BIFM announces date for ThinkFM 2012 in association with Workplace Law

The British Institute of Facilities Management has announced the date of ThinkFM 2012. With the theme Ideas for Change: How great facilities management makes the difference, ThinkFM will take place on 18 June 2012 at the Royal College of Physicians in London. The college is an elegant, award-winning, modern building, overlooking Regent's Park in the heart of London - so well suited to host this key facilities management event.

For the first time, the event is being held in association with Workplace Law, the specialists in employment law, health and safety and environmental  management and advisor to the BIFM in these key areas. Workplace Law will have input into the programme and hold sessions throughout the day in each of the three streams. ThinkFM, brought to you by BIFM, in association with Workplace Law, is a development of the BIFM annual conference and Workplace Law's annual conference. The news was announced by Workplace Law's managing director David Sharp in a speech at the BIFM Annual Awards earlier this week.

Following the success of ThinkFM 2011, which introduced the popular format of allowing delegates to build their conference agenda based on their professional development needs or interests, ThinkFM will include a full day of learning, debate, interaction and networking. Delegates will take away new ideas to implement in their organisations to make a real difference..

The hubs for 2012 reflect key areas of facilities management including workplace, people and achieving the competitive edge in the current economic environment. Delegates can pick and choose which sessions they wish to attend during the conference, so can either focus on just one hub, or move across all three to maximise topics.

ThinkFM 2011 broke the mould of business conferences with its flexible hub format and achieved positive feedback from delegates and the press. Paul Schivener, creative director at MCM, was impressed by the conference's energy: "The camaraderie, size, atmosphere, and sense of shared-spirit was very positive." Meanwhile Michael Thompson added "I think it's the best yet. The range of speakers is the widest we've had here for years."

Reflecting on next year's conference, Ian Fielder, CEO of the BIFM said: "After the enormous success of Think FM 2011, which was a brave step to launch a new format into the market, we are excited to be launching ThinkFM 2012 in association with Workplace Law. This partnership will take ThinkFM from being a more BIFM-focused event into a truly industry-wide conference which will be of benefit to facilities professionals wherever they work."

Workplace Law's David Sharp added: "We are delighted to be partnering with the BIFM to create ThinkFM 2012. Working together, we believe we can put on a really engaging annual conference that will become THE must-attend event for facilities management professionals."

More details about the programme can be found at www.thinkfm.com while organisations interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact Neil Everitt, neil.everitt@bifm.org.uk or call 0845 058 1356