PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome

The IPMA 22^nd World Congress on Project Management opened in Rome, Italy on Sunday 9 November 2008 with three memorable keynote speeches, a wonderful Italian music show and an entertaining presentation on Rome Inc., Projects of the Roman Empire. The past and future of projects and project managers came together in Italy, as approximately 1,000 people attended the opening session at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome’s business district.

The ROMA 2008 World Congress - Project Management to Run - was opened at 15:00 on Sunday afternoon by Luigi Iperti, (in photo) congress Chairman, Fabrizio Di Amato, President of the Italian PM Academy, and Veikko Valila, IPMA President. After warm welcomes to delegates and introductory speeches by these three leaders, the first of three keynote speakers was introduced, Mary McKinlay.

Mary McKinlay, IPMA vice president and Adjunct Professor at ESC Lille in France, spoke on the topic of “Where is Project Management Running to…?” According to Mary, “Project management is out of the starting gate and running throughout the world. Its techniques are being used in wider context than ever before. But tools and techniques form just part of the skills required to manage projects successfully. We must continue to get smarter with how we manage people.”

Mary was followed by Mr. Fabio Gallia, CEO and general manager of BNL and executive committee member for BNP Paribas Group. Mr. Galia addressed “Financial markets turmoil and its impact on the real economy – looking beyond the crisis.” This was a timely and very interesting speech. According to Mr. Galia, “the past few weeks have been marked by global efforts by policy makers to redress the global financial crisis and to avert a worldwide economic meltdown. The macro rescue plans face many challenges to successful implementation.

But a foundation must now be laid for coping with a more integrated and complex global financial system.”

The third opening keynote speaker was Mr. Toni Ruttiman, a project manager of modern times who is sometimes considered a saint. Toni gave an inspirational presentation on “How to build 400 bridges without money. With team building and project management – the bridges of the poor also have their supply chain and bridge spirit!” Toni’s life work is to help destitute people build or re-build bridges after hurricanes, earthquakes, wars and other disasters.

The speeches were followed by fantastic entertainment, including an Italian musical show and stories about the Roman Empire, its projects and its rise and fall. The music show featured Gilda Buttà, who performed music of E. Morricone, and the musical group KanTango performing traditional Neapolitan songs.

The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko Valila; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.