Dick Wilkerson, Michelin N.A.

What's the top highlight from IAMC's recently concluded Fall 2008 Professional Forum in Oklahoma City? That's hard to say. The Friday beforehand, it looked like it might be Hurricane, Tropical Storm or Tropical Depression Ike, which was forecast to sweep right over the city. But it didn't happen. By Sunday the sky was clear and temperatures were spot on for Fall.

Oklahoma City is a town that's experienced major terrorism, the Murrah Building bombing. It definitely honors the victims and their memory, but it has moved on with its business.

It's a western town with that "cowboy up," "can do" attitude. The city has a vision for its future. A visitor gets the feeling that there's plenty of municipal energy and persistence to see it through.

David Thompson, OPUBCO Communications Group

This same attitude propelled the local leaders who served as the Professional Forum organizing group. There's nothing but kudos for them. They did their part, plus 100%.

Let's take a quick look at a few of the program highlights.

The Oklahoma Forum delivered a serious helping of corporate CEO insights.

First, we heard Michelin N.A.'s Chairman and President Dick Wilkerson. He sold his company to the attendees like a father telling about his family. Wilkerson was so compelling that I can remember Michelin N.A.'s corporate values without referring to my notes: respect for the employees, respect for customers, respect for shareholders, respect for the truth and respect for the environment. Who wouldn't want to work there?

Charles McSwain, CSX

Second, Nordam Repair Group's Chief Operating Officer William Peacher told about demand for commercial and private aircraft and his company's plant site selection issues in the United States. He said, "We have a hard time finding engineering talent in Tulsa and other parts of the U.S. We've begun to look to Singapore to fill this gap."

Third, Devon Energy Group President John Richels described the U.S. oil and gas exploration business. He said, "We create a 'line of sight' from each employee to the company's goals: hire the best people, always do the right thing, deliver results, be a team player and be a good neighbor."

The fourth and last CEO, David Thompson of OPUBCO Communications Group, told about the difficult challenges facing his newspaper publishing company. He spoke about creating a "change culture" by freeing people's time to innovate, being risk tolerant and restructuring the company.

Not all of the highlights were about speakers. On Tuesday afternoon, the attendees filed onto buses for a guided tour of nearby Tinker Air Force Base. The purpose was to show how quick thinking Oklahoma City leaders in the 1950s offered land to the Defense Department that became Tinker Air Force Base, now the region's largest employer.

Chuck Manula, Wyeth, responds to a question in Research Roundtable

The base tour concluded with the popular Professional Forum program "Get Some Help." A new moderator, Charles McSwain of CSX, led the Oklahoma City edition, but the outcome was the same as in the past - probing CRE questions, insightful answers and lots of interesting discussion. Well known and popular among the members, McSwain's easy manner is well suited to the program's interactive format. Here's one of the questions and the resulting answers from the attendees.

Q — "How can CREs get out in front of tax incentive discussions so they have the information they need before the state, community and land owners learn they are considering an area?"

A 1 — "Have the economic development group provide them with a depreciation table."

A 2 — "Make the purchase or sale contingent on the company receiving anticipated tax incentives."

A 3 — "Make sure the location under consideration works for the company regardless of whether the incentive is received."

The Sunday afternoon Leadership Development Seminar, featuring Darin Buelow of Deloitte Consulting, received rave reviews from the attendees. The program title was "Leadership in Corporate Real Estate Management: Adopting a Strategic Orientation."

Todd Buchholz

Research Roundtable, also on Sunday, featured Jeff Adelson of Boeing, Russell Burton of PepsiCo and Chuck Manula of Wyeth. The program title was "Moving up the Sustainability Learning Curve." Adelson's brief presentation on ISO 14001 received two lines of comment: beforehand - "What is it?," afterwards - "Wow! That would be a useful certification for my company." Burton and Manula told how their companies link sustainability programs to corporate goals and objectives.

Economist Todd Buchholz, speaking at the Monday opening session, said that on the one hand the economy has strengths, such as exports, but on the other hand it has major problems too, such as the low-quality mortgage backed securities held by many financial institutions. He delivered a number of great insights, such as, "In 1989, the Berlin Wall came crashing down. It's a political symbol, but it's also an economic symbol. This freed millions of Iron Curtain workers to compete in the world economy. Add to this, workers in India and China are going into the global labor pool. All told, this is pushing down global labor rates. Now, it's harder for U.S. middle-class workers to get a raise."

These are just a few highlights. The Oklahoma City Professional Forum, top to bottom, had one of the best sets of programs IAMC has presented recently.