Reported by Jouko Vaskimo in Helsinki

The Call for Refresh Presentations for the 23^rd IPMA World Congress in Helsinki, Finland is still open through 31 January 2009. The 23^rd IPMA World Congress on Project Management will be held in Helsinki during 15-17 June 2009. Information for potential authors, researchers and practicing professionals can be found on the Helsinki congress website at http://www.refresh09.com/.

According to Jyry Louhisto, General Manager of Project Management Association Finland (PMAF) and Program Director for the 2009 congress, "Refresh presentations will include papers and associated presentations on practice-based examples of project and program management. They are intended to be practical examples and models for better project and program management, presented mainly by practicing professionals, not academics or researchers. This should add another useful dimension to this year's congress."

The theme for the 23^rd IPMA World Congress on Project Management in Helsinki next year will be "Refresh Yourself" The event will be aimed at regenerating one's professional career, organization and personal development.

Four streams are planed for the practical Refresh Presentations: Refresh Your Network, Refresh Your Business, Refresh Yourself, and Refresh Society. Use the Abstract submission option on the congress website by January 31, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.refresh09.com/congress/call-for-refresh-presentation. Practicing program and project managers are invited to submit an abstract, typewritten in English, not exceeding 500 words.

The local host of the 23^rd IPMA World Congress on Project Management in Helsinki will be Project Management Association Finland (PMAF), based in Espoo, Finland. PMAF is the national membership body for Finland in the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The general manager of PMAF is Jyry Louhisto, who is also the project director for the 23^rd IPMA World Congress in Finland. For further information, visit www.pry.fi.

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 44 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 2009/10 is Brigitte Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.

Jouko Vaskimo    International Correspondent - FinlandBased in Helsinki Jouko Vaskimo is an International Correspondent for PMForum and PM World Today in Finland.  He is also Projects Director at Ixonos PLC, a major Finnish IT consultancy.  Mr. Vaskimo graduated from Helsinki University of Technology in 1992.  Since then he has held project and PM related assignments with increasing levels for responsibility at Sinebrychoff, the oldest brewery in Scandinavia; Kemira Engineering Ltd, a major chemicals company; DNA Finland Ltd, a major Finnish mobile phone operator; and for Nokia. At Ixonos PLC since 2006, Jouko is responsible for project management methodology and competence development within the Ixonos group and at Ixonos clients. Jouko holds the IPMA Level C (Project Manager) and Level B (Senior PM) certificates and is an IPMA assessor for Project Management Association Finland (PMAF). He is a member of the PMAF Board of Directors and a founding member of PMI Finland Chapter.  He received the PMP certificate in 2003.  Since October 2007, Jouko has been head of the Finnish delegation to ISO for creation of the new ISO 21 500: Project Management: Guide to project management - standard.  Jouko resides in Helsinki, Finland and can be contacted at jouko.vaskimo"at"ixonos.com.  Additional information about Jouko Vaskimo can be found at http://www.pmforum.org/pm%20forum%20team/index.htm.