PM News From Industry - November 2006
World's Largest Vendor Exhibition Highlights PMI North American Congress in Seattle
The Project Management Institute (PMIŽ) has had a record number of vendor participants at its Global Congress 2006 - North America, which was held at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle during 21-24 October. According to the program guide, 250 vendors of project management (PM) products, services and technologies participated in the three-day vendor exhibition that accompanied the Seattle Congress.
The largest and most visible vendor was Microsoft Corporation, with its large booth at the entrance to the exhibition and where Microsoft's new Project 2007 was introduced to attendees. Just prior to the congress, Microsoft had issued several news releases to announce new partnerships, new marketing programs and new product feature. Microsoft was also the official "host sponsor" for the Seattle PMI congress.
Other major congress sponsors included Hewlett-Packard Co., International Institute for Learning Inc., Primavera, Rolls-Royce, Velociteach, ESI International, Cadence Management Corp., Boston University Corporate Education Center, Bucher & Christian Consulting, Project Management Training Institute, and The Versatile Company. With the exception of Rolls-Royce, each of the sponsors also had a booth and major presence in the Vendor Exhibition area.
Other PM vendors with booths in the exhibition area included Cheetah Learning, Crosswind Project Management, Dekker Ltd, Deltek, e-Project, Global Knowledge, IBM, John Wiley & Sons, Management Concepts, Planview, PM Solutions Inc., PMOLink, Project Managemen Leadership Group, RMC Project Managemen, Robbins-Gioia Inc., Systemation, Tenrox, TenStep Inc., The APM Group, Velociteach, and Watermark Learning.
A surprising number of universities also participated in the vendor exhibition in Seattle, reflecting the increasing number of graduate and professional degrees in PM now being offered across North America. Schools with booths or stands at the Seattle show included Athabasca University, Boston University, Capella University, Defense Acquisition University, DeVry University, Northeastern University, Regis University, The George Washington University, The Pennsylvania State University, The University of Texas at Dallas, The University of Wisconsin Platteville, University of California Irvine Extension, University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Denver, University of Management & Technology, University of Maryland, Villanova University and Western Carolina University.
PMI's Global Congress 2006 - North America is one of four regional global congresses that are held each year at various locations around the world and which have replaced PMI's annual Seminars/Symposium. Each global congress includes a vendor exhibition where suppliers of PM products and services can showcase new features, services and technologies for conference attendees.
With nearly 220,000 members in over 150 countries, PMI is the world's largest and best-known project management professional society. PMI is engaged in advocacy for the PM profession, setting standards, conducting research and providing access to a wide variety of information and resources. PMI also promotes career and professional development and offers certification, networking and community involvement opportunities. PMI was founded in the USA in 1969, but is now a global organization with members, chapters and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.pmi.org.