Discover the importance of advocating for the FM profession and provide details about the upcoming IFMA Advocacy Day, focused on public policy and the built environment.
In this episode, Jeffrey Johnson, IFMA's Executive Director of Government Affairs sits down with Lynn Baez, Chair of IFMA's Global Board of Directors, Jason Callis, Member of IFMA's Global Board of Directors & Government Affairs, and Lena Thompson, who is also on IFMA's Global Board of Directors. Together they discuss the upcoming IFMA Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C, sharing insights on the critical importance of advocating for the facility management profession and how it significantly impacts public policy and the built environment. The conversation details the agenda for this free two-day event as well as opportunities for local advocacy.
Lynn Baez: [00:00:00] It was so exciting to be able to help legislators understand actually what facility management represents and why it's just a significant importance to legislation that's happening actively for all of our U. S. citizens. It's really exciting to be able to help provide that guiding light to our legislators of exactly what our contributions are to the built environment, to so many issues that are relevant to all of our U. S. citizens today.
Host: Welcome to Connected FM, a podcast connecting you to the latest insights, tools, and resources to help you succeed in facility management. This podcast is brought to you by IFMA, the leading professional association for facility managers. If you're ready to grow your network and advance in your career, go to IFMA.org to get started. In today's episode, Jeffrey Johnson, IFMA's Executive Director of Government Affairs, sits down with [00:01:00] Lynn Baez, the Chair of IFMA's Global Board of Directors, as well as Jason Callis, a member of the Global Board of Directors as well as Government Affairs, and Lena Thompson, who is also on IFMA's Global Board of Directors.
Together they discuss the upcoming IFMA Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, sharing insights on the critical importance of advocating for the facility management profession. And how it significantly impacts public policy and the built environment. They also detail the agenda for this free two day event, as well as different opportunities for advocacy.
They also emphasize the value of participating in Advocacy Day for professional growth, networking, and contributing to meaningful legislative discussions that affect the industry. And if you haven't signed up yet, visit advocacyday.ifma.org to get started. Now, let's get into it.
Jeffrey Johnson: We're just about 1 month away from IFMA Advocacy Day here in Washington, D. C, which I know we're all looking forward to. A great opportunity for IFMA members from around the [00:02:00] country to connect their passion and expertise for IFMA and FM with public policy with the potential to impact the built environment we're fortunate to have Jason Lynn and Lena.
With us here today who are both members of the board of directors but also have been or are on the government affairs committee to talk about their experience with advocacy and advocacy day. So with that, let me let Jason, Lena and Lynn provide their introduction.
And we'll go from there.
Jason Callis: Thanks, JJ. My name is Jason Callis. I have the honor and privilege of being the Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee currently, and really looking forward to being in Washington, D. C. this year. It's been several years since we've been back, and just really looking forward to the opportunity to meet with our legislators, and then have side by side conversations with all of our members and our advocates, local chapters, to be able to have conversations about, you know, all the good things that we're causing to happen with IFMA currently.
Lena Thompson: Hello, everybody, Lena Thompson here, and I am located in [00:03:00] Washington, D. C. along with j. and so excited about the opportunity about having advocacy day here again after many years of doing it virtually and so this is such an exciting moment and I'm shouting out to all of the folks in the D. M. B. to come out and support us and we're looking forward to having you all here and participating over the 2 days and I will say this probably throughout this conversation. If you can't come for the two days, try to join us for at least a moment in time to represent and be a part of Advocacy Day.
Lynn Baez: Well, thanks, Jason and Lena.
I'm Lynn Baez. I am the chair this year for IFMA and have the privilege of sitting on the global board with Jason and with Lena. And as a prior chair of the Government Affairs Committee, it is incredibly exciting to see that we are going to be back at Capitol Hill, being able to provide education, awareness, and engagement with all of our officials regarding so many important topics in the built environment.
So [00:04:00] I am super thrilled that we get this opportunity to promote everyone for taking, as Lena said, a moment in time to engage in our FM profession.
