Dear Members / Professionals / Friends / Readers

The FM Communicator Newsletter Issue No. 5, 1stQ 2004, February 2004

Dear Members / Professionals / Friends / Readers,

Welcome to the fifth quarterly issue of our institute’s newsletter and at the time of writing this up, the overall economy of Hong Kong has shown signs of recovery in terms of consumer spending, stock prices, and housing price indexes. The Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the Mainland has taken effect, along with continued but cautioned economic vibrancy in the USA. A few confirmed or suspected SARS cases were also reported in the Mainland. Facility managers take note!

In this issue, we are very glad to have / have found the following technical article in the web:

1. A Message from our new President Mr. Frankie So

Dear fellow HKIFM members,

I have much pleasure to write this first message. I hope everyone can be benefited from the recovery of Hong Kong’s economy. Let’s enjoy the coming Chinese New Year holidays.

The FM Communicator

The FM Communicator has been launched for a year. I take this opportunity to express my appreciation of the hard work and effort of the Editorial Board for the past year.

Fellow members are most welcome to express their views on the effectiveness of this communication channel. The Way Forward

There are four areas that I wish to pursue in the coming year, (1) further promotion of FM, (2) strengthening of young members, (3) research, and (4) organizing more social / cultural activities.

(1) Further promotion of FM

The HKIFM is going to participate in the following expo in both Hong Kong and Mainland China: a. HK Infrastructure & Real Estate Services Expo Shanghai 2004 b. Asia Building Technologies 2004 c. Real Facility Expo Asia-Pacific 2004

The Seminar on “FM under the New World Order” will be held in both Beijing and Hong Kong around June this year.

The HKIFM will apply PSDAS again for further promotion of the profession.

Furthermore, fellow members are urged to give their views on the Consultation Paper on the Building Management and Maintenance.

(2) Strengthening ties with the young members

With the anticipation of more young members and the need to train the successors, a working group has been formed to study how to strengthen ties with the young members of the Institute. It is hoped that we can motivate the young members to contribute more to the future of the Institute.

(3) Research

HKIFM had a press release on FM Market Audit on 1.1.2004. The press had received favorable response from the industry and the public. Credit must be given to the research team. It is hoped that such research can be continued periodically.

(4) Organizing more cultural activities The Program Director has been asked to organize more social / cultural activities for our members. All our members have been working very hard and are under pressure nowadays. Thus It is hoped that with more cultural and leisure activities, members can find better enjoyment in their daily lives.

I must count on the continuous support from our fellow members, without it we cannot be successful.

Wish you all have a healthy and prosperous Year of the Monkey!

Frankie So President, HKIFM

2. Conscientious Disposal: Be informed when disposing of fluorescent lighting ballasts and lamps =

3. h ttp://www.facilitymanagement.com/articles/artdisp2.html

An article “How You Can Survive Better as a Facility Manager” by Mr. Andrew Ip, F.PFM: Tips on how to manage better in a difficult economic situation = Learn more, do better, and prosper more Announcements:

The HKIFM's Research Committee has just completed the first of the Hong Kong FM market study series. Preliminary findings have been announced in a press conference held on 1 January 1, 2004. While the full report will be published shortly for the benefit of all members and FM practitioners, the press release (in Chinese) is available at http://www.hkifm.org.hk/doc/Press%20Release%2001Jan04.PDF. The findings were also reported in the HK Economic Journal and Sing Pao on January 2, 2004. The Presentation Ceremony of the HKIFM FAME Award 2003 together with the HKIFM 4th AGM & Annual Dinner was successfully held on November 28, 2003 at the Dynasty Club. Members and guests had had a great time. The results and promotional supplements about the HKIFM FAME Award 2003 were also published. (Ming Pao & Sing Tao Daily on November 28, 2003 and South China Morning Post on November 29, 2003).

A copy of the Council's Report 2002/03 and photos (Part 1│Part 2) taken at the 4th AGM & Annual Dinner 2003 and the Presentation Ceremony of FAME Award 2003 are now also available for viewing.

The 6th International Showcase for Building Automation and Management Systems Featuring: Asian Facilities Management and HVAC & R Show (Asian Building Technologies 2004) will be held concurrently from 15-18 June 2004 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. For details, please visit our website.

