Dear EuroFM members,
I trust you are all doing well and staying healthy. We, the EuroFM Board, have some exciting news which we would like to share with you. But first, let us have a brief look back on 2021.
As you will remember, during the first GMM of the new Board on March 10th 2021, we presented to you our Strategic Objectives for the period 2021 to 2024. One of the topics which we then emphasized was the need for EuroFM to create, innovate, connect and deliver tangible value to all EuroFM members. In doing so, the new Board also expressed the need for making our Network Platform as effective as possible, to Connect Disciplines, to Develop & Disseminate Knowledge, and last but not least, to Engage the Next Generation. Looking back on EuroFM activities during 2021 so far, we are happy to say that we have had a very successful Student Festival, Research Symposium and a Business Summit. The discussions that were held during and after these events have emphasized the fact the business environment has changed considerably during the last two years: FM as a professional discipline has faced many challenges and has been able to overcome difficulties imposed upon it. But it is safe to say that FM has not won this battle all by itself.
Industry and thought leaders on the future of FM, as well as various other professional bodies and FM associations, agree on the fact that the future of FM lies in its ability to strategically connect in in multidisciplinary world. For EuroFM this also means that we as an association cannot move forward and deliver value to our members if we do not reach out and connect across professional boundaries within the playing field of this changing business environment.
Our thoughts on these topics have brought the Board to the following question:
“What will 2022 look like, and how can EuroFM move forward to achieve our strategic ambition to create and deliver member value?”
The answer lies in making strategic connections. With this as our guiding ambition, we have looked towards 2022, and what we can do to bring EuroFM members together, to facilitate multidisciplinary connections, to advance the development and dissemination of knowledge AND provide exciting new opportunities for both EuroFM members and the next generation.
As was mentioned during the GMM of June 23rd, 2021, the EuroFM Board has had some very fruitful discussions with both FMN (the Dutch Facility Management Association) and IFMA / IFMA EMEA on the matter of strategic collaboration to ensure greater member value and knowledge dissemination across different associations and network platforms. The aim here is not to advance and strengthen just one specific association, but to do so for the greater good of the FM profession.
We as the Board are therefore happy to announce that we will partner with both FMN and IFMA EMEA in joining the organisation and hosting of the 4th edition of World Workplace Europe in 2022 (WWE22)! Our collaboration with FMN and IFMA EMEA in hosting this event – already known to many of you – will be a pilot for future collaboration between EuroFM, FMN and IFMA EMEA.
We as the Board would like to ensure all EuroFM members that his this collaboration will not replace the annual EuroFM Conference, but provides EuroFM with a very concrete opportunity to physically meeting and connecting with EuroFM members during WWE22 which will be held from 23 -24 March 2022, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In addition to our involvement in hosting WWE22, EuroFM itself will in 2022 again arrange the EuroFM Student Festival, the EuroFM Research Symposium and the EuroFM and Business & Association Summit.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which has been signed with FMN and IFMA EMEA, gives EuroFM the opportunity to contribute to World Workplace Europe by means of what EuroFM is good in: organising the research event as well as the student activity during WWE22! For EuroFM members attending this event, there is even more to gain as the week following WWE22 there will be the Dutch Workplace Week, which will culminate in the Smart Workplace Exhibition. All in all, an abundance of opportunities for EuroFM and its members to strategically connect, share, network, collaborate and celebrate 35 years of EuroFM!
EuroFM issued a press release together with FMN and IFMA EMEA to announce and celebrate this pilot collaboration. We feel confident that this agreement with FMN and IFMA EMEA is the right way forward for EuroFM, and for us, the EuroFM Board, to deliver on our strategic ambitions: to create member value, to connect disciplines, to develop and disseminate knowledge, and to engage the next generation: Not just for EuroFM, but for FM!
Kind regards, and on behalf of the EuroFM Board
Pieter C. le Roux
Chair EuroFM