Past Programs

Home Past Programs

IFMA MSP’s Programs Committee is dedicated to bringing educational, interesting topics to our membership each month via our Monthly Chapter Meetings, Tours, Deep Dives, Build Your Cores, Virutal Roundtables, and more! We work with wonderful facility management professionals and speakers for each program, and we are so grateful for their insight and industry tips!

As an IFMA MSP member, you have the opportunity to rewatch each of our recorded presentations, and view the PDF slide decks from each monthly program. See brief recaps of each meeting below, and you can click here to be directed to the members only site where you’ll use your member login to view the presentation materials.

FMA MSP 40th Anniversary Celebration – March 7th, 2024, at the Guthrie Theater

We sincerely thank all attendees for their invaluable contribution to the resounding success of the IFMA MSP 40th Anniversary Celebration. Your presence and active participation played a pivotal role in making the event truly memorable. Our deepest appreciation goes out to our 40th Anniversary Sponsors and event volunteers, without whom this achievement would not have been possible. A special acknowledgment to Insight Restoration, our Platinum Event Sponsor, for their generous support. We extend our gratitude once more to our dedicated volunteers for their meticulous planning. For those unable to attend, we invite you to experience the festivities vicariously by viewing the PowerPoint Presentation and event photographs through the link provided below.

Click here to download the slide show.

Click here to download the pictures.

IFMA MSP February 2024 Deep Dive: Explore the Future of Sustainable Landscaping

A heartfelt thank you to all of our February Deep Dive participants for joining us in the exploration of current trends, best practices, and innovations in sustainable landscaping and facilities! Special appreciation to Paulita LaPlante and Prescription Landscaping for an engaging and educational presentation. We are excited for the journey towards healthier, more sustainable surroundings at our facilities!

IFMA MSP November Virtual Program – Behind The Scenes Look At The MEP Infrastructure That Keeps Medtronic’s Medical Device Production Online

Thank you to Dan Rotty and Rochelle Danielson of Medtronic for the excellent recap of the transformation at their Rice Creek facility over the last 10 years. Dan and Rochelle gave a great presentation on the overarching goals of their facilities projects and specific information about their new chiller plant and electrical infrastructure improvements. The facility tour included a walk through of the chiller plant as well as a look into several of Medtronic’s production spaces.

IFMA MSP October Virtual Program – Design For Identity: How To Design Authentically For A Diverse World

Special thank you to our October Speaker Jessica Bartom. Jessica provided practical and actionable advice for designing for all (equity, diversity and inclusivity). We cannot wait to crack open her book and dig deeper into this topic.

Members can click here to login and view the webinar.

IFMA MSP September Program Workplace Reimagined: Tour Securian’s Dynamic Workplace Pilot Project

Special thank you to Securian Financial for walking us through their pilot process for their new way to work and showing us their beautiful space. Join us September 21^st for a short Ask the Expert conversation where the presenters will dive deeper into the topic and answer your burning questions.

Members can click here to login and view the presentation.

IFMA MSP August Deep Dive: Unlocking the Power of a Comprehensive Facility Assessment: Discover the How and Why to Optimize Your Operations!

A heartfelt thanks to the 20+ participants of the august Deep Dive for Facility Assessments. Special appreciation to Tim Kittila (KA) and Nick Edwards (MCE) for their engaging presentation. Kudos to Kraus Anderson for their exceptional hospitality. The Death Star’s facility assessment case study was a true highlight!

IFMA MSP June Program: Tour – Minneapolis Convention Center – A gateway to Minneapolis

A big thank you to our Convention Center hosts for an inspiring program and behind the scenes tour of this supersized facility. The ever-improving physical environment, combined with the hospitality focused staff, is a positive reflection of this organization’s leadership and guest experience focus. All participants departed this IFMA event as better equipped ambassadors for the City of Minneapolis and the broader region.

Members can click here to login and view the presentation.

May 2023 Virtual Hybrid Hotdish

Thank you to our panelist from our virtual May chapter meeting, Broc Coen, Marcia Droege and Elias Lemon! They provided great insight into what is really happening with hybrid and some lessons learned through the process. We are all still learning how this is going to work so let’s continue to share ideas to support this new way of working!

April 2023 Tour

We want to thank Kraus Anderson, a Gold Sponsor with IFMA MSP, for an amazing tour of the Burnsville Fire Station. It was fascinating to learn about the innovative health and wellness design features that were incorporated in building this station.

