PMFORUM Breaking News

The 2^nd UT Dallas Project Management Symposium was successfully completed on 19 August, with the 200 attendees in the main auditorium in the School of Management building on the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) campus in Richardson, Texas, USA. The 2-day conference culminated with two excellent keynote speeches by PMI and IPMA leaders from Brazil and Finland, respectively, drawings for door prizes and congratulations to the symposium project manager, Debbie Samac.

According to James Joiner (in left photo below), Symposium Chair and Director of the Graduate Program in Project Management at UT Dallas, "we are happy with the quality of papers again this year, the larger turnout and the attendee satisfaction that was evident today. Next year’s event should be even better, as we continue developing the symposium as a major regional project management conference. We think this is very good for the school, for the local project management profession, and especially for participating organizations."


Following the closing keynote speeches, Mr. Joiner called Debbie Samac (right photo) to the podium to recognize her leadership and administrative skills reflected by the successful conference this week. Together, they then held drawings for a number of door prizes contributed by speakers and sponsors, including seminar by event sponsor Global Knowledge, books by Lothar Katz, CD ROMs by Lee Lambert, dinner meetings from the PMI Dallas Chapter, and two free registrations for next year’s symposium.

The 2^nd Annual UT Dallas Project Management Symposium included:

• Welcome by Jim Joiner and Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Dean of the School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas


• Opening keynote speech and presentation by Dr. David E. Daniel, president of UT Dallas, on the topic of "Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina and Implications for Managing Critical Infrastructure Systems".


• Second keynote speech on Monday by George Consolver, Director of Strategy Process at Texas Instruments (TI), on the topic of "Strategy and Project Management Connections."


• 40 professional paper presentations over five main tracks during the two days, but well known international experts and local leaders.


• A keynote speech on Tuesday morning by Michael Kennedy, CEO of Targeted Convergence, on "Managing to Achieve Toyota Excellence in Product Development."


• A closing keynote speech on Tuesday afternoon by Ricardo Viana Vargas, Director-at-Large and member of the Board of Directors of PMI, on "Project Management as a Strategic Competence."


• Final closing keynote speech on Tuesday afternoon by Veikko Välilä, President of IPMA, on "Where is Project Management Going?"


• Networking lunches both days and a Monday evening networking reception.


• Closing ceremony where door prizes were given out to lucky attendees, the symposium project manager was recognized and sponsors were thanked.

Debbie Samac, symposium project manager for UT Dallas, stated "I want to thank our staff and the volunteers who helped make the symposium a success this year. Without their support, it would have been much less successful. And thank you all for participating. In fact, if you have interest in attending again next year, please let me know as soon as possible. We are especially interested in more sponsors and vendors. Next year’s event will be bigger and better than ever!"

According to Dwarka Iyengar, President of the PMI Dallas Chapter, one of the Symposium organizers, "This was another successful event concluded in partnership with UT Dallas and PMForum. We think this relationship is resulting in real value creation for the project management profession in North Texas, which we expect to continue into the future."


David Pells, Managing Editor for PMForum, the event’s third organizing partner, added, "There is a need for more opportunities to share lessons learned, case studies and information about effective project management. The annual UT Dallas PM Symposium is now helping to fill that need in North Texas, providing an opportunity for executives and professionals to contribute to and learn more at a major regional conference."

The 2^nd Annual UT Dallas Project Management Symposium was sponsored by the Graduate Program in Project Management at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), in cooperation with the Dallas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI^®) and PMForum, Inc. Papers and presentations featured at this year’s symposium will be available for download at http://pmsymposium.utdallas.edu, where additional information about the conference can be found. This annual event is intended to contribute to the productivity and success of organizations and industries in North Texas, and to local economic development. Individuals or organizations interested in participating in next year’s symposium should contact Debbie@utdallas.edu.

For more information about the Graduate Program in Project Management at UT Dallas, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/project/. For information about the PMI Dallas Chapter, visit www.pmidallas.org. For information about PMForum, visit www.pmforum.org.