By Nancy Mann Jackson
Perhaps more than any other field, professionals in the military and defense industry understand the value of teamwork. So it's no surprise that event planners at the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) realize that partnering with other like-minded groups can produce conferences that offer richer, deeper content. Rather than scrounging for information about a topic that falls outside the realm of SAME's expertise, SAME planners have begun partnering with other organizations who possess expertise in that area to produce conferences that pack a powerful punch.
Case in point: In August 2007, SAME joined with the National Academies of Science's Federal Facilities Council (FFC) and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) to produce a Facilities Management Workshop that focused on the latest issues facing senior facility managers in the public sector, as well as industry trends and best practices. SAME, which works to promote and facilitate engineering support for national security, brought information and experience about the military and the federal government, and IFMA, the largest association for professional facility managers, brought facility management expertise to the table.
"SAME has been working for some time to establish strategic partnerships with other professional organizations that align with SAME missions," says Diane Schreiber, SAME's Meeting and Conference Manager. "[IFMA and SAME] have very common foundations. We really worked well together because SAME was able to provide the federal side of the discussion, while IFMA was able to provide the expertise on the subject."
Determining Partnership Needs
SAME organizers chose IFMA as a potential partner because they had witnessed a growing need for education in IFMA's area of expertise – managing facilities. "Facilities management has increased in importance as the military downsizes its facility management organizations, thereby requiring the people remaining to have greater management skills," Schreiber says. "SAME established a Facilities Management Committee in 2005 in recognition of the need to increase the professionalism of facility managers at military installations. One of SAME's goals is to host workshops that bring together the uniformed services and industry to collaborate on new technology and support for national security."
Rather than jumping right into hosting an event together, SAME began its partnership with IFMA gradually. "In early 2006, SAME signed a memorandum of agreement with IFMA to establish a strategic partnership between the two organizations," Schreiber says. "This partnership will enable SAME members to take advantage of IFMA courses and the Certified Facility Manager program at member rates, and for SAME to bring facility management education to its members."
But it soon became apparent that SAME members needed more than the education already offered by IFMA; they needed a conference specifically designed for their needs. "In 2007, [SAME's] Facilities Management Committee, SAME headquarters and IFMA saw the need for a workshop focused on federal facilities, so with the assistance of the Federal Facilities Council [we] conducted the workshop, which was viewed by all who attended as a great success," Schreiber explains.
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Dividing the Labor
When producing an event in collaboration with an outside organization, communication is the key. "Do it often and regularly," advises Schreiber. "We had bi-weekly conference calls just to touch base on how planning was going and items that still needed to be accomplished."
Before plans even began, SAME's Executive Director and IFMA's President/CEO signed an agreement that outlined planning procedures and profit-sharing. That agreement not only made it easy to divide up tasks, it was also instrumental in getting commitment from both parties. Together, the two organizations established a Workshop Committee, whose members were responsible for the program and speaker recruitment. SAME handled logistical planning and implementation of the workshop, while IFMA prepared press releases and marketing materials. Both organizations contributed to the technical program.
Thanks to their organized division of labor, and to the fact that the organizations were a good match for each other, Schreiber says there were no real challenges involved in the collaboration. "If I had to address one challenge associated with the workshop, it would be our struggle to secure sponsorships," she says. "However, this was mainly due to the fact that we planned and implemented this conference within two months."
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Enjoying the Results
Although it was quickly planned and executed, the collaboration between SAME and IFMA paid off with a successful conference (and a few lessons to remember for future events). "This was a really successful venture between the two groups," Schreiber says. "We worked well together and were able to pass along some [new] practices to one another. To highlight one new practice, we conducted a moderator meeting via conference call one week prior to the event to outline our expectations to the moderators. This enabled us to explain the workshop in detail and outline all responsibilities to the moderators, which in turn made session transition run more efficiently and smoothly on site."
Overall, the highlight of the collaboration was the overwhelming response to the workshop. "We had enough space for 100 people, and we added 20 additional seats in the rear of the room to accommodate all those on our wait list," Schreiber says. "[Another highlight was] the ability to learn from both federal and private companies on best practices for facilities management. SAME and IFMA strive to provide education workshops that bring together both the public and private sectors."
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