FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WMPMI Announces world-class professional development day

GRAND RAPIDS, February 12, 2008-Sharpen your edge at Western Michigan Chapter of Project Management International’s (WMPMI) Professional Development Day to be held at The Pinnacle Center on March 26. There will be ten presenters to come from different parts of the country to this year’s event, which is open to the public for registration at http://www.wmpmi.org. :

Risk (Keith Hornbacher) Keith D. Hornbacher is founder and principal consultant of Hornbacher Associates.  His presentation explains how experienced project managers understand the importance of managing project risks. This session will lay out a framework to recognize personal project risk attitudes and the organizational risk cultures in which they operate.  As both enablers and inhibitors of success, approaches to managing project risk will be discussed to surface root causes of successes and short-falls.  Action steps for change will be developed by inviting active participation and discussion to define “real world” situations.

Stakeholder Management (Harry Rever) Harry Rever (MBA, CSSBB, CQM, CQC, PMP) is Director of Six Sigma for International Institute for Learning. His presentation focuses on what every project has-stakeholders. Stakeholder relationship management is about more than just managing stakeholders. The project manager’s ability to develop positive and workable relationships with those key stakeholders can make or break a project. Rever’s presentation will focus on how best to assess stakeholder relationships and what skill sets and approaches a PM can use to successfully develop, nurture and manage those vital stakeholder relationships.

Developing a Project Control System, Cost and Schedule (Tom Flynn) Tom Flynn is Executive Vice President of Advanced Management Services, Inc. and has spent the last 15 years focusing on planning projects. Project Control is directly affected by the level of up-front project planning (front-end loading). As with project quality, it does no good to have a stringent monitoring and control plan or system that one cannot actually execute. This "execute-ability" lies in a lack of understanding regarding the set-up of the project's WBS, work packages cost accounts and baselines, etc. In this session we will discuss the underlying FEL elements to ensure project control as well as the systematic, process and cultural considerations involved with developing and implementing a "practical" project control system and culture.

Communications (Andy Crowe) Andy Crowe is the founder and CEO of Velociteach, a project management education company.  His presentation will focus on the communication of a project manager and how it is a determining factor in the success or failure of a project. This presentation addresses the underlying factors that make one group stand out in the area of project communications. Statistical analysis lays the foundation for the exploration of techniques that the top performers use.

Burn Your Canoe (Steve Hegele) Steve Hegele is the founder and CEO of Hegele Academy (Hegele.com), a company about transformation and change. This presentation is about commitment and being decisive and invites listeners to identify what must be in place for them to be fully successful and to discern for themselves whether they are “committed” or “complying”.  His engaging and dynamic style invites listeners to make decisions that lead to increased energy, learning, collaboration and results.  Hegele lives his business motto: Knowledge is important, execution is essential! 

Managing Partner Project Teams for Success (David Sides) David Sides, PMP, OPM3, ITIL, is

Vice President of Project Consulting Services and specializes in developing, implementing and improving Project Performance Offices. His  presentation will help you understand all your outsourcing options, from on-site to off-site, and from on-shore to off-shore. Learn the key differentiators for vendors and why we should work with them as partners.

And Your Point Is…? Presentation Skills (Gene Anderson) Gene Anderson is a natural teacher. He's an internationally renowned scientist and magician too, but he's a teacher first and foremost. His in-class practice will focus on using the “Quick Quadrants” for message development; take-home knowledge of visual aid and body language techniques to immediately improve your presentations.

Utilizing Shared Services an Approach to Process Improvement (Penny Weller) Penny Weller, PhD, CMA, is Senior Director of The Hackett Group. According to research from The Hackett Group, world-class finance organizations have reduced finance costs by more than 50% by the use of shared services . Yet finance executives continue to struggle with the complexities of setting up the optimal shared services model, designing the right mix of sourcing options, and demonstrating value to the organization. This session provides strategies on how to overcome these challenges and build successful shared services organization.

The 5 Elements (Harry Rever) Harry Rever is Director of Six Sigma for International Institute for Learning. This presentation will show that a  project manager’s efforts on any project he or she is managing should result in some kind of improvement for the business: reduced costs, increased sales, better productivity, less errors, reduced cycle time. To increase the odds of success, a project manager should properly incorporate these five key elements into every process improvement project.

Lean Risk Management (Rick Bollinger) Rick Bollinger is a Senior Consultant with Natural SPI, Inc., an innovative process improvement and management consulting firm, and an SEI Partner. His presentation will reveal how risk management is more of a science and less of an art. Learn how to make it lean and leverage project and historical information to protect goals, deliverables, budgets and deadlines. Avoid a statistical trap and see how to fit risk management into project schedules and everyday activities.

Difficult Clients (Frank Saladis) Frank P. Saladis, PMP, is President of Project Imaginers (Division of Blue Marble Enterprises.) His presentation is designed for project managers, project leaders, and managers who have direct contact with demanding clients and must establish effective working relationships, obtain requirements, negotiate changes, and manage client interfaces effectively.

Part 1 focuses on managing difficult people on project teams – identify common tactics and behaviors of difficult people, reviewing strategies for dealing with them and setting expectations.

Part 2 focuses on the importance of maintaining strong and positive client relationships, stakeholder analysis,  identifying what makes a client difficult,  maintaining control with rude or hostile clients and effective client communications.

Be sure to set March 26, 2008 aside to attend this information-packed series of presentations.

Meeting Location:
Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at the laceName w:st="on">PinnaclelaceName> laceType w:st="on">CenterlaceType>, 3330 Highland Drive, Hudsonville, MI ostalCode w:st="on">49426ostalCode>

Meeting Time:  8:30-4:30. Registration begins at 8:00 with first keynote beginning at 8:30. Continental breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack are included.           

Reservations: Register now at www.wmpmi.org . You can register up until two days prior to the event.

Fees: $235 WMPMI Members, $285 Non-members ($50 cancellation fee) No walk-ins. Reservation will be confirmed once payment is received.

Special Promotions: Register by March 1, 2008 and Members save $50, Non-Members save $35!

PDU’s: Event is worth 7 PDU’s.

News media interested in covering this event contact: Therese Cooper, PMP (616) 787-4957.

“Promoting a local network of expertise in project management professionalism"