Jeffrey Johnson: Yep, and thank you everybody for your support of IFMA's Advocacy program. As you mentioned, we have a great 2 day event coming up here in September, 17th and 18th in Washington, D. C. just quickly as a kind of high level overview of the schedule. It is a 2 day event. Which begins on Tuesday, September 17th. We will have an optional tour of the Capitol complex in the morning. We will have a grassroots training session in the afternoon where we will go over basically everything that's going on Capitol Hill and then focus on a specific pieces of legislation that are of interest for IFMA and FMs working within the built environment. This year, we're talking about the importance of local advocacy and engagement for our chapter leaders. We're going to be talking about how they can reach out to their local elected officials to reach out to local stakeholders to talk about a minute, talk about FM and how they can [00:05:00] become more involved both in the local politics, but also just the local business community and provide the FM perspective. We're going to have a great wrap up reception. And then we'll get ready for Wednesday where we will go up to Capitol Hill.
Where we'll have a 2 and a half hour session with various members of Congress and administration officials.
Who are going to talk specifically about piece of legislation they're working on that have an impact on the built environment. So it's a great opportunity for members to hear directly from their elected officials on legislation that they're working on things that they may want to introduce either later in this Congress or next year, and even provide feedback as to what's happening on the ground in the commercial building sector across the country and all over the world.
And then finally, they'll meet with their members of Congress, they'll meet with their senators, they'll meet with their staffs. They'll talk to them about why FM is important, how the role of our members help achieve important public policy goals the whole litany of issues that FM's focused on, on their daily basis really impact a lot of piece of legislation and a lot of priorities for Congress and for the [00:06:00] administration. So again, it's a great free opportunity. It is 1 of the favorite events of members have attended in the past. I know all three of you have been there and so maybe you could talk just briefly about, you know, what you enjoyed most about Advocacy Day in the past and what you're looking forward to most this year.
Lynn Baez: When I got a chance to do it it was so exciting to be able to help legislators understand actually what facility management represents and why it's just a significant importance to legislation that's happening actively for all of our U. S. citizens. It's really exciting to be able to help provide that guiding light to our legislators of exactly what our contributions are to the built environment, to so many issues that are relevant to all of our U. S. citizens today. It's a phenomenal opportunity. And I felt such a sense of pride to be able to represent IFMA, represent my profession and represent exactly how we're [00:07:00] supporting the built environment. So super excited. I was thrilled and it gave me the opportunity to continue on volunteering with IFMA.
Lena Thompson: That's awesome. I agree with you, Lynn, and I feel exactly the same way. And I think I know that's the reason why I'm here today as the vice chair for the committee is because of seeing the behind the scenes and getting a little bit of experience and understanding how we work with our local leaders to impact our profession.
And how important it is for us to stay connected in that way. And so, you know, I live in the D. C. area. I see politics all over just like JJ, but to actually be a part of the conversation and be in the presence of some people that have impact on how we work day to day, and I think that's really what was so impactful for me.
And I'm excited. So excited to be able to do that again. And not just to do it, but to share it with my colleagues with my friends. To have such an impact and be able to schedule it so that it's done on a [00:08:00] regular basis moving forward.
Jason Callis: Certainly don't want to be repetitive and share all the things that Lynn and JJ have already said, but it's true.
It is just a great opportunity to go. Speak and speak with the legislators and the individuals who support those legislators just as important because they really are the support mechanism that they rely on a day to day basis to give them the subject matter expertise that You know, they need in order to make decisions when they execute a bill, a policy or whatever it may be.
And to be, you know, the advocates that are giving them the information, I think what is really important develop those relationships again, I know this is all being repeated, but it's the same story because we all have lived it. But be able to walk the halls of the Senate and Congress and be able to walk the steps of the hill.
It's just an amazing experience. If you've never done it before, was my first time. And of course, the last time we were there, I tell you what, I still talk about my time there.
In D.C. And the [00:09:00] relationships that I've built since then with other members, as well as the members of government. It's just certainly an opportunity to really just shine our light of what facility managers do on a consistent basis and, you know, have that conversation going from the boiler room to the boardroom with these individuals and the legislators that cause things to happen for us want to be able to, you know, be able to take that information down to our local chapters and our advocates.
I'll be able to be subject matter experts to those legislators when they need help deciding, you know, which route should we take on these different policies and procedures. So, truly looking forward to the opportunity once again.
Lynn Baez: You know, I'll add one more thing. I had an opportunity to have some of my staff actually get to do this as well through other years.
And what they told me, it gave them an opportunity to practice their communication skills. To your point, Jason, be able to discuss at a C suite level or on an executive level, a topic of relevance for our profession. And I think from a personal perspective, [00:10:00] this is a phenomenal opportunity to test your own skills.
