• Increase in membership and student members
• Expansion of the Chapter Board with industry experts from Jones Lang LaSalle, EC Harris, Synergis and HSBC
• Increase in Corporate Sponsors
• Implementation of a comprehensive professional development event calendar
• More member events – approx 50 over the year
• Technical visits in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Macau
• FMP courses and CFM exam review courses
• Chinese New Year, CFM & Annual dinners
• New members cocktail night
• Christmas Pub Quiz
• FM Movers & Shakers monthly networking cocktails
• Integrate Conference in partnership with Build4Asia
• Representation at or provision of speakers to World Workplace, MIPIM, InfoComm and FM conferences in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mainland China

And in the Year of the Rabbit we are looking forward to hosting the 1st ever World Workplace conference to be held outside of North America and to a joint monthly networking event in partnership with CoreNet Global which will replace Movers & Shakers.

So best wishes to all in the coming Year of the Rabbit!

Deric Probst-Wallace
MBA BSc(Hons) DipM CFM CFMJ FRSA
President
Hong Kong Chapter

I have come to realize that being a member of IFMA is more than just attending the local events in Hong Kong. There is a family of over 19,000 members in the Association, many that share the same issues and challenges that we do. This year marked IFMA’s30th birthday.

This is my second visit to World Workplace in the US and it is always amazing me. I strongly recommend that all members consider attending this event and build your FM relationships, knowledge and start to think from a global perspective.

My trip confirmed that the IFMA board of management really have their act together. The current IFMA Chair – Francis Kuhn and CEO Tony Keane demonstrated their commitment to Global FM. It was also pleasing to see Jon Seller at the conference and with his appointment to the board it now gives us more opportunity to move forward and build on the good work already achieved.

Stay tuned as I take you on the World workplace journey.

November will be an exciting month for IFMA networking events. On the 5th we are co-organising with CIWEM, 2 evening sessions on ”Risk-Based Facility Asset Management” and  ”Creative Briefing”. IFMA Hong Kong Chapter will also run a booth at the MIPIM Asia event from 10th-12th. On 17th-19th we are supporting InfoComm Asia and providing speakers at the event. 26th sees the return of the annual CFM dinner which is open to all CFM, IFMA members and guests. Finally on 27th there is a site visit to Vanke Housing Industry Research Base in Dongguan. Details of all these events are listed on the Events section of the Chapter web site.

The Chapter is also supporting the Facilities Management Asia conference in Singapore on 7th – 8th December. This is set to be one of the main FM conferences in the region, for more information check: www.facilitiesmanagementasia.com.

So I look forward to meeting you at one or more of these events.

Best regards

Deric Probst-Wallace
President
IFMA Hong Kong

Last night the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Chapter had the great honour of hosting Tony Keane, President & CEO of IFMA and his wife on their first visit to Hong Kong.

Tony met with a number of FM organisations whilst in town including HKIFM and IFMA members in Macau before travelling to Shanghai to take part in the Asia FM Summit organised by the IFMA Shanghai Chapter.

Tony has indicated that IFMA are now focusing more than ever on FM in Asia and that IFMA are considering launching “Asia Workplace”, an annual FM forum and seminar similar to World Workplace but catering for FM professionals in Asia. Asia Workplace may be launched as early as next year and the Hong Kong Chapter have already offered our full support to delivering what will be the “Olympics” of FM events in Asia.

Best regards

Deric Probst-Wallace
President
IFMA Hong Kong

Tony Keane with IFMA HK Chapter Board 6 Sep 10

It was my intention to introduce the new Hong Kong Chapter Board at the beginning of the Chapter year in July but regrettably I have been slow on finding time to update the President’s Blog.

The new Board are:

Jenny Yeung: Vice President and responsible for Integrate 2011 Conference
Johnny Yip: Secretary and responsible for Professional Development networking events
Bella Chan: Treasurer
Anita Lo: Director Education
Andy Crawford: Director Sponsorship
Gigi Nam: Director Membership

And of course Graham Tier is the Immediate Past President and will take on the responsibility for Communications including web site.

The Board have already set objectives for the coming year in terms of:

1. Increasing and retaining membership through delivering valuable benefits
2. Increasing sponsorship to facilitate the delivery of networking events for members
3. Planning and delivering a networking events calendar to facility knowledge sharing
4. Working with peer organisation to deliver joint networking events and build cross organisation relationships
5. Delivering Facility Management Professional certification training
6. Delivering Certified Facility Manager exam preparation training
7. Maintaining an informative website
8. Planning and delivering Integrate 2011 to be the most prestigious FM conference in Asia

Additionally we are working hard to strengthen links with IFMA HQ and this month we will host the IFMA CEO, Tony Keane on his first visit to Hong Kong.

So welcome to the new Chapter year and I am confident that the strong Board will deliver on all of the above to demonstrate that, now more than ever, IFMA is truly the representative body for FM professionals in Hong Kong and throughout the world.

Regards

Deric Probst-Wallace
CFM CFMJ
President

If you are looking at video conferencing, meeting room management systems, building PA solutions you need to take some time to visit this event.

To register for your free entry see the IFMA web page for details or contact IFMA administrator.

Prize:

One year full package subscription to IFMA (base membership + Chapter membership) to run following the expiry of the winner’s current membership.

The winners are:

Yeung XXX XXX Member ID# 787XXX

Tong XXX XX Member ID# 842XXX

Base memberships are sponsored by IFMA Headquarter and Chapter memberships are sponsored by the Hong Kong Chapter. Individual email will be sent to confirm with the winners in due course.

We look forward to your participation in our next New Members Night.

The photos can be viewed on Flicker

IFMA – Integrate 2010 – Day

IFMA – Annual Dinner 2010

IFMA – Integrate 2010 – Day 2

The dinner was held in Happy Valley race course with over 268 people in attendance and as always the Jockey club were amazing hosts.

I would like to thank the following;

• The conference organising committee headed up by Deric and strongly support by Terra, Gigi, Bella and others.
• The many people working behind the scenes to make the conference a success on the day.
• Our sponsors for helping our non-profit organisation promote and develop Facilities Management in Hong Kong.
• To our Supporting organisation for your continual support.
• Daniel, Karina and the team at Hong Kong Exhibition Services.
• The Hong Kong Jockey Club catering team

As the days roll on I am coming to the end of my term as president and I would like to thank the Board for their support and hard work over the last 12 months. We have had an amazing year with tremendous growth for the chapter again.

The AGM will be held on the 17th of June, see the event page for details.