What We Overheard at BOMA
We've been on the ground in Orlando this week covering the BOMA 2014 Every Building Conference & Expo as the national media partner and sat down with BOMA prez/COO Henry Chamberlain to get an update on the org's six-month-old strategic plan. You can probably deduce from the flags behind him that it's quite worldly—Henry says he has been traveling with BOMA officers for much of the past few months talking to owners and institutions about the value of BOMA and building its international reach (now at 93 US affiliates and 17 more worldwide, with 16 additional countries repped at the conference). Countries it's specifically targeting for growth are Mexico, China (the second BOMA conference in Shanghai is in September), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Japan. (Picking a World Cup favorite must be hard.)
We also learned what M&Ms mean for real estate. We snapped Mars Drinks' Rick Schanz with Florida-based Fike Corp's Tom Boyle at the company's candy dispensary (with BOMA-emblazoned M&Ms) outside the expo floor. Mars' Frank LaRusso says that stress is at a new high in offices, and "sitting is the new smoking." A New York Times study this month showed that taking a break every 90 minutes increases focus by 30%, creativity by 50%, and health/well-being by 46%. His firm is aiming to make that break extra delicious through filling unused space with drink machines and M&M dispensers to create a great area for employees to meet and collaborate.
