Reinvesting in IAMC

Roger Nesti
IAMC Chair

Dear IAMC Member,

One thing you may not know about IAMC is we have almost a year’s worth of operating expenses in reserve as insurance against contingencies. Money-in-the-bank like this is an association best practice implemented by Bill Pearson when he was treasurer in 2003. With this rainy day fund established, now we’re planning how to invest new net revenues in services and programs that directly benefit the membership.

The February 4-6, 2014, IAMC meetings dealt with this as a strategic planning opportunity. In addition, we conducted Governance Institute training for new volunteer leaders and deliberated the usual flow of issues we see as a board of directors.

Board of Directors Vice Chair Kevin Dollhopf titled the 2014 strategic planning exercise the “$50K Challenge.” The purpose was to identify ways to invest revenues to improve the member experience and create new programs and services. Well before the February meetings, the vice chair had asked the chairs of each committee to craft innovative proposals for group consideration at the strategic planning session.

Over 30 proposals were put forward; a few of the similar ones were combined. The revised list was put before the group of board members, committee chairs and staff for a vote. Here are the top five choices selected for funding:

Professionally produced IAMC videos for branding and marketing the organization, recruiting new Active members and promoting new programs;
High-profile speakers to increase the Professional Forum “wow factor;”
A program to financially offset members’ Professional Forum hotel costs to increase Active member participation at Forums;
A program to allocate existing Honorarium Program funds to recruit new Active members to establish a new Industry Group in a specific, important industry sector; and
A budget to engage paid speakers for IAMC Local programs and/or to defray the expenses of Active member presenters.

The Governance Institute (GI) was convened the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 4, to provide new board members and committee chairs comprehensive association background, organizational and governance-process information. Most of these leaders already knew a lot about IAMC, but GI’s purpose is to fill in any important gaps so the new leaders can begin their roles without a long period of on-the-job training. Topics covered included organization history, mission, vision, an overview of the staff group, committee descriptions, the by-laws, policies and IAMC’s code of ethics.

During the board meeting itself, I, with board support, provisionally expanded the board’s executive committee (EC) by adding economic developer member Gary Tonjes and service provider member Steve Kozarits. The EC, which previously had consisted of the chair, vice chair, treasurer, secretary and past chair, is authorized by the bylaws to act on the board’s behalf subject to reporting and review by the whole board. The change adds Associate member voices to the EC, which already exist on the full board. The change is not permanent but can be continued at the discretion of each future board chair. (Note: IAMC’s bylaws authorize the board chair to add members to the executive committee, if they so choose.)

The February 2014 IAMC meetings were notable for the openness and breadth of their discussions and for the amount of work transacted. The board, committee leaders and staff have attained an impressive level of communication and collaboration that bodes well for the organization’s future.

Best Regards

Roger Nesti
IAMC Chair

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IAMC INSIDER

From Site Selection magazine, March 2014

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Look to IAMC Local for High-value Education, Networking

eople tend to imagine more fun, ease, value and opportunity in places and at times far removed. But often, high-value opportunities are right under your nose. IAMC members, for example, should participate in IAMC Local meetings in their cities or, if there’s not one, take the lead to organize one.

Last year, over 200 end-users, economic developers and service providers attended eight IAMC Local programs in these six U.S. cities: Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Greenville (S.C.) and San Francisco. The events’ education-program evaluations averaged 8.8 out of 10 possible points.

One of IAMC Local’s objectives is to engage non-member end-users through the meetings and then recruit them as Active members. To date, five Actives have been recruited through IAMC Local.

Looking to the future, the goal is to hold 12 events in 2014, 16 in 2015 and 20 in 2016. For 2014, the IAMC Local Committee aims to raise average education program scores to 9.0 or higher, and support recruitment of eight Active members. In addition, the committee will work with staff to firm up the cohesiveness, quality and self-directedness of the local organizing teams. Eventually, the committee hopes these will take the lead in scheduling, planning and putting on their own events, although staff will continue to play a major support and logistics role.

In 2012-13, IAMC Local made major progress toward its core objective of “delivering member benefits at a local level to extend the key values of IAMC beyond the semi-annual Professional Forums.” For many members, the benefits of IAMC Local can be experienced in their hometowns or cities nearby. If not, you are encouraged to take the lead in organizing an IAMC Local team in your area. To get started, call Mandy Cash at 770-325-3446 or Joel Parker at 770-325-3484.