I really appreciated the training that happened as Jeff mentioned earlier, where you got an opportunity to understand those communication skills, how to navigate that message, how to Build that bridge in the short duration of time that you have with these legislators and build those relationships that can be sustained year after year.
So, I just wanted to add that piece from a personal perspective. This is also quite an opportunity to exercise those skills.
Jason Callis: Yeah, one quick note, if you've never been there before, it's one thing to see things on TV, but actually go and experience a walk the hallways and rubbed elbows. You don't realize how busy these individuals actually are.
And they're going from one thing to the next without a moment to breathe, and it's truly exciting and definitely makes you appreciate what they do for us there in DC.
Jeffrey Johnson: Jason, and thank you for mentioning what we see on TV. It's a good reminder to give my political disclaimer that this is not, in fact, a political event .That IFMA's government affairs program [00:11:00] is nonpartisan.
I know we're in the midst of an election year where many people are tired of hearing about politics, tired of hearing about the divisiveness, and it's great that IFMA's program is nonpartisan. That we don't focus on Democrat or Republican, red, blue, purple, anything in between. That we're focused on creating one common sense public policy that has a positive impact on the built environment, and then two, linking that passion and that expertise of our membership with public policy, so we really do have informed legislation, and Jason, to your point, to the extent that we can position our members and position our chapters as a resource for our elected officials, that's something that we want to continue to do.
As Michael Redding, one of our former board members, used to say, public policy engagement is at the core of the undergirding of what IFMA does as a professional association. So helping people, particularly our elected officials, understand what our members do and how it's important. That's the key for what we're going to try to achieve. When we're Washington next month, so thank you for underlining that. Anybody that has not registered for us today, please go to dot org and click on the registration link. We really do want to have a big and diverse group with us up on Capitol Hill this year.
As I have mentioned, it is a free event. You only have to cover your travel costs to come in. And as Jason Lena and Lynn have all mentioned, it really is a great opportunity not only [00:12:00] to meet with your legislators and to learn a lot, but also to network with chapter leaders from around the country, talk about things that they're working on, build those relationships and talk generally about FM best practices as well.
Well, I know you guys are looking forward to being there. I'm looking forward to having you there. Anything else you think people should know before they sign up and commit to come in here to Washington?
Lynn Baez: Oh, quick tip.
Wear comfortable shoes for sure. Thank you. Thank you. As Jeff has really trained me well on this to make sure that you are in comfortable shoe attire for the entire event, because you will be walking as Jason and Lena mentioned the halls and they do go quite quickly. So, Proper footwear is important, raise some hydration if you want, and really just have an open mind.
This is an opportunity for you to really expand your engagement with our leadership on how we navigate everything having to do with the most relevant topics in our industry right now. I mean, there's a ton of [00:13:00] ways for you to bring your subject matter expertise, your story. So bring your stories from your districts, from your areas, from your entities of how FM is impactful.
So those are my couple quick tips.
Jeffrey Johnson: Great, thank you.
Jason Callis: And just to share just from an appearance perspective, generally speaking, gentlemen, normally wear suits and ties. Ladies, we're something very, obviously, this is a very professional environment. We encourage everyone to think about that for the 2 days. I know that I'll be doing the same thing.
So have any questions? Obviously don't hesitate to reach out to 1 of us.
Lena Thompson: I wanted to say to the Lynn's point, but bring 1 other thing, bring your passion, bring your energy, bring your excitement. This is going to be a wonderful opportunity to connect. To grow yourself professionally to learn something you maybe you haven't learned before to meet some professionals you've never even thought you would meet before and to have a great time with us And we're a lot of fun.[00:14:00]
Jeffrey Johnson: Absolutely right. Well, thank you all of you for your commitment, for your passion for FM and your your dedication to IFMA's advocacy effort and committee. Again, looking forward to seeing everybody in DC. If you've already registered looking forward to seeing you as well, please reach out, tell your friends, tell your colleagues about this.
It is a great event, and we want to have continue to have a strong presence on Capitol Hill. If you haven't registered yet. Yeah. What are you waiting for? As one of our former board chairs used to say, and this is a great way to end that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu, meaning that if you're not part of these conversations, you're more likely to be adversely impacted by them.
So please come here, be part of the conversation, sit at the table for FM, and let's create some common sense public policy.
Host: Thank you so much for listening. I hope you really enjoyed this episode. And as always, please don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast for more incredible [00:15:00] content.