President's Message & Press release

A Message from PMI Buffalo Chapter President Mark Kwandrans

Everyone’s mind is currently on the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy and the coming winter in Buffalo, but I thought I’d write to let you know what’s happening in the Chapter. It’s a much nicer topic to write about.

After a successful strategic planning session this summer, the Board members went off to work with their volunteers to come up with operational plans for 2013. They looked at the status of our programs – what’s working, what’s not working, what do we want to try next year. They came back to present those plans to the Board earlier this week. That was an exciting Board meeting – we have plenty of ideas for 2013, and I, for one, can’t wait to see them implemented. The rest of the calendar year will be spent developing the budget to support those plans. We’re a lot timelier than the Federal Government, and we should have a balanced budget by the end of the year. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements.

Another topic I wanted to touch on briefly is that of attrition. The Chapter continues to see a fair number of members leave after just one year. People seem to join to get the discount on the PMP Prep class, and then leave when that year is up. If you are on the fence about whether to renew your membership, think about all the value we provide. Dinner meetings, breakfast roundtables, networking opportunities, half-day training, online programs, full-day workshops – you won’t find a variety of programming like that anywhere else. Try to attend more events – there’s nothing like being in a room of your colleagues, realizing that everyone has the same issues at work, to make a project manager feel welcome (and how often does that happen at work or home?). I’m constantly surprised by the number of people who wait 6 to 9 months to redeem the free dinner certificate they get when they join! Don’t put it off – mark it on your calendar and come join us.

If there’s some reason that you’re thinking about not renewing your membership, please write me. Let me know what’s up – we may already have a plan in place to address your concerns!

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to write me at president@pmibuffalo.org