IAMC Looks Forward to Minneapolis-St. Paul

If you haven't already, please mark your Blackberry or MS-Outlook calendar for September 19-23 to reserve the dates for IAMC's fall 2009 Professional Forum in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Make a personal commitment now, and plan to attend the Minneapolis-St. Paul Professional Forum. In tough times like these, the value of professional networking and education might be double or triple the value in good times. There's more at stake. In addition to the workshops and presenters, the Forum will feature networking events at three local landmarks. The Sunday evening ‘Welcome Reception and Dinner’ will be at the Mill City Museum. The Monday Evening event will take place at Orchestra Hall, and the Tuesday night finale will be at Landmark Center. These venues were selected with the advice and support of the Forum's Host Committee. The Minneapolis Hilton & Towers, the premier downtown hotel, will serve as Forum headquarters. And last but not least among reasons to attend this Forum is Minneapolis-St. Paul itself, a gem of a place to visit and experience.

Professional Forums are primarily about learning, both from education sessions and peer networking. This is the top argument for attending Minneapolis-St. Paul, or any Forum. There's nowhere else you can learn what you can at an IAMC Forum. What you can pick up there from a workshop or colleague could save your company thousands or millions and open major business opportunities for your firm, but not unless you are there.

Your company, like every other, is struggling with the recession. Each one affects a company differently. You can't use the playbook for the 2001 downturn as a model for solving the corporate real estate challenges of this one. Consider this general recession sequence:

1. Business is good, but macro-economic threats loom, and share prices are under pressure.
2. Business slows, and companies cut costs.
3. As the economy weakens, companies reorganize and aggressively cut headcount.
4. Companies assume a siege mentality.
5. Firms evaluate new business opportunities and investment options for the upcoming recovery.
6. Business is bad, but the stock markets begin to pick up.
7. Business improves, but companies resist hiring.
8. Companies hire to staff up selected business lines.

When the time for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Forum comes around, your company may be at stage three, for example. If you could network with real estate managers whose firms are at stages beyond three, you could come away with a gold mine of corporate real estate strategies and tactics to apply at your company. But you won't get these unless you are there.

The Networking Is Set and Ready to Go

To help attendees meet the people they need to see, IAMC Director of Meeting Planning Angel Fortenberry surveyed the city's many potential reception venues and selected three that have both high entertainment appeal and an internal layout conducive of good business networking.

The first event, the Sunday evening Early Arrivals Reception takes place at Mill City Museum. This modern facility, showcasing the machinery and inner workings of a 19th century flour mill, is built so that it seems to project from the ruins of an actual facility of that era, Washburn-A Mill. The museum's Web site says, "At the industry's peak, the Washburn-A Mill was the most technologically advanced and the largest in the world. At peak production, it ground enough flour to make 12 million loaves of bread in a day. The city grew up around the mills, which received grain via rail lines stretching across the Northern Plains grain belt into the Dakotas and Canada." "After World War I the milling industry in Minneapolis began to decline. ...The Washburn-A Mill closed in 1965," explains the write-up. In an effort to preserve historic structures, the Web site says, "Working through the Minneapolis Community Development Agency, the city cleaned up the rubble and fortified the charred walls of the mill in the late 1990s. Shortly thereafter, the Minnesota Historical Society announced plans to develop Mill City Museum."

Mill City Museum Source: http://events.mnhs.org/media/ images/sites/mcm/MM_72.jpg

The Monday evening networking event happens at Orchestra Hall, home of the Minnesota Orchestra. "The hall was built in 1974 with the goal of providing as nearly perfect acoustics as technologically possible at the time. Visitors will notice the huge cubes hanging from the ceiling, which were designed and placed to deflect sound to all 2,450 seats," says a description in vacation.away.com. The IAMC delegation will be treated to music by Trio Bella, professional string musicians, as they sample refreshments, converse with friends and tour this striking facility.

The third in the series of Minneapolis-St. Paul evening networking programs takes place at the architecturally remarkable Landmark Center. The facility's Web site says it "was built in 1902 and originally served as the Federal Court House and post office for the upper Midwest. In the 1970s, a group of determined citizens saved the building from the wrecking ball and restored it to its previous grandeur. It was on the National Register of Historic Places and reopened to the public as Landmark Center in 1978. Today, Landmark Center serves as a cultural center for music, dance, theater, exhibitions, public forums, and hosts countless special events."

Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis Source: http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/about/PressRoom/Hall_wrap.jpg

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Host Committee

The local host group for the Fall 2009 Professional Forum in Minneapolis-St. Paul actively sought the opportunity to put on an IAMC Forum. The group is headed by Mark Lofthus, director of business development, for Positively Minnesota, where his IAMC Forum team includes Kevin McKinnon, Jo Iverson and Jennifer Pettit. Joining these on the committee are IAMC Secretary Doyle Shea of 3M and Mike Hickey of Hickey & Associates LLC.

Landmark Center Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Landmark_Center.jpg

The host committee has assembled an impressive list of sponsors. Spearheaded by Positively Minnesota's leadership, the financial partners are Grow Minnesota, Minnesota Power, HGA Architects and Engineers, Fairmount, Dakota County, Xcel Energy and Iron Range Resources.

The Headquarters Hotel

The AAA Diamond rated Minneapolis Hilton & Towers will serve as Forum headquarters. The Hilton's Web site says, "Located in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, the exquisite Hilton Minneapolis hotel is perfect for guests traveling to Minneapolis on business or for pleasure. An elegant Victorian brick building rising twenty-five stories above one of America's top cities, the hotel offers a range of in-house amenities and is ideally situated to access the city's top attractions." One Yahoo Travel reviewer writes, "The food was excellent. I recommend the chicken pot pie. It is the best in the world! The staff was attentive, and the facilities were wonderful. I recommend the facility for your next conference. The food served was delicious. The experience was the best. It is very close to interesting places to visit and see."

The Mini-Apple

Minneapolis-St. Paul, of course, is commonly referred to as the Twin Cities. In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, Minneapolis was known as "Flour City" because of the heavy concentration of flour manufacturing there, which thrived due to the nearby wheat growing lands of the mid-west. More recently, we have the whimsical nickname "Mini-Apple," playing off of the "Big Apple" - New York - and the first four syllables of the city's name.

Mark Lofthus, director of business development, Positively Minnesota

But there's not much that's whimsical about the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. It's both impressive and interesting. With a population of 2.8 million, the region ranks 16th in the U.S. and 65th in the world, according the local chamber of commerce.

The metro area's business community is among the most vital in the U.S. Eight local companies are on Fortune's Global 500 list. POLICOM rates the Twin Cities' economy as the 19th most robust in the country. Forbes found the region to be the second best place "to earn a living." A Minneapolis-St. Paul core county, Sherburne, was rated by Money magazine as one of the 25 top counties for job growth. MarketWatch named the Twin Cities the best U.S. metro area for business. All of these findings are for 2008.

The region is no slouch in the arts and entertainment category either. The New York Times Travel Section says, "From independent theaters to art centers, there is a depth of cultural amenities to the twin cities that will surprise first-time visitors." To back up this statement, the Times put together a "36-hour tour" of the best the Twin Cities has to offer, including theater, food, night life, arts, shopping, clubs, sports, history, nature, and more.

If you can, decide today to attend the Minneapolis-St. Paul Professional Forum. The education and networking will come at a crucial time during this recession to learn how other companies are fine tuning their corporate real estate to cut costs, build productivity and set the stage for the coming expansion. While you are learning, enjoy the ambiance of this thriving and charming region. The Forum's benefits to you and your company are potentially great. But you can only get them if you are there.