session moderator Levent Alatli (founder and former president of TRFMA and EuroFM ambassador for Turkey) hosted three concurrent breakout sessions each focusing on a different aspect of the FM future. Topics that were debated were ‘Sustainability and FM’, ‘Staying connected in the digital area’, and ‘Going back to the office after Covid19’.
EuroFM Business Chair Renske van der Heide (TOPdesk, Netherlands) looks back with satisfaction: “It was great fun being part of the organizing committee. Although the business community is sometimes underrepresented in the EuroFM community, this series has shown that there is great benefit in combining business expertise with scientific knowledge and the fresh ideas of students and young professionals. It’s a really inspiring and promising mix.”
Staying connected online Reviewing the whole series, EuroFM President Goran Milanov concludes: “The ‘Stay Connected’ series was a big success. When we first started discussions about the concept of these sessions during the early days of the lockdowns, we thought of replicating parts of the programme on the actual days of the conference. In hindsight I am glad that we split the programme into different sessions, enabling us to be more concise but still dig deeper into the areas of interest of our three core audiences, researchers, students, and business people. Also, the fact that we were able to learn about the different functionalities that online meeting technology has to offer like for instance the breakout sessions, voting, and fun elements such as a ‘pub quiz’, has provided us with a wealth of knowledge and experience for the future.”
“As a non-profit organization with limited resources, the virtual association has a lot to offer in terms of learning and knowledge sharing and we intend to explore this avenue further after the summer holidays. I thank the members of the Board and especially Tuuli Jylhä, Olga van Diermen and Renske van der Heide who coordinated the programme of the three sessions, as well as our new association management partners at Lejeune who helped us a great deal in making this possible.”
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After the Research Symposium (3&4 June) and the Student Festival (18 June), the 3rd section of EuroFM’s community – The Online FM Business Summit – had the honor to stage two eminent keynote speakers
During the session, the association celebrated its 30th anniversary with a discussion between current President Goran Milanov and one of the founding fathers, Keith Alexander. ‘Going Back to the Future’ is not only the theme of their debate but can also apply to the three finalists of the Student Competition who presented their videos.
Sustainable Innovation
The online Business Summit addressed current trends and developments in areas like technology, sustainability, and innovation. Yvette Watson is a co-founder of PHI Factory and helps organizations accelerate towards a circular economy and will present 5 innovations defining the future of FM.
Increasingly, companies are being asked to be more transparent and accountable when it comes to the environment, society, and the wellbeing of their employees. Most of the time the facility manager is asked to take a leading role in the transition towards a sustainable future. After all, it is their daily job to make buildings and the working environment more sustainable, use them more effectively, and reduce waste. In FM, we are actively looking for ways to consistently collect meaningful and reliable non-financial data to meet this challenge. Technical innovation and digital solutions will help us to accelerate.
‘Futurespective’
The other keynote speaker of this session was Andrew Mason, who leaped into the future to present an ‘FM Futurespective’ of the workplace. Andrew is the Chairman of the South African Facilities Management Association (SAFMA) and a member of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management. He is also the current South African Ambassador for Euro FM.
“We know change is coming, but how will FM take advantage of this? The COVID-19 pandemic is a disrupter that promises to bring with it a tectonic shift in our paradigms regarding Property, Workplace, FM, and much more. We are on the cusp of what will be a dramatic change which will require traditional strategies and values to change in the way we support our people, our companies, and our clients.
Change means risk but it also presents opportunities and we do not want to look back on this time in the future to see that we missed another chance to raise the profile of FM. Mr. Mason’s presentation will take a look back at our past where FM has not always done well adapting to change and where we have missed opportunities. We will also step into the future to take a retrospective view to visualise how we can take FM forward.”
On June 18th, the European Facility Management Network (EuroFM) organized its first edition of the Student Festival as part of the EuroFM ‘Stay Connected’ sessions. Instead of meeting the students in real life during our annual EFMIC conference (originally planned for Barcelona this year), we organized a virtual festival to celebrate our youngest FM professionals
The Student Festival is part of a series of three sessions and featured the 2020 EuroFM Student Competition. Eight bright students from universities of applied sciences in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Turkey presented a 3-minute video of their vision on the current FM field and market. Based on their internship, thesis, or a school project. Around 55 attendees witnessed the students pitch their videos in a clear and enthusiastic way. The variety of topics covered the workplace environment, the role of FM in educational surroundings, EuroFM Ambassadors, and how to connect them, FM and technology, outsourcing, and the challenges for FM on airports. Check them out on our new EuroFMYouTube channel!
The quality of the videos was high, and it made it difficult for the jury to decide on the 3 best presentations. The jury assessed the videos on their content, creativity and added value for FM and decided on the 3 following finalists:Robin Ganninger and his group from Münster University of Applied Sciences,Sakithya Shanmugaratnam and her group from DHBW Stuttgart and Esmeé Bechthold from Breda University of Applied Sciences. These 3 presentations will be part of our next ‘Stay Connected’ session on June 25th where we will ask the audience to vote for the winner of the 2020 EuroFM Student Competition.
The Student Festival started with a great presentation by Rodney Dass, a young FM professional at IFS Dublin, Ireland. He explained why the FM field should include young FM professionals into their business by stipulating their advantages as Generation Z. The program also included speed date sessions with EuroFM Ambassadors from Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Russia, as well as the FM Student Pub Quiz. Overall, it was an inspiring and fun event, where we indeed celebrated the input of our youngest members!
