Leveraging Smart Tagging in Facility Management

Digitally tagging your physical assets not only allows you to keep track of those assets and all of the detailed data that they gather, but it can also help significantly with maintenance and security, and even reduce operations costs. During this session we’ll talk about how higher ed facilities leaders can leverage the benefits of smart tagging.

How to be Competitive in a Challenging Labor Market

Staffing challenges plagued facilities leaders long before the pandemic upended the labor market, but for many this is the worst it’s ever been. Whether you’re struggling to find the right skilled labor or compete with the significantly higher wages offered by companies like Amazon and Target, finding ways to be competitive and attract & retain the staff you need is one of the greatest obstacles higher ed facilities leaders face today. In this session, we’ll discuss strategies for competing in a tight labor market.

Making a Safe Return to the Workplace

Students aren’t the only ones returning to campus in person in the fall. Some institutions are bringing administrative staff back on a hybrid basis, and others have mandates from the top to bring everyone back full-time. Yet variants and stagnating vaccination rates still pose a public health threat, and some employees are hesitant to come back. During this session, we will discuss how you can bring people back safely, and make them feel safe in the office and in shared spaces.

Evaluating Outsourcing Options

As the pandemic has posed a whole new set of challenges around services and staffing, there is increased interest in outsourcing among higher ed institutions. During this session, facilities leaders will discuss their experiences with outsourcing and receive useful insights from their peers to help them determine if, when, what, and why to outsource.

Flexible Capital Planning Strategies for an Uncertain Future

Higher ed institutions are going to struggle with capital projects for years to come. But if we’re being honest, the challenges from shrinking budgets and ballooning deferred maintenance have been growing for years. During this session, we will discuss methods to become more nimble in your capital planning so that short-term projects serve long-term plans that address a number of unknown future scenarios. 

Developing a Comprehensive Resilience Strategy

Buildings are enormous investments meant to last for decades, but the world changes a whole lot faster than that. Whether it’s future-proofing against another pandemic or the unique challenges caused by climate change, what are some strategies around creating resilient buildings, both in future design as well as in our existing facilities? 

Strategic Facilities Planning in a Post-COVID World

After a year of the pandemic, as facilities leaders have been challenged with meeting ever-changing and always-urgent needs, we are finally at a point where we can start planning for life post-COVID. But budget shortfalls and financial constraints continue to be a primary challenge. During this session we will discuss strategies for increasing efficiencies and cost savings, with a particular emphasis on staffing.

Reassessing Space in the Era of Remote Work

Last year brought big decisions regarding remote workforces, consolidation of offices, leased space, and more. Now what? As once-temporary solutions have proven permanent, we’ll discuss what facilities leaders are doing to (re)allocate space, support a more permanent remote workforce, and maximize efficiency in their real estate portfolio.

Rethinking your IAQ Strategy for the Pandemic and Beyond

Indoor air quality quick became a primary concern last year as we learned more about viral transmission, but limited resources and aging infrastructure hampered many facilities leaders’ efforts to make significant investments into their HVAC systems. But indoor air quality isn’t just a COVID concern – during this session, we’ll discuss post-pandemic IAQ strategies, from short-term retrofits to long-term capital upgrades, new design parameters, fault detection and diagnostics, and more. 

Strategic Cost Cutting to Increase Efficiencies

The pandemic has forced many institutions to completely reimagine their staffing and services in order to meet increasing budget constraints, but cutting costs shouldn’t just be a matter of slicing and dicing. Here we’ll talk about more strategic approaches to cost cutting, focusing on streamlining services and increasing efficiencies.