As I write this, I am considering where we've been this past year.  I am coming up on my last couple of months as your President.  I have also been working with the board over the last month or two on possible plans for the upcoming year.  There are some exciting things in the works!  It is, of course, very early to say anything but I am looking forward to working with Diana Bishop as she takes over, the new officers once the election is over, and the great existing staff on the board.  More on this next month.
 
I hope you enjoyed the last chapter meeting with Laura Packer, storyteller extraordinaire.  I heard a lot of positive comments from people who attended.  Certainly the ability to formulate what you need to say to put your point across and then tell it in a compelling way is a skill all of us could use.
 
I heard too some good comments about our first-time mini-course speaker, Elizabeth Clague and her presentation, “Best Practices in Avoiding Contract Disputes and Other Legal Problems”.  Dealing with contracts and negotiations is one of my favorite areas of project management.  It is, as I'm sure you know, a critical area for any project manager who wants to get a business relationship off to a good start.
 
With these two programs and many others during the course of the year, we've been trying to make it clear that our chapter is about project management, program management, and the business practices required to do these jobs well.  We, as a chapter, are not about any particular industry because project and program management spans virtually all industries.  Whether you build buildings, run companies, manufacture pharmaceuticals, try cases in a law firm, run political campaigns, do merger and acquisitions, run a household, or work in any other area of human endeavor, you will find project management skills essential to success.  We have been working hard throughout the year to try to find ways to support you as you pursue your professional objectives.  We have done this with chapter meeting, mini-courses, training programs, news from the PM world, networking, and the Roundtable program.  We have also been making an effort to move the chapter meetings to where you work and live so that more of our members can experience the chapter meetings at more convenient locations.
 
As we draw closer to the end of our year, I hope you have found these and the other chapter programs useful!  Now is the time to voice your opinion if there are things you would like to see added or expanded to your chapter.  We have many ideas on the table already.  In fact, our planning for next year has just begun.  So we would welcome your thoughts and input.


And speaking of programs, we have three coming up!  Our 2-day PMP Prep class is coming up on May 15^th.  For anyone in need of preparation help, this class is a must!  The PMP exam is not to be taken lightly.  The evening of May 15^th, Aaron Shenhar, Professor of Management, Stevens Institute of Technology will speak to us at the chapter meeting on “Reinventing Project Management”.  Lastly, on Monday June 16^th, we will begin a two-day course in Microsoft Project at William George Associates.  All of these events will be available for registration through our website at www.pmimassbay.org.
 
Note that our next two upcoming chapter meetings will be held at the Burlington Marriott.  
 
Remember that if you still have a voucher from the canceled December 2007 chapter meeting, the May and June chapter meetings are the last chances you have to use the voucher.  After the June meeting, the voucher will expire.
So let me say once again, THANK YOU for your membership and please contact us if there is anything we can do to enhance your membership with the Mass Bay Chapter.
 
 
 
Evans Travis, PMP
President
PMI Mass Bay Chapter