PMIWDC

Below are a selection of some of the strategic ideas from the PMIWDC leaders who attend the annual PMI Region 5 Symposium in January 2008...

1. Roy Burton - Director at Large
2. Linda Cantey - President Elect
3. Debra Charles - VP Professional Development
4. John Cormier - Director at Large
5. Jay Demas - VP Records Management
6. Chris Fristad - Director at Large
7. Davin Hattaway - Chapter Office
8. Ron Taylor - President

Roy Burton - Director at Large

• Reduce Finanicial Vulnerablities - Separation of duties; rigid internal controls; frequent disclosure of financial to the Board and members; post bank statements, income and balance sheets for Board's random access.
• Create a Board position focused solely on Certifications / Recertification of PMI credentials.
• Records Management - maintain files in a central location on Sharepoint. Hard copies should be scanned and posted to Sharepoint or kept in secure PMI file cabinet.

Linda Cantey - President Elect

• Get our chapter booth at more events, staffed with someone to recruit members
• Follow up on the tips we received at last year's team building session
• Include a question in our membership survey asking how much people are willing to pay for PDUs
• Offer an event with some big names (like Denver does - they bring in the likes of Tom Peters, etc.)

Debra Charles - VP Professional Development

• Finance and Governance: Provide frequent disclosure of financial information to the Board and members; provide more timely access to financial records, Bank Statements, financial reports; use accounting software such as Quicken or QuckBooks Online (QBOL); rotate Treasurer or financial position to limit potential financial liability
• Professional Development: look into ITL - Instructor-led Training online courses for PDU opportunities; look into alliance with universities and kickback from university P.M. classes to Chapter (ex. $25/PM course if chapter member takes course); get companies such as banks, etc to sponsor Professional Devopment Day (PDD)
• Component Awards: Apply for Component Award as we do the same or more than other chapters who won awards.
• Legal Requirements: keep accurate and complete records to protect Chapter; keep Corporate Records Book of events; create Disaster Recovery Plan for records
• Chapter shirts, etc: provide PMIWDC padfolios/notebooks with PMIWDC logo to Board members; use online access to component wear with chapter account.

John Cormier - Director at Large

Jay Demas - VP Records Management

Chris Fristad - Director at Large

• Financial Best Practices
  • Credit Cards assigned to Pres and VP
  • Download from Bank to accounting software
  • Use automatic payment whenever possible
  • Bank Generated Checks
  • Uses CPA for transition between VP finances, independent eyes
  • Each board member has 5 guest passes
  • Use of QBOL (Quick Books on Line) allows for access by CPA as well as VP Finances
• Lou Gedansky’s Presentation
  • For Executive Outreach – Identify the problems they are having and solve them -- best way to demonstrate value of PM to C Suite

Davin Hattaway - Chapter Office

• Finance and Governance:
  • Consider purchase of PMIWDC Credit Card (and of course develop usage protocols, policies, etc)
  • Evaluate cost-benefit of point-of-sale credit card terminals (i.e. "Swipe Machines") for sale of publications, event registrations, etc at at events
  • Define a set number of "free passes" to events for each board member. This may vary according to position, so for example the president would be able to invite more guests per year than the AVP of Whatever, since the president's role requires more outreach.
  • Consider forming an "Idea Committee"that would be primarily tasked with talking to volunteers and bringing "out of the box" ideas for VP Consideration.
• Programs:
  • Rapid-Response Programs - Breakfasts or luncheons where the speaker and topic are deliberately left TBD until a few weeks before the event. The topic will evenually be chosen based on very recent news and developments. For example, "How will the newly introduced OMB Circular 99999 affect PM Services in the Public Sector." If the logistics can be worked out, this would be a very immediate value to the members, and leave PMIWDC with a virutal monopoly of credibility on the topic.
  • PgMP Prep - We're not in a position to host such a prep course in 2008, but it would be possible in 2009 if identify and develop the neccessary resources. We would likely have the first such prep course in the region, which would be very popularand valuable to our members.
  • Specialized-Category Programs - One-day courses on specific portions of the PMBOK (e.g. Risk Management), targeted to mid-career professionals.
  • Testimonials - We should have a system in place to capture and publicize positive testimonials for each of our programs.
• Communications
  • Targeted Marketing to Expiring PMPs - We should try to push extra targeted advertisements for our programs to local PMPs who are close to their certificate expiration. Many of them are probably scrambling to renew their certifications.and would respond well to PDU opportunities.
  • Graphic Design and Branding - Consider hiring a graphic designer to generate logos for each of our luncheons and programs. There will be a high upfront cost, but it would allow for quick visual differentiation between programs in our publications and website. As the number of programs grows, we'll need some way of preventing the chapter offerings from becoming what amounts to a list of "product features." Distinctive logos will add distinctive character to each event.
  • Commission Publications - We could pay authors (or developers, etc) to produce new and unique publications that PMIWDC would own and sell. PMI-CVC's Palcemats are a successful example of such a production, though it could be books, guides, etc.

Ron Taylor - President

• Work with PMICVC on developing risks plans for our chapter.
• Work with PMICVC on reviewing and improving our financial management system.
• Work with Southwest VA Chapter on reciprocal activities with Habitat for Humanity.
• Work with Baltimore Chapter on joint luncheon series in Reston.