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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
PM Days Symposium Opens in Finland with Record Attendance and 30th Anniversary Celebration
The 2008 PM Days Project Management Symposium opened in Espoo, Finland on Tuesday,18 November with 850 registered participants and an exhibition of partner organizations. The 2008 PM Days symposium in Finland scheduled for 18-19 November 2008 is the annual conference of the Project Management Association of Finland - Projektiyhdistys.
The first day of the symposium was officially opened at 9:00 a.m. by Veikko Välilä, chair of Projektiyhdistys and current president of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). Veikko began with a welcome and congratulatory toast to the association on the occasion of its 30th anniversary. Membership has now climbed past 2,500, having grown by more than 900% over the last decade. Mr. Välilä’s introduction was followed by a short video presentation about next year’s 23rd IPMA World Congress on Project Management, which will also be held in Helsinki during June 2009.
The keynote speaker on Tuesday morning to open the conference was David L. Pells, Managing Editor of PMForum, the world's first and oldest project management website. David is also the Management Editor of the monthly eJournal PM World Today. His keynote speech was entitled “The Future of Project Management is... not a straight line!" (for more on David’s speech, see separate PMForum news story) In a unique setting, the opening ceremony and keynote presentation were made from a stage in the exhibition area where participants stood during the speeches among exhibitors and conference partners.
(Photo: David Pells and Veikko Välilä in Finland)
Day one of the two-day conference, held at Teknillinen korkeakoulu Koulutuskeskus (TKK) Dipoli university, included two keynote presentations, 30 professional presentations over six tracks, 13 short presentations by project management companies; an exhibition of sponsors and partners, a networking reception from 17:00 to 19:00, and a dinner at the end of the day. Some noted presentations during the day included “Turning Project Management into a Profession” by Professor Kim Weström and Osmo Härkönen (Finland); “The Future of PM and What Makes a Project Manager,” by Mark McKinlay (UK); “Front end Governance of Major Investment Projects” by Professor Knut Samset (Norway); and many others.
The day also included a press conference and meeting of international speakers with a representative of the Construction Daily, a Finnish publication serving the engineering and construction industries. According to Veikko Välilä, “we have actually had very good coverage in the local press. Last week I was interviewed by the leading Helsinki newspaper; the week before by a major television news reporter. Visibility of our conference this year has been excellent.”
A closing keynote speech on 18 November was provided by Dr. Thomas Grisham of IIL on the subject of “Cross-cultural Leadership.” During the closing reception at the end of the day, various project excellence, leadership and performance awards were presented to members of Projektiyhdistys, and Matti Ahvenharju, former president and member no. 2, was recognized for his 30 years of leadership and contributions to the PM Association of Finland.
The setting for the symposium was perfect, although rooms were full to capacity. The networking opportunities during coffee breaks, lunch and the closing reception provided participants many opportunities to meet and discuss PM. Everyone seemed satisfied. Here are a few photos from the day.
(Photos: Partner exhibition area/main hall; Dr. Thomas Grisham during closing keynote; Paula Välilä, Helen Cooke and Mary McKinlay during reception)
The local host of the 2008 PM Days in Helsinki was the Projektiyhdistys, Project Management Association Finland, based in Espoo, Finland. Projektiyhdistys is the national membership body for Finland in the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and is the oldest and largest national PM Association in Northern Europe. The general manager of Projekiyhdistys is Jyry Louhisto, who is also the project director for the 23rd IPMA World Congress in Finland. For further information, visit www.pry.fi.
The first day of the symposium was officially opened at 9:00 a.m. by Veikko Välilä, chair of Projektiyhdistys and current president of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). Veikko began with a welcome and congratulatory toast to the association on the occasion of its 30th anniversary. Membership has now climbed past 2,500, having grown by more than 900% over the last decade. Mr. Välilä’s introduction was followed by a short video presentation about next year’s 23rd IPMA World Congress on Project Management, which will also be held in Helsinki during June 2009.
(Photo: David Pells and Veikko Välilä in Finland)
Day one of the two-day conference, held at Teknillinen korkeakoulu Koulutuskeskus (TKK) Dipoli university, included two keynote presentations, 30 professional presentations over six tracks, 13 short presentations by project management companies; an exhibition of sponsors and partners, a networking reception from 17:00 to 19:00, and a dinner at the end of the day. Some noted presentations during the day included “Turning Project Management into a Profession” by Professor Kim Weström and Osmo Härkönen (Finland); “The Future of PM and What Makes a Project Manager,” by Mark McKinlay (UK); “Front end Governance of Major Investment Projects” by Professor Knut Samset (Norway); and many others.
The day also included a press conference and meeting of international speakers with a representative of the Construction Daily, a Finnish publication serving the engineering and construction industries. According to Veikko Välilä, “we have actually had very good coverage in the local press. Last week I was interviewed by the leading Helsinki newspaper; the week before by a major television news reporter. Visibility of our conference this year has been excellent.”
A closing keynote speech on 18 November was provided by Dr. Thomas Grisham of IIL on the subject of “Cross-cultural Leadership.” During the closing reception at the end of the day, various project excellence, leadership and performance awards were presented to members of Projektiyhdistys, and Matti Ahvenharju, former president and member no. 2, was recognized for his 30 years of leadership and contributions to the PM Association of Finland.
The setting for the symposium was perfect, although rooms were full to capacity. The networking opportunities during coffee breaks, lunch and the closing reception provided participants many opportunities to meet and discuss PM. Everyone seemed satisfied. Here are a few photos from the day.
The local host of the 2008 PM Days in Helsinki was the Projektiyhdistys, Project Management Association Finland, based in Espoo, Finland. Projektiyhdistys is the national membership body for Finland in the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and is the oldest and largest national PM Association in Northern Europe. The general manager of Projekiyhdistys is Jyry Louhisto, who is also the project director for the 23rd IPMA World Congress in Finland. For further information, visit www.pry.fi.
