BOMA Lights Opening Torch for 2006 Congress

This year's educational track focuses on all levels of "green" techniques from a building's guts to its skin. Today's line-up of educational sessions includes a hard look at the capital markets and more "green" strategies, a hot-button issue as energy costs spike with no near-term relief in sight.

The city has rolled out the red carpet, hanging "welcome" signs at baggage claims in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and banners along Downtown streets leading to the Dallas Convention Center at 650 S. Griffin St. The welcome mat included proclamations from Gov. Rick Perry and Dallas Mayor Laura Miller.

BOMA's high-powered trade show floor features 419 booths while Realcomm's tech platform is boasting another 102. This year as in the past, the fast-paced convention is a showcase for new products, officers and industry initiatives. The three-day confab will be topped off with tomorrow night's presentation of the coveted TOBY awards.

BOMA launched the opening session with keynote speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Difference" and his latest, "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking." Gladwell's presentation strength is his business savvy for putting dealmaking into perspective regardless of the industry. The upshot is BOMA professionals, like others in Gladwell's tales from the business world, are tasked each day with making "high-stake decisions under informational uncertainty," he says. His word of caution for decisionmakers is not to let information overload cloud judgment or impair gut instinct.

"We have to respect the power of our instincts," the staff writer for the New Yorker magazine told the conference-goers, going on to cite the "profound dangers" of allowing too much information-gathering to get in the way of quick decisions based on honed instincts of experienced professionals. "Organizations that can meet the challenges are those that find a way of protecting their best people's judgments," he stresses.

As part of yesterday's opening, BOMA announced an alliance with Buildings Magazine, owned by the Cedar Rapids, IA-based Stamats Business Media, to produce the office building show, beginning in 2007 in New York City. The conference's pre-opening events included the 2006-07 election, with Kurt R. Padavano of Advance Realty Management in Bedminster, NJ named as chairman and chief elected officer. The rest of the roster includes chairman-elect Brenna Walraven of USAA Realty Co.'s Orange County office; vice chairman Richard D. Purtell of Andalex Group from Cincinnati; and secretary-treasurer David Stucky, building manager and special projects coordinator for the City of San Diego.