— Joel Parker

Global Awareness and Progress

Kevin Dollhopf

he International Advisory Committee (IAC) experienced a year of solid successes in 2013. To maintain the momentum, we’ve added resources for 2014 and recruited new leadership for the team.

IAC’s 2013 accomplishments included two events in the United Kingdom, two in Munich, two in Singapore, two in Shanghai and one in São Paulo. The activities were responsible for the recruitment of five new Active members. As a result of financial sponsorships, IAC was able to return a net $20,000 to the IAMC operating accounts. During the year, IAC initiated collaborative arrangements with other committees including Honorarium, Membership and Associate Advisory.

At the February 2014 IAMC Board meeting, IAC Co-chairs Kevin Dollhopf and Mike Wolff announced exciting committee goals for this year and next. These include holding two events in each of the U.K., Munich, Singapore, Shanghai and São Paulo, plus one in the new territory of Mexico.

Additional goals are to accelerate the process of recruiting Active members from among the end-users attending the local events, beef up the cohesiveness and organization of local planning groups, collaborate with the Marketing Committee to build IAMC brand awareness outside North America and bring on additional resources to assist IAMC staff with the logistics of putting on the overseas events.

“IAC’s 2013 accomplishments included two events in the United Kingdom, two in Munich, two in Singapore, two in Shanghai and one in São Paulo.”

IAMC concluded an agreement with the Moventus Group in January to fully support the IAC’s sponsorship development program and provide production and logistics support for the 11 events planned for 2014. Moventus bills itself as a “strategic events planner” and has associates on the ground in several of the IAMC event locations.

Last, I’m pleased to report Active member Colleen Caravati has agreed to join the IAC leadership team. She’ll be getting up to speed on our work, and at the Pinehurst Professional Forum will replace me as IAC co-chair. I’ll become IAMC Chair at the Quebec City Forum and won’t have time to do justice to the IAC job. Mike Wolff will stay on as co-chair to provide continuity.

I’m proud to report that the International Advisory Committee is contributing to IAMC’s growth and progress. We’ve got a great team that brought us through 2013 with an impressive list of accomplishments. And for this year I anticipate more of the same.

— Kevin Dollhopf
Vice Chair, IAMC Board of Directors
Vice President, Global Real Estate, Hanesbrands

An IAMC Elevator Pitch

uickly and succinctly describing IAMC to potential members has become a priority need among volunteer leaders in order to successfully invite non-member corporate real estate executives (CREs) to IAMC Local and International events. Further, the organization has to recruit new Actives to fill in for ongoing attrition due to retirements, job changes and moves to other companies. According to popular wisdom, a good elevator speech should not exceed 30 seconds.

The organization’s governing principle has always been “quality over quantity.”

What should an effective IAMC pitch consist of?

Begin by explaining the acronym and a little about the organization. IAMC stands for Industrial Asset Management Council, a professional association of industrial and manufacturing CREs, their service providers and economic developers.
IAMC was founded in 2002 by Mac Conway, who saw that no organization then existed to serve the special needs of corporate end-users working for manufacturing and industrial companies.
The organization’s governing principle has always been “quality over quantity.” For IAMC, this means growth and expansion should be considered only if they benefit existing members.
IAMC is relatively small at about 600 members. Its conventions, called Professional Forums, attract somewhat fewer than 500 registrants. The organization’s strategic plan was updated in 2013 to say that Professional Forum attendance should be capped at 500.
The organization is known for providing an outstanding networking environment at intimate events. For example, successful IAMC Local and International meetings have from 15 to 50 attendees.
For IAMC, the foundation of good networking is an emphasis on relationship building among the members. Business-card distribution is discouraged as a method of becoming known to other members.
All IAMC events have a targeted balance of Active and Associate members.
Lastly, event education programs focus on Active-member needs and interests.

These eight principles describe the essence of IAMC, and they fit easily into a 30-second pitch. The next time you’re with a non-member CRE, give this a try. Most corporate managers are interested to hear about education and networking organizations that might enhance their career growth and management effectiveness.

— Joel Parker