Future of the office, AI and tech are the focus for FMs who attend World Workplace 2026 in Anaheim this fall

July 6, 2026 — The demand for education is one of the key reasons that facilities professionals attend the annual World Workplace conference sponsored by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). Education tracks, detailed by sessions on its site, are titled: Connected Buildings; Leading Change; Digital Futures: Facility Fusion; Facility Operations; Resilient Facilities; Future Workplaces; WW Live; and FM Solutions.

Other reasons to attend WW include career development, exploring the exposition, and networking. Believe me, it’s “on steroids” as a meeting-people experience. As an attendee, when you sit down for a session, attend a keynote, or take a lunch break on the expo floor, fellow attendees will introduce themselves, ask where you are from / what chapter, if you have attended WW before, and if you came alone or know anyone. The effort to create community has been ongoing for decades. It is one of the many reasons FM professionals join IFMA and remain members, in some cases, like mine, for decades.

Highlighting the rise of AI-powered facility management, hybrid workplace strategy, professional development, and always fascinating facility tours of major business attractions, World Workplace 2026 will take place in Anaheim, California, November 18-20. It may be your last business conference of 2026, right before the Thanksgiving holiday, and IFMA will certainly make it worth the time out of the office.

Key sessions that FMLink’s editors will  attend:

• The Fourth Place: Designing Work Beyond Office, Home, and Hybrid presented by Rex Miller, mindSHIFT: Beyond mandates, the Fourth Place transforms the office into a magnetic hub where AI meets human wisdom. Learn how to unlock hidden talent, spark connection, and turn the commute into a catalyst for culture and performance.
• The Sharing Paradox: Why Workplace Sharing Fails and How to Fix It presented by Chris Wiegand and Zoe (Zhuyu) Chen, Veldhoen + Company: Workplace sharing programs fail at a striking rate, not because employees are resistant to change, but because the design of most sharing programs inadvertently activates threat responses in the brain. Territoriality, scarcity hoarding, desk-squatting, and avoidance behaviors are not personality flaws. They are neurologically predictable responses to environments designed without employee agency.
• Facility Management: The Driver of Strategic and Enterprise Value presented by Trenton Patterson, CBRE: Exploring FM as a strategic discipline that extends far beyond traditional building maintenance to drive organizational performance, resilience, and enterprise value. It positions FM as the operational engine that connects executive strategy with day-to-day performance by ensuring safety, uptime, compliance, sustainability, and workplace experience.
• Smart Buildings, Real Risks: What FM Professionals Must Know About Data presented by Andrew Steele, BRPH: Smart building technology works. When implemented well, it reduces costs, improves operations, and gives FM professionals the data they need to make better decisions. The problem is not the technology, but what happens when organizations move forward without understanding the full cost and risk picture. Original research from Steele’s master’s thesis in Construction Management at the University of Washington identified four categories of smart building adoption costs: visible, hidden, lifecycle and organizational. The same blind spots showed up across various sectors. Data management and cybersecurity costs were the most underestimated and consequential when ignored.

Heading to the Anaheim Convention Center, a major focus this year is the practical application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the built environment. Expect to learn about next-generation tech, including tools like AI plug-ins for OpenBlue Workplace (such as “Ask FM”). These technologies allow teams to use conversational AI to quickly fetch space utilization metrics, predict maintenance issues, and parse complex facility data governance guidelines.

With hybrid workplace models fully solidified, sessions will move past the “how-to-manage” phase and focus on advanced space optimization. Key discussions will center on Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) and Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) modernization — helping companies accurately right-size their real estate portfolios using real-time spatial analytics. 

Click here for all the World Workplace Anaheim details and registration.