On behalf of the NJAPPA Board and all of the volunteers who make the NJAPPA organization so relevant, dynamic, and successful, welcome to the NJAPPA Annual Spring Conference. This year’s conference will again be held at the Stockton Seaview Hotel & Golf Resort on April 18, 2018 – April 20, 2018. The NJAPPA Board has done an incredible job planning and preparing an engaging program of professional development, networking and entertainment. The theme for this year’s Annual Meeting is “The best way to predict your future is to create it”. The Future… Can be kind of scary sounding. Full of unknowns. Full of twists and turns. How can you possibly predict it? This quote says that the best way to know what is coming is to be an active participant. By creating your future, you are an active player in the events as they unfold. By knowing what you want, and what you are willing to do to get them, you can help to shape what the future holds. This year’s Annual Spring Meeting contributions – from the keynote speaker to the professional development sessions to the networking opportunities – will be focused on this idea of “The best way to predict your future is to create it” and will provide you with tools, insights, connections, and ideas to return to your workplace not fearful of the future, but to take action and plan for it!
As is the case every year, the NJAPPA Annual Spring Conference will include one of the best opportunities to cultivate relationships with a variety of Business Partners in one place. Our Business Partners are very well-connected throughout all of New Jersey and beyond. Their wealth of knowledge, willingness to help, and eagerness to promote and sustain the educational facilities management field is unmatched. We are fortunate to have so many passionate and supportive professional resources who are active members of NJAPPA each year. I encourage each of you to take the opportunity to speak with our Business Partners, learn about their firms, talk about your own institution, find common interests, and discuss possible opportunities for collaboration. It is because of our Business Partners’ generous involvement that we are able to host such a great Annual Spring Conference year after year. Our gratitude to our Business Partners is endless.
If you are like me, you look forward to the NJAPPA Annual Spring Conference each year not only as one of the best and most affordable ways to obtain relevant, timely, and engaging professional development, but as a way to reconnect with colleagues and make new acquaintances from our region. Whether you are a first-time attendee or an NJAPPA “veteran,” an institutional member or a business partner, you are the one that can take action and shape your future.
I look forward to seeing you this spring at the Stockton Seaview Hotel & Golf Resort!
Todd Miller
New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJAPPA President