President's Message

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As my year as your IAAM president draws to a close, I can’t help but think of how fast the time has sped by. The past 12 months have taught me the value of living for the moment each and every day, and of treasuring and valuing the many friendships that I am blessed to have within our industry.

Twelve months as president also taught me that not everything in this position can be accomplished from start to finish. The Academy For Venue Safety & Security, for example, took place less than one month after I assumed the presidency, but its roots and origins were set in motion years ago by people like Lionel Dubay and Frank Poe following the horrific incidents of 9/11.

For the most part, I can now look in hindsight and quantify many of the goals that I set in place when I was handed the presidential gavel from Mike Kelly in Reno last July. Has it already been almost a year?

Continue to maintain the financial viability of IAAM. Some good things have happened at IAAM Headquarters that impact us all. We’re not out of the woods yet, but if you’ll recall it wasn’t too long ago that we had some very serious issues. Management, staff and the board have really watched the numbers and made some great progress in our financial viability. A great deal of thanks goes to Steve Flamm in helping keep us on track.

Support the IAAM Foundation with 100% member participation. Not equal gifts, but equal sacrifices. Those words sum up this effort in seeking the full participation of the membership in contributing to the IAAM Foundation. It is not the amount of the gift that is important, but rather that you are giving. While we made a significant gain in the number of members who do give, we still have a lot to do.

Provide an electronic version of the Member & Services Directory. We can place a check mark by this goal, because it has happened. As your “Paperless President,” I was committed to having a directory that all IAAM members could access with ease from their computers. You can now go online to change your member information, find another member, locate services and products and much, much more.

Move forward with District VIII. I am pleased to report that this initiative has also moved forward. Because of their many unique needs, our European members have expressed a desire to have their own district. I was honored to make visits to Europe during my term to meet with many of these people and to listen to their concerns and needs. The phrase has been used before, but this truly does help put the “I” in International.

Create an awards and recognition program for volunteer leadership. There are many who volunteer and serve tirelessly to better IAAM and the industry. I believe it is important to recognize these individuals for their contributions, and we are in the process of doing that. Along with that, we are also working on a program that will capture our association’s history and will help us recognize the contributions of past members.

Continue the work of the Chapter Task Force. Many Chapter meetings now take place at cities throughout the country. These meetings typically draw facility managers from within a radius area of the meeting. Many attendees are people who perhaps are not financially able to attend an IAAM Annual Conference, so the Chapter meetings serve as an outlet for education and networking.

Keep alive the vision of Carol Wallace with a third-year leadership graduate institute at Oglebay. This vision of past president Wallace is happily going to become a reality in 2006. Many components of the actual structure of the program are still in the development phase and being studied by the Public Assembly Facility Management School Board of Regents. More information on this institute will be coming soon.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement of me during the past year, especially the University of Texas, John Graham and the staff of the Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Special Events Center. I could not have fulfilled this obligation without them.

My experience as IAAM president has been one that will leave me with a lifetime of wonderful memories as I reflect on the progress we continued to make both as an association and an industry. I have personally been enriched by meeting many other people who share several of the same wishes and visions that I have for the betterment of our exciting business.

To my successor, David Ross, I would encourage you to let time be your ally and not your enemy, your friend and not your foe. You will set forth many goals during your term as president. Some will have already been started in the past and will be ongoing, while others will be new. Remember that we are a member- driven and member-controlled association. Enjoy this special year in your life, knowing that while the decisions you make represent more than 3,000 IAAM members, they in fact represent a single body of people who share a commonality of managing venues to the best of their abilities.

Out of Many, We Are … One.

Jimmy Earl, CFE IAAM President