May 2, 2008 was a day of historical proportion for the Southern New England Chapter.  It was the day of our third annual professional development conference; it was the day designated “Project Management Day” throughout the state of Connecticut by Governor Jodi Rell; and it was the day SNEC-PMI went green by reducing the number of paper handouts and providing environmentally friendly (collapsible fold and zipper) tote bags.  Even before we kicked-off the day, Keynote Speaker Captain Brudnicki was interviewed on the local radio WTIC1080 morning show. 

Attendees checking in on May 2, 2008

We thought we did good but knew we got to great when none other than Lee Lambert himself told us,  “I have never experienced the depth and quality of a professional development event that comes close to equaling the May 2 SNEC-PMI Professional Development Day.” 

One of our many skilled Conference presenters  

After a rousing keynote, nearly 700 conference attendees were able to put Captain Larry Brudnicki’s decision-making pointers (based on his rescue experiences in “The Perfect Storm”) to work as they faced difficult choices – which four of the 20 outstanding satellite presentations to attend; how to work a visit to each of the 25 exhibitors; or with whom to lunch.  A new feature to this year’s conference was Lunch and Learns.  Attendees could attend a session with Microsoft or IBM or join friends and co-workers for lunch.  The closing session was a comedic view of project management, SNEC, and PMI by corporate funnyman Greg Schwem.  That put everyone in great spirits for the post conference reception that allowed attendees to extend their networking at the award-winning Connecticut Convention Center.  

An audience enthralled!

Our sincere thanks to all our presenters, our many sponsors for their financial support, our Chapter members and especially the conference attendees who are the real reason our events are so successful.  Next year’s conference team is already putting together their plan to exceed prior years’ attendance and sponsorship records!

Two volunteers at our SNEC-PMI booth