Day 3 – Thursday, March 18

4 p.m.

As we wrap up this year's NFMT show, I want to personally thank all the readers of the live blog.

I've had a great experience here in Baltimore and have learned a lot of new things.

Don't forget to mark your calendar for next year's show. It will take place March 15-17 right here at the Baltimore Convention Center.

I'll look forward to seeing you all again in 2011.

3:30 p.m.

I sat in on one more session this afternoon, High Payback, Low Risk Energy Consumption.

The topic dealt with ways that facilities could conserve energy and help their bottom lines in the process.

Neil Maldeis, the presenter, first set the context for the discussion, saying worldwide energy consumption was expected to grow 60 percent by 2030 and also that buildings currently consume about ⅓ of the world's energy.

Maldeis said the benefits of energy consumption are numerous, however, including lower utility and operating costs, increased market value and increased productivity of tenants.

Maldeis also said it's necessary to determine a timeframe for your payback.

A near-term (3-8 year) solution to save energy, for example, could be to study gas-powered refrigeration equipment to minimize electrical demand charges.

Conversely, a long-term (8 year and beyond) solution for energy consumption could be to install a geothermal heat pump system.

2:30 p.m.

Rookies again had the upper hand this afternoon in winning the $1,000 Grand Prize Giveaway sponsored by UGL Unnico.

Richard Levine, a principal mechanical engineer at Veteran Engineering Group, was today's winner.

Levine said this year was the first NFMT show he has attended.

Levine also said he would use the money to pay for his childrens' education.

10:50 a.m.

I sat in on a session Thursday morning, Creating Credibility for Energy Upgrade Investments.

This session focused on how to pitch energy upgrade projects in a facility to the CFO, in light of the fact that the cost of utilities continues to rise.

Richard Lubinski, president of Think Energy Management, LLC, offered numerous tips to make sure the projects of facility managers got passed.

He recommended, for example, to earn and create credibility through performance. He also advised thoroughly knowing the CFO and what their priorities are; this will make the project easier to pitch.

The company's short- and long-term goals and projects also are important to understand when making energy upgrade decisions.

Lubinski also reviewed why some projects fail to get approved, including the fact that funding is not always available, or the project may not have been pitched well. Ultimately, the responsibility for the presentation will fall to the FM, Lubinski said.

Finally, Lubinski stressed how much value energy upgrades could add to an organization. Using a multiplier value of 10, an initial investment of $100,000 and the example of the Baltimore Convention Center, Lubinski illustrated that $1 million dollars of value could be obtained from an energy upgrade project.

9:20 a.m.

Good morning and welcome to the last day of NFMT. It's been a great show so far and I hope you're all looking forward to a strong finish.

Looking ahead to today's events, educational sessions will take place from 9 to 11 a.m., the exhibit floor will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., today's $1,000 Grand Prize Giveaway will take place at 1:45 p.m. and the final educational sessions will take place from 2:10 to 4 p.m.

Don't forget about next year! Mark your calendars now for the next NFMT show, which will take place March 15-17, 2011 right back here in Baltimore.

Day 2 – Wednesday, March 17

5:30 p.m.

If Michael Arny wanted you to leave NFMT knowing one thing, it's that LEED certifying an existing building is not cost-prohibitive.

That was the theme of Arny's session Wednesday afternoon, which reviewed the results of the 2009 survey on the economics of LEED for Existing Buildings implementation in single buildings and for building portfolios.

Arny, for example, who is president of the Leonardo Academy, reviewed the results of a survey question which asked if LEED prerequisites and credits were perceived to be either a low cost or significant cost.

Seventy percent of respondents replied that it was a low cost. Seventy percent also replied that they perceived obtaining each credit to be a low cost.

"More people are paying attention to LEED certification," Arny said. "LEED-EB buildings are a lower cost to operate most of the time."

Arny also cited common marketplace benefits of LEED-EB certification, including reduced insurance rates, sustainability of retail sales and an increased rate of office building leasing.

Facility managers may want to consider adding skylights, Arny said, as their presence increases retail sales by 40 percent.

3:30 p.m.

The luck of the Irish seems to work in mysterious ways, including if you have no Irish heritage at all.

Such was the case Wednesday afternoon when Dick Stutzman, of the Bridgewater Retirement Community in Bridgewater, Va. became the second winner of $1,000 in NFMT's Grand Prize Giveaway, sponsored by UGL Unicco.

Stutzman said he has attended NFMT every day of its existence since the show started in 2001.

"I come for the educational sessions as much as the show," Stutzman said. "The education doesn't end upstairs."

Off the top of his head, Stutzman said he might use the money for tuition expenses for his children. He has two undergraduate college students and one graduate school student.

"I really hang my hat on this event," Stutzman said.

2 p.m.

This from Ed Sullivan, editor of Building Operating Management:

Interested in an energy efficiency option with an average payback of 1.1 years? Stephanie Cull of RetroCom had one for the FMs in the audience of her session at NFMT. That option is retrocommissioning. That 1.1 payback figure is based on a national study conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, said Cull.

“Average savings in commercial buildings in the U.S. is 16 percent,” Cull said, citing the study.

Cull contrasted retrocomissioning with an ASHRAE Level 2 audit aimed at finding opportunities for retrofits. An energy based retrocommissioning project, “is about making what you have work more efficiently.” The focus is on the HVAC and lighting systems, but the building envelope and the domestic water system may also present opportunities.

The average cost of a retrocommmissioning study is eight cents per square foot, Cull said. Add the cost of implementing actions recommended by the study and the average cost comes to 30 cents per square foot, she said.

