The IFMA Austin News
IFMA-Austin Association
Companies depend on facility professionals to ensure the work environment
is both habitable and functional. Business can not maintain operations
with access to critical systems, and the loss of any single utility can
close down a facility even if all others are present. No FM wants
to be responsible for a forced evacuation due to systems failure;
but if business is interrupted, the facility manager is the one expected
to provide a solution.Experts agree that Y2K is a managerial challenge as well as a technical problem. Y2K is expected to attack the workplace with scattered power outages, some disruptions in water supplies, access and control systems shutdowns, temporary suspension of wireless communication, and fire and smoke detector problems, among others. With six months left to prepare, you must determine the safeguards to put in place to guarantee business continuity.
On July 26th in Houston IFMA & GSA will team together to
review the critical issues affecting facilities:
Speakers include:
Keynote Speaker Shereen Remez, Chief Information Officer -
| “In the U.S., 15% of companies will experience a mission critical system failure. 10% of failures will last 3-days or longer. The cost of recovering from a single failure after it occurs will range from $20 thousand to $3 million |
J.W. Marriott Hotel 5150 Westheimer Houston - July 26, 1999 Register by calling 713-623-4362 or events@ifma.org Registration cutoff date is July 16th, 1999. Cost of the one-day conference is $250 and includes continental breakfast and lunch. Contact the J.W. Marriott for hotel accommodations at 1-800-228-9290, identify yourself as IFMA Y2K Conference attendee. |
Drive South!
| Austin-San Antonio
Corridor Council We are meeting San Antonio FM's halfway in San Marcos to enjoy an afternoon together and share ideas, mainly the distance between our cities.. David Robison, the Director of Development for the Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council will be speaking on the proposed light rail commuter system between our two favorite cities. SEE YOU THERE .... and bring a guest! | ||||||||||||
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Linda Beverly from the National IFMA Offices in Houston spoke about the expanding IFMA services.
She briefed us on the roles of the in-house staff and how they can help. She discussed the benefits of being an IFMA member. Visit their web site at ifma.org. She noted the number of guests at our meeting and predicted good growth for the Austin organization. Lots of handouts were picked up.
Do you have your CFM? In the surveys that they have done, it appears that it might be worth as much as $8000 to have this on your business card.
One big topic was councils. Typically they meet once a year at World Work Place. Now they are staying in touch on line. You can post a question in the morning and by the afternoon you have 15 answers or comments. Only in school was there one right answer. Ed Garcia is a member of the R& D council which held their meeting at 3M. He also extolled the council benefits.
Speaking of World Work Place; don’t put off your reservations until the price goes up.
Amy Bowman talked about the Best Practices seminar, which is coming in November. She did an impromptu poll of our members to find out what they thought ‘best practices’ was. Plan to attend now and find out the answers. You gotta attend class to get the answers.
Tom Cagley talked about the opportunities for volunteer work. Our Habit for humanity project is coming in September. Time to sign up.
Some of us make Golf a part of our everyday life. If you lost many balls at River Place this spring, you should be relieved when we plan the golf tournament next year.
The meal was also great. It’s fun to dismember those little butterfly shrimp and savor that garlic butter.
Nancy Paine from Sematech
The golf committee will be calling you. GUARANTEED! Not only that, they will be calling everyone else they can reach between now and May 11th of 2000. They will also be soliciting help with the telephones. We will need to call or contact 50 or 60 potential sponsors and ask them to commit to a sponsorship next year. We will need to call our members and get them to commit to playing next year. & nbsp; Then, finally, we will need input from the membership. If you have any good suggestions, or recommendations about the tournament, please call Bob Payne at 258-5171 or one of the committee members.
Nothing about the Y2K Tournament has been decided yet; so, if you have any good ideas about the format, time, date, or place, let us know. If you know of any "Fun" things or gimmicks to include in the tournament, please let us know The Y2K Golf committee wants to start the new century off with one of the biggest and best and most profitable golf tournaments yet held. So, if you can help, please l et someone hear from you.
Bob Payne- IFMA Program Chair
If you have heard unnerving chirping or experienced flying things bouncing off your body when you approach your building, it is "Cricket Season." (Another way is listening to that crunching sound as you walk in)
Crickets get their name from the high pitched or "chirp" produced when a male rubs his wings together to attract a female. Different kinds of crickets can be identified by listening to their song. Remind you of anyone you know! There are many sizes and kinds of crickets but for the purpose of this article we will just call them crickets. In most all species, their life cycle and habits are the same. The species that is the biggest problem to our buildings and homes is the "House Cricket". Normally they live outdoors especially in garbage dumps, preferring warm weather, but will move indoors when it gets colder, usually in late summer Crickets are usually an October, November pest, but they are appearing earlier each year. These crickets can live indoors completing their life cycle with eggs laid in cracks, crevices, and other dark areas such as behind baseboards Adult crickets are very attracted to lights, become active at night (hiding during the day), crawl, jump and fly. They sometimes congregate in countless numbers up the sides of buildings, entering openings or even second and third story windows and roof skylights. Have you guessed yet, who that reminds you of? They feed on silk, woolens, nylon, rayon, and wood. They can bite when handled carelessly. They are found in fields, pastures, lawns, roadside and in the woods.
Control Measures: Eliminate outside lighting, if possible.
Prevention: Sanitation is the most important means of eliminating nuisance crickets Keep all areas in and around buildings free of moisture, dense vegetation and weeds (a one-foot band next to the foundation.) Mow lawns, cut weeds and clean up garbage collection areas. Caulk and seal all cracks and crevices, especially near the ground level at basement windows and doorways. Make sure that all windows and doors are tight fitting with proper screening in place. Exclusion is an important factor as well as light discipline. Avoid bright mercury vapor lights in entryways and along structure perimeters since crickets will be attracted from far distances Convert to sodium vapor yellow lights instead. (see, nobody likes them) Raise garbage cans off the ground if practical. Trash and dumpsters should be placed as far from your building as possible. It is very important to keep dead crickets removed. They have a high protein content in their body which means they smell bad if left to decay By the way... they are a good source of protein and very edible (when prepared).
by JoAn Reams - IFMA Membership
Ed Garcia called the May business meeting to order.
Community Service: Tom Cagley has some but is still looking for Habitat for Humanity volunteers.
Membership Meetings: According to Tom Payne, all place card forms must be turned in before you leave.
Membership: JoAn Reames announced two new members have joined us.Education: Patty May has stepped in for Nell Ebright. She discussed the "Best Practices" committee and she is working towards a fall date.
Newsletter: Jayne Mortensen discussed that the three-month trial period for the faxed newsletter is over without much feedback. The newsletter is to go on the web which allows color once again.
Bob Payne volunteered to head the golf tournament in 2000.
There is a need to form an advertising subcommittee for the newsletter.
Nearly one half of all calls to Corporate "Help Lines" come from workers seeking lost or forgotten passwords. Wall Street Journal 11/12/98