Recent Events:

We started the Year of the Monkey with a spring luncheon-talk featuring Mr. Terence Wong, President of ECTV Limited and a well-known public speaking expert, who shared with us his views on how to handle emergency situations from a FM perspective. Though no chickens were served (due to the H5N1 scare), it did not take the fun out as the talk was one of the most entertaining yet enlightening events held as evidenced by the applause observed.

The HKIFM was one of the participants in the Hong Kong Infrastructure and Real Estate Expo that was held in Shanghai in January this year. It was a great success and we have received numerous enquiries from Mainland China booth visitors. Much thanks to Mr. P.C. Lau, Dr. Kelvin Wong, Ms. Annie Luk, and Ms. Nadasa Chan, plus many others, for their effort. For details, please click http://www.hkifm.org.hk/PSDAS/Exhibition_SH.html. The second professional seminars on quality facility management services for modern corporations have been successfully held on November 11 and 18, 2003 at the Plaza Conference Centre by the Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management (HKIFM) with the theme titled “Facility Performance Measurements”. It featured two speakers; Mr. Tan Teng Hee and Mr. Danny S. S. Then. For details, please visit http://www.hkifm.org.hk/PSDAS/Seminars_report11112003.html.

The HKIFM is one of the supporting organisations of the International Conference on Intelligent Systems, Structures & Facilities (ISSF 2004) held on January 12 and 13 this year at the Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel. Topics presented were highly relevant to the FM profession, such as Internet Based Building Automation Systems, Wireless Lighting Control & Electrical Automation System Presenter, etc. For details, please click http://www.hkifm.org.hk/doc/AIIB%20Conference.pdf.

HKIFM's supported activity: Project Management International Conference 2003 (PMIC 2003) was held on December 3 to 5, 2003 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Please click the link for details.

HKIFM's supported activity: IFMA (HK Chapter) 2003 conference with the theme of 'Adding Value - Reducing Cost' was held on November 20, 2003. Please click the link for details.

An open forum on 'The Public Interest in Reducing Road Opening, Safer Excavation and better slope maintenance by using a GIS-based Utility Information Centre' was held on November 7, 2003. Please click the link for details.

Useful Web Resource:

This is a new section through which we seek to introduce members and readers to potentially useful and / or interesting web resource including websites and webpages. Members and readers are also encouraged to submit such resource for our consideration. In this issue, we have found: www.skyscrapers.com = this website provides information of high rise buildings in many major cities around the world. Generally, there will be a tally on the approximate number of high rises in a city, and parties can search the site for information on individual buildings. Some of the services may require a subscription. The Lighter Side:

This is another new section through which we would share a few jokes or light-hearted stories that we come across via the web from time to time with members and readers. Members and readers are again encouraged to submit such resource for our consideration. We hope you would like the following computer software problem solving dialogue:

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow-down in the overall performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NHL 4.3, MLB 3.0, and NBA 3.6. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems to no avail. What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

Dear Desperate:

First, keep in mind Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Try to enter the command: "C:/ ITHOUGHTYOULOVEDME" to download Tears 6.2 which automatically should install Guilt 3.0. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence,2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck, Tech Support

We hope this newsletter would appear before February 14 (St. Valentine’s Day), and in any event, we wish you all those lovers and married couples among you a romantic and unforgettable (to all husbands, don’t you dare forget else it will really be unforgettable) evening. Remember these as well:

Courtesy of joke-of-the-day.com

We hope you would enjoy the above and we would certainly look forward to receiving content and article contribution from members. We would also welcome any suggestions or comments that you may have. Thank you.

Best regards, For and On behalf of the Editorial Team / HKIFM, Stephen Chung

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Notes: The HKIFM and / or the relevant authors or publishers reserve the copyrights of such content including but not limited to articles, analyses, charts, graphics, and the like contained herein. No unauthorized copying, distribution, or publication is to be carried out unless prior, proper, and written approval has been sought from us or the relevant authors or publishers. Content contained herein may or may not reflect the opinion of the HKIFM or its members at large.