We would also like to thank our presenters Jason Rentmeester, Fire Chief BJ Jungmann, and Quinn Huston. In addition, a big shout out to the staff of the Burnsville Fire Department for their kindness and hospitality that day.

February 2023 Chapter Meeting – Brookview Program

Angie Robinson led a great discussion on Leadership + You during our February Chapter meeting. She helped guide us through some questions to help us define who we are as a leader starting with how we impact our organizations. At first it was hard to answer that question, but Angie helped us understand what our superpowers were and how each of us impact our organizations as leaders.

Angie started helping us reflect on what it meant to be a leader by asking who we thought were good leaders and who we thought were bad leaders and having us think about why they were good or bad. Then we discussed the difference between a Manager and a Leader and noted some key differences to help us better understand leadership qualities.

A leader is “A person who guides and influences the behavior of the people who follow them.”

Angie noted some of the fundamental skills of a leader are perception and curiosity. Perception is “A way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something”. Through curiosity, you can push past your own personal perceptions and see below the surface, increase engagement and innovation all while creating meaningful connections to others. Curiosity may make you feel vulnerable and can be scary, but what you can learn will make a big difference in your leadership role.

Each of us will likely have a different leadership style based on your personal experiences, values, strengths, beliefs and many more. Within your leadership style you will also find your superpower, your “most positive and impactful personality/behavior asset”. Identifying your superpower will help you be a stronger leader. To do so, you should start by looking at what drives you, what situations give you the most energy and/or what makes you feel the most engaged. If you are modest and have a hard time identifying this quality, get vulnerable and look at what people compliment you on or even ask someone, what are you good at.

Once you have identified your superpower, Angie asked us to look at the following:

How do I leverage my superpower(s)?
How might I overuse them?

Now stretch that superpower and leverage it more and think, what impact do you, as a leader, have on the overall results of the organization you work for?

Angie Robinson did a great job having us reflect on who we are as leaders and challenged us to find and leverage our superpower(s) to impact our organizations. If you would like to follow Angie Robinson, you can find her on these websites:

Click here to view the February presentation.

November 2022 Chapter Meeting – Brookview Program

IFMA MSP was fortunate to have a panel that shared their unique experiences with the new way of working along with a furniture expert to talk about how the space itself is changing in our November chapter meeting.

Marte Byrne, Sr. Director Corporate Services at Allianz Life, shared the many ways in which Allianz Life has been working to bring people back into the office with a True Balance approach. Looking at the health, community, and financial aspects of an employee’s experience. Some of the unique things Allianz is doing is doggie daycare discounts, onsite health clinic, corner market, happy hour Thursdays, free onsite fitness center and on campus sponsored events. They are also focusing on employee retention through learning programs and their SOAR (supporting ongoing achievement and recognition) program.
Donaldson’s approach is different as well. Bill Coldwell, Facility Engineering and Project Development at Donaldson, described their approach as more of a “picking up where we left off”. They are bringing back the in-person events they previously had that their employees appreciated and looked forward to. These events included a United Way Campaign, Walk-tober event and junior achievements.

Each company is also looking at ways to design for the new way they work. Allianz’s corporate offices are testing out these new design concepts one floor at a time. They are creating community space, agile space, and open collaboration spaces. They also looked at the different types of work styles regarding assigned, reserved, and touch down spaces. They knew this new way of working was also going to require quiet rooms huddle rooms, focus spaces and lockers.

Donaldson on the other hand, has a lot of lab space with employees coming into the office throughout the pandemic. They are starting to look at their lobby and front offices to make them more attractive to their employees and visitors with a more relaxed atmosphere and redefining what remote, hybrid, fully onsite looks like for the employees. They are taking a more conservative approach with concerns about maintaining enough space long term. Allianz has those same concerns – what if everyone wants to come in on the same day for an event?

Annette Barrelet, Manager, Workplace Strategy at Teknion, ended the session with some furniture concepts to allow for the unknown future of the workplace. She stressed the fact that one size does not fit all. As discussed with our panelists above, not every company is taking the same approach to the new way of working. A couple of concepts Annette discusses was destination collaboration, flexible timelines, choosing your experience and meeting to meditation. Knowing that office is a great place for collaboration, but also knowing there is a need for quiet or heads down space while you are there is critical. You need to be able to adapt your space for the difference ways we all need to work. Teknion provided some examples that fit all these categories.

