PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by A. Matt Piazza in Seattle, Washington, USA


Microsoft and Partners launched the 3-day Microsoft Office Project Conference 2007 with over 1,500 attendees in Seattle, Washington, USA on Monday, October 29. The event motto is “Learn, Connect, Grow.” The 2007 conference is being held at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle.

As in previous years, companies that have partnered with Microsoft to develop Microsoft Project-compatible products and services are major participants and highly visible at this year’s conference.

The Microsoft Project Partner of the Year award recipient this year is Pcubed.

The Sponsors this year included the following:

• Tata Consultancy Services (Platinum Sponsor),


• Microsoft Dynamics (Gold Sponsor),


• DecisionEdge (DVD Sponsor),


• Project Management Institute (Evening Event Sponsor),


• gantthead.com (Welcome reception sponsor), and


• EPM Live (Evening Event Sponsor).

The conference includes a major Exhibition of project management-related products and services. Exhibitors this year include 6D Tech, ASG, Borland, Compulink, Computer Sciences Corporation, Corporate Project Solutions, Dekker Ltd., EPK Group, forProject Technology Inc, Friedrich Klatt & Associates, HMS Software, Impress Software, IIL, KIDASA Software Inc, Microsoft Visio, MindJet, MPA, MSProjectExperts, Pcubed, PM Resource Group, Project Hosts, Project Management Practice Inc, Project Solutions Group, Project Widgits, ProModel, Quantitative Software Management Inc, QuantumPM LLC, RMC Project Management, Robbins-Gioia, Safran North America LLC, The Project Group, UMT Consulting Group, Versatile, Visual Studio Team System, and WSG Systems Corporation.

The Seattle event is one of two Microsoft Office Project Conferences scheduled for 2007; the second will be held in Madrid, Spain in early December. According to Microsoft, these conferences aim to enable individuals and organizations to develop a better understanding of the end-to end capabilities of the Microsoft 2007 family of products and to help further advance their Project Management Potential. Information about the Microsoft Project Conference 2007 in Seattle can be found at http://www.msprojectconference.com/indexUS.htm

A. Matt Piazza International Correspondent USA based in Texas A Matt Piazza, PMP, is an international correspondent for PMForum based in the Dallas Ft. Worth metropolitan area of north Texas, USA. He is also principal consultant for Delta Solutions, a project management consultancy specializing in project management office (PMO) and enterprise project management (EPM) services. Matt has over 20 years experience in professional project management. He has a B.S. in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University in the USA. He has been employed in various PM leadership and support positions by ADP, EDS, Rapp Collins, Raytheon, TI and several other major US technology firms. He is a former president of the PMI Dallas Chapter and the DFW chapter of the Microsoft Project Association. He has a PMP® certification from PMI®, and is a Microsoft Project Enterprise Black Belt expert and instructor. More information about Matt Piazza can be found at http://www.pmforum.org/pm%20forum%20team/index.htm#Piazza Matt can be contacted at piazzam@deltasol.net.