Utilities often offer incentives for retrocomissioning. California, for example, will pay for the cost of the retrocommissioning study. “The customer’s only obligation is to do everything (recommended by the study) with a payback of less gthan one year,” Cull said.

11:25 a.m.

After dropping in some sessions, I found one to be especially interesting. Beyond H1N1: Lessons in Crisis Management focused on the lessons facility managers learned from the pandemic of the virus a few months ago and how those lessons could be applied to future crises.

Sean Nelson, assistant director for facilities engineering at Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, recommended that FMs have a plan, make sure their staff knows the plan and practice the plan.

"If you're missing components, when you have a crisis is the worst time to figure that out," Nelson said.

In the event of staff disruptions due to absenteeism, Nelson also recommended having a business continuity plan and testing it, knowing what systems in your facility are critical and who can control them and also knowing how to control systems remotely – for example via a mobile device.

9 a.m.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, good morning and welcome to another day of NFMT sessions and exhibits. Early-bird attendees gathered this morning in the Pratt Street lobby entrance of the Convention Center for Solutions Exchange.

Weary-eyed participants fueled up on coffee and juice for the day while spending three 20-minute sessions discussing important topics relevant to facilities management. Topics included Innovative HVAC Design, Energy Efficient Building Automation and Sustainable Roofing Solutions.

Day 1 – Tuesday, March 16

7 p.m.

Looking ahead to Wednesday's conference events, the day begins early with the Solutions Exchange, a round-robin interactive session that engages you through discussions on the critical topics in facilities management. The program begins at 7:45 a.m. in the Pratt Street lobby entrance of the Convention Center.

After that, educational sessions continue from 9 to 11 a.m., at which point the exposition hall opens. And don't forget about the second of three $1,000 drawings, which will take place at 2:45 p.m.

Education continues from 3:10 to 5 p.m. The day concludes with the Birds of a Feather event at 5 p.m., a series of interactive 20-minute discussions, repeated three times, that discuss the value of facilities management and the role professional development has on expanding career opportunities.

I know I'm looking forward to it. Look for coverage of the show in the blog tomorrow, starting with the Solutions Exchange in the morning.

3:30 p.m.

Anthony Zink will undoubtedly leave Baltimore this year glad he attended his first NFMT show. He also will leave $1,000 richer.

Zink won the cash this afternoon as part of NFMT's $1,000 drawing, which also will take place Wednesday at 2:45 p.m. and Thursday at 1:45 p.m.

Zink, who just graduated from the University of Cincinnati and works as a civil engineer, attended the show this year on the advice of his boss.

"I feel real privileged to win [the money]," Zink said, who also indicated he would use the dough to pay off student loans.

There was no word on whether his boss also would get a cut.

2:45 p.m.

Persistence paid off this year for attendee Rebecca Emptage, who won $50 this afternoon through the Alumni Pins contest. The occasion saw numerous attendees win the note featuring President Ulysses S. Grant.

Attendees had to wear pins throughout the afternoon celebrating NFMT's ten-year anniversary, at which point they were chosen at random for the cash.

"Yes! How exciting after all these years," Emptage said, who has attended the show every year for the last five years.

Emptage is a property manager for PNC Financial Services and manages an office park with four buildings and about 1,000 employees.

Emptage said she found the range of products in the exhibition hall helpful and even brought her building engineer this year to share in the experience. She said she would give the money to her daughter, who is set to graduate from Notre Dame in May.

1:30 p.m.

As the afternoon progresses, attendees have made their way downstairs to the exhibition hall. Engaging demonstrations by manufacturers serve to lighten the mood. Interactive booth demonstrations by manufacturers seem to draw the most number of observers. An infrared screen showed body temperature and ducts that were blowing air tousled the hair of passersby.

One manufacturer, GSM Industrial, had never been to the show before. Brian Dombach, business development manager for the company, said the show presented a great opportunity to let potential customers know about a new specialty metal fabrication product the company just released.

"[The show] is a great way to build brand name recognition and connect with potential leads," Dombach said.

Donna Johnson of Morton Salt had similar sentiments to Dombach's. She was there to let people know about a new line of rock salts the company had for snow melting.

"It's great to see people face to face," she said. "They can ask questions, which helps in making buying decisions."

12:10 p.m.

We apologize for the technical difficulties, but we should be up and running now.

Welcome to Baltimore and NFMT 2010. Tuesday started off cool, but the sun has quickly emerged and the sky is bright blue. Many attendees have come out to the show this year and are heading to lunch now. Stick with us for more content from the exhibition hall this afternoon.

8 a.m.

Times were a lot different a decade ago when the first NFMT show launched in March 2001. George W. Bush had just been elected president, the Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants, winning their first Super Bowl and Enron filed for Chapter 11, marking the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history to date.

Since then, Building Operating Management's commitment to putting on a great show hasn't changed and this year promises no different. With the myriad sessions and speakers, facility professionals can benefit from a unique, no-cost opportunity that satisfies both their educational and purchasing needs.

This year, I'm excited to announce a new project that the BOM team is undertaking. In this space for the next three days, you'll be able to read a live blog I'm writing about the show. It will provide readers with up-to-the-minute observations about the event, sessions and exhibitions. The blog also will share discussions with attendees and speakers regarding their thoughts, reactions to the show and its content and anything else of interest in the FM world.

Be sure to follow the blog in real time throughout the duration of the show. And, as always, feel free to send along any thoughts, comments or suggestions. I'm looking forward to the show, and I hope you are, too.

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