Overall, we are all figuring out what works best for each of our businesses. We know that things can change again in the future and that being flexible and adaptable will be important moving forward. There is no one right way to move forward so talk to your peers and business partners to learn about the options out there and keep working to make the best decisions for the way you need to work.

Click here to view the November presentation.

October 2022 Chapter Meeting – Saint Thomas Program
We kicked off our first in person IFMA event with Ryan Anderson the VP of Global Research and Insights with MillerKnoll. He shared new insights into how work is evolving across the world as a result of the pandemic and how these changes will impact the future workplace. The focus is more about flexibility and not just hybrid work. Ryan shared his number 1 question he receives is “what does it take to get people back in the office”. There are some main factors Future Focus found in their resent research. Commute and cost, Well-being, schedule inflexibility, Caregiving and Design of the office were impacting factors. The design of the office was in the lower middle of the factors which means our offices aren’t the real problem. We need to listen and support our employees to ensure they are supported and have a sense of belonging.

We need to focus on the long-term goals which is beyond supplying coffee and lunch to encourage people to come to the office. He shared 3 elements employees are looking for that the office can support:

Belonging
- Strengthen community through fostering belonging. When everyone’s experiences are valued and spaces provide what they need to succeed without special accommodation, people feel connected.
Equitable experiences
- Support everyone’s way of working through equitable experiences. This means taking steps to ensure that people are equipped to work their best in the office, at home, or elsewhere.
Inclusive environments
- Transform your real estate through inclusive environments. This means eliminating cognitive, social, or physical barriers; making space intuitive and desirable; and encouraging autonomy

Then Ryan shared three things we can do now to our office to create new ways of working which leads to a better work experience at the office, at home and everywhere else

Community restoration
- Provide areas that encourage people to interact with their extended networks—including the “weak ties” who are vital to their social health.
Team immersion
- Long-term collaboration and spontaneous interaction are difficult to support virtually. And for most organizations, they weren’t well supported even before the pandemic
Individual focus and reflection
- For individuals who struggle to focus while working from home, a return to the physical office can provide a respite for concentration and focused work

To close, Ryan shared simple next steps to get started with a place based design approach.

Engage your people in dialogue about their work experience
Leverage feedback from conversations with your people to inform workplace strategy
Pilot new workplace settings or experiences based on outcome of those engagements.

Click here to view Ryan Anderson’s presentation.

September 2022 Chapter Meeting Tour – Mystic Lake Center Program, Tour and Networking Event

We kicked off the 2022-2023 programs year with a message from our new President Trenna Ross and her excitement for the year to come! Each committee presented their report on last year and goals for the upcoming year. In addition, John Viktora-Croke provided an update on the Minneapolis Chapter’s financial stability.

Mystic Lake Center was completed in 2018 just in time for New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl and has been a remarkable destination since. They are a full-service resort and added 180 luxury hotel rooms and 116,000 square feet of modern meeting spaces, including ballrooms to accommodate large gatherings, events and concerts and innovative catering.

The staff at Mystic Lake Center were beaming with pride as they presented their state of the art, innovative space. They are the largest employer in Scott County and provide business to over 2,000 vendors in the metro area. In addition, they shared the details of what it takes to turn over the space in less than 24 hours for the numerous events that come through the space. It takes a fully integrated and committed team.

We heard from the Manager of Project Services, Project Manager, Construction Manager, Engineering Manager, Maintenance Manager and the Director of Property and Facilities to gain a vast perspective on the project’s goals, programmatic complexity, and schedule. One example was how the team reduced 6-months from the construction to have the Center open by New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl. To meet their deadlines, they shared how they were creative in executing that plan from having all the exterior EIFS wall panels manufactured in a climate-controlled space, allowing them to install them in the middle of winter. Another example of extraordinary team was the assembling of the massive, custom blue chandeliers in the lobby that were delivered unassembled and how the crew came together to assemble them and install the beautiful fixtures you see today. There were numerous other features that were described including the sustainable strategies of the Center which include their auto sensing windows and the controls systems installed to redirect excess heat from one end of the building and use it in another.

Once the presentation concluded, the staff split up to tour attendees through the space. Attendees were able to see the Center in action as there were other conferences and catering events happening. The feature that gets the most events booked in the Center is a large concealed overhead door that allows large tractor trailers enter the exhibition spaces. This oversized door opens into a ballroom allowing for Semi-Trucks, tractors and even an elephant to come into the space with a floor that will support up to 85,000 lbs. IFMA MSP is grateful that Mystic Lake Center was willing to share their amazing story and space with us!

