Ian Broadbent is chair elect for the BIFM. He reflects on how the institute weathered the economic storm and his intentions as chair.
25 March 2010
I am delighted to have recently been elected at Members Council as chairman of BIFM.
For those of you know me this is a culmination of a number of years work for the institute both at a regional, national and of course as your columnist in FM World. It brought home to me how important the power of the vote is, we hear this a lot in politics but in organisations like the BIFM it is important you use your opportunity to literally have your say. This might be in voting for a formal post or maybe just answering a survey or taking part in a regional event, whichever don’t turn down your right.
As an institute we have remained strong through a particularly difficult time for the economy in general, the BIFM is grateful for the loyalty of its members but I also urge you to make sure you are maximising your member benefits.
It has been mentioned to me by some that the main benefit is receiving FM World or post-nominal letters, please don’t forget that your membership entitles you to many other benefits such as events, the CPD programme, education, training, handbooks and forums, just to name a few. All these can be found by visiting the website: www.bifm.org.uk
As chairman I hope to meet as many of you as possible, hopefully in person and virtually if that proves to be the only way in your case. I certainly intend to make sure I visit all regions at least once per year. In the North region, where I reside, we have over 30 events and meetings each year with a good percentage of members engaged. I appreciate making your first event can be difficult if you don’t know anyone there, but members are a friendly bunch and I can assure you that you will get a lot out of the networking opportunities that arise.
We move into a very busy period for the BIFM with our conference in April, the Facilities Show in May and AGM and Members Day in June. Following this we will close out the year with TWM and the annual awards in October.
While I have some formal duties to perform at all these events I look forward very much to the opportunity to network in a less formal environment and share, learn and discuss the topics of the day with you. In the meantime if you would like to offer any feedback before I take up the chair role in June please do not hesitate to contact me.