Best keynote: Mark Sanborn author of Fred Factor and his recent book: You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader. Mark’s challenge to me: ‘Who or What is better because of you?’
Best presentation: Neal Whitten. PMI assigned Neal to a room for a break-out session, and the space filled up before the congress began. They moved Neal to a larger room that could hold several hundred – and Neal filled that one up! Neal’s talk is entitled Behaviors that Lead to Exceptional Performance. Neal walked through 15 behaviors and delivered in his no-nonsense style – right on point; very effective!
Best topic: MRAP Vehicle Project (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) by David Hansen, Program Manager, and David Gibson.
- PMI Project of the Year finalist
- Goal : save lives of military personnel
- How : by replacing Hummers with vehicles better equipped to withstand blasts from IEDs
- Results : with new vehicle, greater than 90% of those involved in bombing went back to work the next day. That deserves a standing ovation!
- Notable : US Secretary of Defense Gates was the program sponsor
Best one-liner: Everyone eats lunch together between sessions. While sitting at a round table with fellow PMPs, I broke into laughter at one Congress-Goer’s comment that ‘these are the most expensive PDUs in the world’. When you add up the travel costs, registration, time out of the office… plus the money someone may misplace on Bourbon Street… these PDUs are pricey. Yes…I can see that!