Click here to view the Annual Business Meeting slide deck.

June 2022 Chapter Meeting Tour – Allianz Field Program, Tour and Networking Event

After 8 years playing in temporary locations the Minnesota United FC soccer team moved into their new home Allianz Field in 2019. The stadium design was inspired by Minnesota’s natural wonders – the Northern Lights, great rivers, and countless lakes.

The presentation by Allianz Field’s General Manager Justin Borrell and Director of Operations Sam Nolden included the facility standards required to meet the needs of Major League Soccer, to the elaborate infrastructure required for broadcasting televised games, to the design intent of the multicolored seat throughout the stadium bowl. Beyond the building general building design, the Allianz Staff shared the design features that have impacted the maintenance and upkeep of the building, providing the program attendees an inside look at the day-today and game-day happenings the staff have managed since opening day. The staff shared the project’s sustainability goals including 2.6 acres of public green space, a bird safe stadium skin, and the rainwater recycling system that reclaimed 1.9 million gallons in water last year!

After the informative presentation the IFMA participants were provided a guided tour through the stadium where the vibrant and varied fan experience was discussed. Throughout the tour the Allianz Field staff pointed out the facility details that included portable grow lights on the soccer pitch, temporary ventilation to refresh the empty stadium and turf, to variety of seating and standing areas throughout the stadium. Concluding the tour was a visit and photo opportunity of the surprisingly intimate home team locker room, which hasn’t been open to tours until just recently, what a treat!

After the tour attendees returned to the Brew Hall which offers a panoramic view of the stadium, soccer pitch, and 96 beer taps. Participants enjoyed appetizers and drinks while networking and enjoying the beautiful space and setting. As the last Chapter meeting before the summer break, IFMA Volunteers were recognized for their contributions over the past year, as well as the benefits of being an IFMA volunteer. A big thank you to this year’s volunteers, IFMA would not be possible without you!

April 2022 Chapter Meeting Tour – From Vision to Value: Minneapolis’ New Public Service Building

The StarTribune described the new Minneapolis Public Service Building as “one of finest works of contemporary architecture that downtown has seen in years, perhaps generations.” The building was created to promote innovation, collaboration, and engagement among employees and with the public. Its Public Service Center was designed to embody a customer centric experience that is welcoming and easy to navigate. And its focus on sustainability and wellness contribute to a more vibrant and healthier City.

Click here to view the PDF presentation.

Photos by Cory Gaffer

November 2021 Chapter Webinar – Post Pandemic Facility Manager

In November, IFMA MSP was thrilled to welcome back Vik Bagnia and introduce our chapter to Eva Kovac, who discussed emplopyee retention despite uncertain times with our attendees. Many of us have either returned to in-person office environments or been prepped on how teams will do so. This has added many layers to our growing job descriptions. This presentation offers insight into what other countries and large companies are putting in place to keep their employees safe, but also strategize productivity. There is a significant change to FMs’ job descriptions after the past few years, and this presentation highlighted how organizations can take care of their employees with new perspectives.

While there is not a PDF slide deck to view, we highly recommend viewing the recording.

September 2021 Chapter Webinar – Workplace Readiness

We were thrilled to welcome back Rex Miller to continue to conversation from our June Chapter Meeting Webinar on Workplace Readiness, and how each individual’s care for themselves and their work life balance will effect our return-to-office campaigns many companies have begun or will begin shortly in the coming months. Rex spoke on his experience with national clients, gave specific tips on how to navigate stress in the workforce, and provided feedback on how the Facility Management profession can succeed in the ‘uncertain times’ we’ve grown accustomed to.

While there is not a PDF slide deck to view, we highly recommend viewing the recording.

August 2021 Deep Dive – Unassigned Workplace Strategy Panel

Our August Deep Dive was a panel discussion all about how to navigate the world of unassigned workspaces as many companies look to bring employees back to the office with a more flexible approach. We were joined by Marcia Droege of Land O’ Lakes, Robyn Kaiser of UnitedHealth Group, and Kari Smith of RPS Architects. As a group, there was very insightful discussion on meeting the needs to many different generations of employees, different fields of work within the same company, and advantages and disadvantages to flexible work areas.

