The Monthly Programs are an integral part of the Chapters presence in the community.  I took the responsibilities as the Programs Director in January of this year.  Alan Devney was the director last year.  He continued to provide excellent speakers while working with our struggling facility, the Five Seasons.  He did a wonderful job just keeping everything moving.  During the first quarter of this year the job has seen its up and downs.  The chapter has been forced to move locations and we still look to gather volunteers.  On the other hand, attendance has increased by almost 50 attendees and the speakers have been exceptional.

As I mentioned, we have had to make a sudden change to our venue.  I had hoped to form a search committee to begin to look at other options starting in January.  I had no volunteers so this had to be put on hold.  After stumbling on the fact that the Five Seasons was going to close their banquet facility the chapters’ president, David Daily, and I looked for alternatives in the area.  We went to four locations, The Ritz Charles, The Fountains, Oak Hill Mansion, and the Montage.  We chose these facilities because this would keep us on the north side and they were reasonably priced.  (see Facilities Evaluation Criteria)  Our Membership Director, Colleen Cullinan, researched our membership and found that 73% live north of 38^th street. (see PMICIC Demographics)   I ultimately chose the Mansion because it will provide us with better service, with the same dinner options, at the best price.

The Programs Committee is still looking for volunteers as well.  We have a variety of duties the night of the meeting.  I have listed the jobs below.  Please e-mail me if you are interested at programs@pmicic.org.  Don’t forget, if you volunteer at a Program Meeting you not only get an opportunity to gain PDU’s, you get in the meeting for FREE.

• Registration desk – mark people off as they come in to the event.
• Sponsorship and/or Speaker duty – attend to speaker and/or sponsor at the beginning of the event.  Show them layout of facility and explain how the night is going to run.
• Emcee – Start off the night with announcements, end the night with the give-aways.

I would also like to form a committee to look at other ways to get the membership involved.  One suggestion has been an auditorium meeting without dinner.  Another has been a luncheon downtown.  A member had also asked how to bring a program meeting to the south side of town.  All of these are great ideas.  I need committee members to help make these a reality.

The good news is that we have had an outstanding quarter so far.  We started out the year with Steve and Diana Burgan.  They packed the house with nearly 220 people and kept the crowd riveted up to the very end.  In February we had a first time speaker to our area, Myra Ricceri.  She spoke on the topic of Ethnography.  One of our long time members mentioned that it was one of the best presentations he had been to in years.  March brought us our joint meeting with APICS and ASQ.  This partnership has produced two years of great presentations.  We have also had the privilege of networking with these two important groups in our area.  APICS is the Association for Operations Management and ASQ is the American Society for Quality.  In April Hans Jonasson spoke on the topic of capturing requirements.   After his presentation he too received great praise from the membership.  Below is a sample of what you can expect the rest of the year.  As you can see we have a number of out of town speakers this year.  We strive to continue to bring new and fresh content to you.

• Rick Belanger will be presenting on the topic of “Mindmapping"
• Neil Whitten will be presenting on the topic of “Behaviors to Master When Dealing with Your Leaders" 
• Gary Hobbs will be presenting on the topic of “How to Manage Changing Project Budgets within an Annual Budgeting Cycle” 
• Mark Kozak-Holland will be presenting on the topic of “Titanic Lessons for Projects"
• Patrick Leddin will be presenting on the topic of “Creating a Culture of Execution”