NORCROSS, Ga. – Following on the hot heels of its highly successful first conference in Savannah, Ga., the Industrial Asset Management Council (www.iamc.org) is set to further bolster its unique industrial niche at its upcoming Spring 2003 Professional Forum. The fast-rising association's Spring Forum will unfold April 6-9 in Palm Harbor, Fla. at the Westin Innisbrook Resort - a prestigious, award-winning venue located 25 miles (2.25 kilometers) west of Tampa. The Spring Forum's theme - "Getting It Done Right! Industrial Asset Management Approaches to Proficiency and Profitability"- underscores the IAMC's inordinately sharp focus - an emphasis that has effectively differentiated it from the ranks of existing real estate associations.
        "IAMC's niche in the professional association market is quite specific," said 2002-03 IAMC Chairman Jack Brophy. "We want to stay focused on our core market and deliver to our members the very best opportunities for education and networking."

Savannah Forum Underscored
Appeal of Association's Distinct Focus

April's Palm Harbor Forum promises to do just that, building on IAMC's singularly strong surge out of the starting gate.
        The Spring 2003 Forum comes only six months after IAMC startled many industry observers by

NEARBY BEACHES BECKON: IAMC's Palm Harbor Professional Forum will take place only three minutes from the white-sand Gulf Coast beaches.

drawing some 180 attendees at its initial Savannah conference - and only five months after the Atlanta-based organization had even been formally chartered.
        "I'm astounded by this turnout," Brophy marveled as he looked out upon the high-profile crowd that was busily networking around him at one Savannah function.
        Many attendees attributed the Savannah Forum's strong turnout to IAMC's clear-cut niche: The association is distinctly centered on executive-level managers in the industrial and manufacturing sectors who have corporate real estate and asset management responsibilities.

Spring Forum Extending Strengths

The Palm Harbor Forum's content will further extend IAMC's potent niche. IAMC program planners are hard at work hammering out the final conference agenda, which will be published in late January 2003.
        Already, however, the conference's programmatic outline is well focused, they say. The April Forum's "primary objectives," IAMC planners explain, will include:

• "utilizing the conference's networking opportunities, educational sessions and social activities to deliver a high-quality learning experience for corporate real estate, asset management and service-provider professionals representing the industrial and manufacturing business sectors;"
• "ensuring that all speakers and panelists address topics, issues and challenges that are of primary interest to corporate real estate and asset management professionals in industrial and manufacturing enterprises;"
• "drawing from IAMC membership surveys to develop the conference's educational topics";
• "offering one conference session exclusively for Active (corporate-side) members and one session exclusively for Associate (service-side) members."

The Palm Harbor conference will continue to focus content on the three broad categories that members have identified as being of central interest: "Corporate," "Departmental" and "Professional Development." Programmatic content for each session based on those three categories, IAMC planners say, will retain the association's "real-life" emphasis - clearly defining each issue at hand and providing detailed solutions that sustain or improve the corporate bottom line.

SITE OF EXCELLENCE: Winner of Corporate Meetings & Incentives magazine's Gold Tee Award for "combining excellence in both meeting and golf facilities," the Westin Innisbrook Resort has four highly rated golf courses (one of which is pictured above).

        Content, they added, will further concentrate on the topics that IAMC members have identified as being of greatest interest, including:

• Leadership Development;
• The Economic Landscape;
• Sustainable Development;
• Shareholder Value Growth;
• Recent Trends in Strategic Planning and Real Estate Management; and
• Lease Negotiations.

Venue Is Multiple Award Winner for
Meeting and Recreational Expertise

The Spring 2000 Forum's content will also be framed by a fetching locale.
        The 1000-acre (400-hectare) Westin Innisbrook Resort has won numerous awards - both for expertise in executing first-class conventions and in offering top-of-the-line recreational opportunities.
        The Westin Innisbrook, for example, is one of only seven resorts to win Meetings & Conventions magazine's prestigious Gold Key Award every year since its inception. The Westin, in fact, is only one of 12 resorts and hotels to receive the Gold Key Hall of Fame Award for "continuing superior service to the meetings industry."
        The venue's many other awards include Corporate Meetings & Incentives magazine's Gold Tee Award, which is presented to resorts that "combine excellence in both meeting and golf facilities."
        The Westin Innisbrook has four very highly rated golf courses and 11 tennis courts, as well as Jacuzzis, saunas, massage services and a complete children's recreation center. Free shuttles also run from the resort to the nearby white-sand beaches on the Gulf Coast.
        Watch for further details on the Palm Harbor conference at www.iamc.org.