June 2021 Chapter Meeting

IFMA MSP welcomed longtime colleague and guest speaker Rex Miller in June to discuss the steps in rebuilding a stronger workforce after the past year. He discussed how to build off of Post Traumatic Growth, and six disciplines you can apply in your daily life to guide you through this next season of re-opening, returning to the office, and stepping away from the screens.

April 2021 Chapter Meeting

As change leaders with the City of Minneapolis, Dawn Baker and Vincent Therrien are actively guiding the successful consolidation of City employees from seven downtown locations into to the new Public Service Building and renovated City Hall. The significance of this undertaking did not only include preparing and equipping individuals for the geographic and physical changes, but the cultural, policy and process changes required to complete the transformation of how public services would be delivered to the community. We were thrilled to welcome them for our April Chapter Meeting to discuss applying change management principles in the FM professional world.

March 2021 Chapter Meeting

Michael Rossman, Chief Human Resources Officer at Hennepin County, and Tysley Taylor, Sr. HR Business Partner for Facilities at Hennepin County, were the guest speakers for the MSP March Chapter Meeting. They spoke about the importance of Facilities and Human Resources working together, as well as how to engage employees as we all continue to evolve in how we work.

February 2021 Chapter Meeting

February’s meeting, presented by ITRA Global, presented a U.S. Corporate Real Estate outlook for 2021 and beyond. The primary theme in most of the office markets covered was negative office absorption, increasing vacancy rates and improving fundamentals with respect to businesses leasing office space. But the panelist also touched on the industrial/Warehouse market, Work From Home and Return to Work office trends, as well as the increase in construction costs.

January 2021 Chapter Meeting

In January, RSP’s Dawn Brown, Senior Associate at RSP, and Alissa Franconi, Associate Principal and Studio Design Lead at RSP, discussed their recent post-pandemic experience with clients (prominent healthcare, public utility, and others) and how it has provided unique insights into developing a successful Return to Office strategy.

We believe in the Office
Change is nothing new
We believe the future of work will happen anywhere, will be smarter and will be employee-centric

The future of work is Resilient! Now it’s time to discover why the office matters.

November 2020 Chapter Meeting

During our November 4^th program, speaker Amy Rosen stated that the mental health of an effective organization is a tangible part of its asset value. Citing the World Economic Forum’s “The Future of Jobs” report, “creativity is one of the top three skills that workers need in 2020.” Creativity is a cognitive function, a brain skill, and a principal target of the most disabling of all health problems afflicting working populations – depression, high blood pressure, and anxiety.

Amy reinforced how prevalent mental health disorders are and everyone’s vulnerability to this chronic disease, which has both physical and psychological effects. Risk factors that drive mental health include fear, frustration, rumination, threat, anxiety, and loss. An estimated 264,000,000 people globally suffer from depression, which is only one of many forms of mental illness. Gen Z, recent college graduates and younger, are the loneliest generation surveyed.

Risks to mental health in the work environment include:

Inadequate health and safety policies
Poor communication and management practices
Limited participation in decision making
Low control over one’s area of work
Low levels of support for employees
Inflexible work hours
Unclear task or organizational objectives

October 2020 Chapter Meeting

John Rimer, CFM, is the Owner/Principal of FM360Consulting. With over 23 years of FM experience as well as being an IFMA Qualified Instructor, John presented “Getting an A-Grade at the C-Level; Selling the Value of FM” to our chapter for our October Chapter Meeting. Here is a brief recap of his presentation.

The current State of Facilities is that we are dealing with Deferred Maintenance, being asked to do more with less and being more reactive with maintenance because of the above AND the skilled labor shortage. This means we need to be creating a business case now more than ever.

We are always selling whether it is selling your operating budget, capital budget and all other business cases. Here are some tips to helping you prepare your business case:

Remember the C-SUITE

C – Collect Data such as Financial data and Operational statistics such as KPIs to understand and know your business.
S – Study Players by Identifying the stakeholders and getting to know them. Find out the business goals, drivers and passions that motivate them. What can they get out of this so that you are both winners.
U – Understand Climate by doing your research and being prepared. Explain the benefits and how they are not just financial, there are social and environmental benefits as well.
I – Interpret Facilities and translate your business into their language by avoiding the technical language and focus on things like safety and risk. Explain the why behind your business case – don’t just asking for money.
T – Tout Value by communicating what you do. The whole team is selling the facilities business so invest in soft skills and make sure they realize the value in what they do.
E – Execute by delivering on your promises and continuing to monitor the progress with KPSs and Benchmarking. Continue to learn and grow but remember to celebrate progress!