The new year brings each of us an opportunity to refocus and reprioritize. While some may interpret that as a reason to renew old gym memberships, we were actually thinking more along the lines of sales and marketing strategies for 2015. A number of important facilities management-related conferences are coming up during the first half of 2015 across North America, and now would be a good time to start making plans to attend some of these. Below are 12 such conferences that cover FM, security technology, commercial real estate and other aspects of the built environment. Most of them are US-based, though we included a few conferences in Canada and the United Kingdom. Each is listed below in chronological order through the end of June. We hope this gives your marketing plans for 2015 a New Year’s boost and a head start on growing your business.
AHR Expo: January 26–28, Chicago
The world’s largest HVACR expo will take place in Chicago at McCormick Place in late January. AHR anticipates more than 2,000 companies exhibiting companies, 100 different seminars and workshops, and 40,000 attendees — or enough people to get Soldier Field up the lakeshore two-thirds full.
Get there early in the morning on January 26 for the free educational program “Growing the Building Automation Industry Younger,” presented by AutomatedBuildings.com. That program will touch on subjects such as the Internet of Things, OpenCloud and attracting new talent to the building automation industry.
TechSec Solutions: February 3–4, Delray Beach, Florida 
The TechSec conference explores the frontiers of security technology to anticipate what advances may be on the horizon. The morning of the conference’s first day should be full of insight: Brian Katz, Global Investigations and Intelligence Manager at Google, will give the keynote address, and the first talks will cover proprietary systems and cloud security.
And if you need further enticement, remember that Delray Beach should be warm enough in February for the planned poolside reception on the first evening.
TechSec Solutions has also put together a promotional video for the conference:
TechSec Solutions • The New Technology Conference from Shaun Clearie on Vimeo.
Workplace Futures: February 10, London, UK 
The one-day Workplace Futures conference in East London might provide a good opportunity to use any air miles you’ve been collecting. Convergence is the theme for this year’s conference.
“Increasingly, FM must work in concert with other organisational support disciplines: CRE, HR, IT, finance, marketing, procurement,” conference organizers write. “The days of traditional silo working are surely numbered.”
Workplace Futures 2015 is packed with interesting talks, including Mitie’s Ian Adams discussion of the integrated workplace and Macro’s Debra Ward discussion of customer insights.
International Roofing Expo: February 24–26, New Orleans 
Before anyone gets too excited, Mardi Gras is the week before. The IRE will feature eight different tracks of educational programs that cover business, green building, workplace safety and several other topics. All told, there will be 66 hours of educational programming available for attendees in addition to networking face time and company exhibitions.
Facility Fusion Canada: March 10–11, Vancouver 
The International Facility Management Association will host the smaller of its two Facility Fusion conferences the second week of March in Vancouver. “Facility Fusion is designed to meet a range of professional development needs for every FM,” organizers write. “From soft management skills to the hard decisions you face as a strategic partner, we’ve got you covered.”
One talk to look forward to is Harvard Medical School Director of Facilities Peter Stroup’s “They Cut My Budget … Now What?” The second day begins with a presentation that sounds interesting, “Smart Cities Challenging FM,” by Dutch professors Jacob Gerben Wijnja and R.M.D. Van Der Weerd.
National Facilities Management and Technology Conference: March 10–12, Baltimore 
This three-day conference is free to attend and features an extensive list of workshops and sessions, as well as exhibitions. On Wednesday alone, senior engineer Jacob Goldman, LEED AP, from Energy Savers, Inc., will discuss tax incentives for facility improvements during the morning, and the afternoon will conclude with a roundtable discussion of women in FM.
Organizers expect more than 2,500 exhibiting personnel and more than 5,500 professionals working in facilities management to be on hand.
GLOBALCON: March 17–18, Philadelphia 
This conference is put on by the Association of Energy Engineers, and it brings together leaders from both industry and government to discuss energy management from both supply and demand sides.
The conference program follows four possible tracks: policy and trends, energy management excellence, buildings, and CHP and renewable energy. The conference’s opening session also includes a few talks that look pretty exciting, including Jones Lang Lasalle’s Dana Schneider discussing energy innovation in the Empire State Building.
Reliability 2.0: April 13–17, Las Vegas 
Anyone in charge of asset reliability or asset maintenance should consider spending a week in Vegas this spring for the Reliability 2.0 conference. Besides a solid list of speakers and a full week of networking opportunities, the conference will also feature hands-on courses and workshops as well as the chance to take the Certified Reliability Leader exam.
Facility Fusion USA: April 21–23, Orlando 
IMFA is expecting some 1200-plus facilities management professionals from all over the United States (and elsewhere) for this conference. One Wednesday afternoon session that looks particularly interesting is a presentation — given by a trio of Stanford researchers — on how mobile technology is shaping better maintenance programs.
Below is the highlight video from the Facility Fusion USA 2014 conference:
European Facility Management Conference: June 1–3, Glasgow, UK 
One more trip to Great Britain is in order, and the weather should be reasonably better this time around. Ron van der Weerd, who is presenting at Facility Fusion Canada, is the chairman of EuroFM and is helping organize this conference.
There will be four different presentation tracks that will include input from both industry and academia. Look for more details in the future as EFMC draws near.
NFMT High-Performance Buildings: June 2–3, Fort Worth 
This is a free two-day conference that focuses its attention on smart buildings and high-performance buildings. Anyone involved in the design, construction or maintenance of such buildings is recommended to give this conference some consideration.
“Facilities management is hungry for the latest products and services that will address [energy consumption concerns,” Director of Live Events Todd Kotlarek writes in a letter to exhibitors. “Exhibiting at NFMT High-Performance Buildings is a surefire way to engage with these FMs in need.”
