National Facilities Management and Technology - NFMT Remix was held November 2-3 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. While facilities professionals may not have won big in the casinos, they returned home winners armed with the latest information on managing their facilities, having enjoyed ample networking with other facility professionals, and seeing the newest products hitting the market, all courtesy of NFMT Remix.
Show attendees enjoyed more than 35 educational sessions over the two days of NFMT Remix. The sessions covered everything from the nuts and bolts of managing a facility to strategies to improve building performance. Some of the popular sessions included: “Driving Performance Management Through Optimized Maintenance to Mitigate Risk and Deliver Value,” “Fire Sprinkler System Maintenance in the Age of Information,” “Don’t Let ADA Fall Through the Cracks,” “Transitioning Your Program from Reactive to Proactive” and “Building a 10 Year Remodel Plan.”
Mike Hopkins from Cherokee Indian Hospital took full advantage of the education.
“I’ve been coming to NFMT events for six years,” Hopkins says. “Every year I bring members of our facilities team. By training together, we are all on the same page. We split up at the show, so everyone is attending different conference sessions. This way we cover a lot more territory and bring different ideas back home with us.”
The education continued in the expo hall with a full schedule of Product Zone sessions. These 20-minute sessions, focused around innovative technology and trends, were packed with facility managers looking to solve their current problems. Skyler Harper from Kansas State University was one of these big fans of Product Zone sessions.
“I love these sessions,” Harper says. “You learn a lot in a short period of time. Great stuff.”
Product Zone sessions included sessions such as “Preventative and Deferred Maintenance Reality Check,” “Consolidate Your Facility Operations” and “Upgrade your Facility to Meet Today’s Health and Hygiene Standards.”
Sixty lucky NFMT Remix attendees got a behind-the-scenes tour of the famous Bellagio Fountains. Arnold Cabrera, engineer, and Victoria Rios, facilities manager, of The Fountains at the Bellagio led the tour, which consisted of the maintenance shop nicknamed “The Bat Cave.” It is in the hotel basement with an opening that leads directly to the lake outside the hotel. Tour participants got an explanation of the lake and lake equipment, how the fountains work and how they are maintained.
NFMT has long highlighted the challenges of women working in facilities management. This continued at NFMT Remix with the Women in FM Roundtable and Networking Party. Panelists included Machion Jackson, Assistant Superintendent of Operations for Detroit Public Schools Community District, Jessica Bickel, Facilities Coordinator for Reece Group USA, Christine Burkett, Senior Facility Manager for Sam's Facilities Support, and Jennifer Schmidt, Director of Product Engineering for Cummins, Inc. The women shared their experiences coming up in the industry, their strategies for success, and the ways they bring their whole selves to bear on the profession.
NFMT has two events on the calendar for 2023. NFMT 2023 will be held on March 21-23 in Baltimore, and NFMT Remix Orlando returns to the Orange County Convention Center October 25-26. Facilities professionals are invited to attend either or both of them. Details can be found at NFMT.com.
