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Development Day of the Western Michigan Chapter of The Project Management Institute (WMPMI)

March 19, 2015 stellafly Leave a comment

PHOTOS: DIANNE CARROLL BURDICK

Manage Projects Like a Superhero!

That was the rallying cry for the 2015 Professional Development Day of the Western Michigan Chapter of The Project Management Institute (WMPMI) on Tuesday March 17 at The Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville, MI. With over 300 Project Management Professionals in attendance, this event was a marked success.
The WMPMI Professional Development Day is an annual event, staged in order to provide an educational opportunity for Professionals, a networking event for attendees, companies and sponsors, and to promote project management as a profession.

For more information on WMPMI, visit the website at www.wmpmi.org. Be sure to LIKE them on Facebook, too!

Michael Hughes, Samuel Bowles, James Snyder and keynote speaker Daniel Burrus all spoke to the group, delivering key messages on Networking, Software and Connectivity, The Past and Future of PMI, and Shaping the Future of Project Management.

Dr. Burrus crafted his remarks to fit our profession and brought in salient points from speakers earlier in the day. He eloquently tied all the threads together and challenged attendees with tools and to use different mindsets to revolutionize the Project Management profession.

The Professional Development Day was made possible by event sponsor Experis IT ManpowerGroup, with other sponsors Initech Global, LLC, Open Systems Technologies, Select-Resources, TEKsystems, International Institute for Learning, C/D/H Technology Consulting, New Horizons Learning Centers, and 4 Pillars of Success.

Going forward, please join WMPMI for THEProject collegiate project management competition on April 13, 2015. Sponsored by Spectrum Health and Dematic, this event will feature over 70 students, representing 20 Colleges and Universities, with a reverse career fair and award ceremony.

The Project Management Institute, (PMI) represents the largest project management association in the world. They have over 700,000 members and credential holders in 185 countries. Seasoned top performing certified Project Management Professionals (PMP), provide a common methodology to efficiently manage projects earning attractive incomes and held in high regard in the community. PMI recently released a study stating there is a need for 340,000 project management positions for the next 10 years. Many colleges and universities have recognized this trend and have responded with several courses and degrees with a focus in Project Management.

CURRENT EVENTS, INTERVIEWS

For the Love of Food, Beer & Wine — March 24th Celebrates the Fur Babies at Humane Society of West Michigan

March 5, 2014 stellafly Leave a comment

BY LAURA BERGELLS
PHOTOS TJ HAMILTON

Monday, March 24th marks the second annual Paws, Claws & Corks event at the Steelcase Ballroom in DeVos Place. When you attend, you’ll not only help raise money for the Humane Society of West Michigan (HSWM), you’ll also help yourself to a mouthwatering array of fabulous cuisine, brews, and wine.

Oh, and the networking opportunities?

“We’re expecting 450 plus people to attend,” said Trudy Ender, Executive Director at HSWM. “We’d like to shoot that through the roof. Over 500 would be fantastic.”

Last year’s event raised over $84,000 for the Humane Society of West Michigan. With the support of local restaurants, businesses and individuals, this year’s event is primed to be an even bigger success.

“Whether you’re an animal owner, or you just want to support the animals in our area, we want you to come,” said Nicole Cook, Marketing & Events Coordinator for the Humane Society of West Michigan. “It’s a fun event. Whether you love food, beer, and wine — or you just want to come out and support our animals, there’s something for everyone.”

The Humane Society of West Michigan has been in our area since 1883, and relies entirely on local support to fund its programs.

“Because we’re 100% donor funded, we don’t receive any funding from the government or national animal welfare organizations,” said Cook. “So everything that we do comes directly from our community. We rely on events like this that provide the majority of our funding to care for all the animals that we have year round.”

Locally, Meijer continues to support the organization and plans to be present at the event

“Since 2004, Meijer has been a partner with the Humane Society,” said Stacie Behler, Group Vice President for Public Affairs at Meijer. “We realize the importance of rescuing and finding forever homes for pets in West Michigan. And so we love to support different events that the Humane Society puts on to raise awareness as well as raising capital. We got a lot of expenses here, caring for animals.”

The HSWM needs your support to run its 15+ critical programs. The largest program is animal adoptions.

“Currently, we have about 200 animals,” said Cook. “The majority of those are dogs and cats, but we also currently have bunnies, a couple of guinea pigs, and some hamsters.”

Another big program is Kibble Konnection.

“That’s our low income pet food bank,” explained Cook. “We believe strongly that if we can provide some supplemental services for people who are struggling a little bit that they can keep that pet in the home. The pet’s happier, the people are happier, and that’s one less animal in an already overcrowded shelter.”

Other programs include humane education, spay/neuter, and animal rehabilitation.

Come to nom-nom-nom, network, and bid on auction items. This year’s event will feature noshes and guzzles from the following restaurants:

The Catering Company

FOODesign by Chef Brech

One Trick Pony Grill & Taproom

Reds on the River

FireRock Grille

Reserve Wine & Food

Who you’ll meet: a small sampling

Kim Bode, Principal – 834 Design & Marketing

Paws, Claws, & Corks Co-Chair

“My involvement with HSWM and Paws, Claws & Corks stems from my love of animals, particularly dogs. I have 4 amazing large, loud and lovable dogs – Bentley, Apollo, Murphy and Jimmy. The joy they have brought into my life is immeasurable. Animals give so much of themselves to their human counterparts and the least we can do is support a great organization that is dedicated to finding them their forever homes.”

Stacie Behler

Group Vice President, Public Affairs, Meijer

“I’m not unlike thousands of Meijer customers who also have pets in their homes. Today, I was with my dog Jake. And he’s got two cat brothers that live at home with us, too. He had a sister that we had to say goodbye to in November. But we are an animal family, and lots of Meijer shoppers are animal families, too, so it’s a great fit for us to support the Humane Society.”

Tom Picardy, Certified Financial Planner – Fortune Financial Solutions, LLC

Humane Society of West Michigan Board Member

“My passion for animals and involvement with the HSWM started as a young child. As the current President of the Board of Directors, I continually try to find innovative ways to help the organization succeed in our wonderful community. ”

For tickets, please contact Tammy Hagedorn, Director of Development, at thagedorn@hswestmi.org or 616-791-8138. You can also purchase tickets online.

CURRENT EVENTS

Inspire. Design. Do.

November 9, 2012 stellafly Leave a comment

BY :: STELLAFLY
PHOTOGRAPHER TIM MOTLEY

Yesterday we stopped by the Inspire. Design. Do. to check out a creative learning event held at Kendall’s Historic Federal Building. The room was full of students, faculty, entrepreneurs and business people from West Michigan all in attendance for an interactive experience exploring creativity, design and to encourage entrepreneurial spirit.

Tiger Studio, Start Garden, The Factory and Kendall College sponsored the all day event that ended with a Start Garden experience.

Speakers included: Craig Hall, president of Lee Shore Equities. Craig has started 8 companies and 2 non-profits. Craig sits on the board of Cascade Engineering, NewNorth Center for Design in Business, Lakeshore Advantage, Nucraft Furniture, Alpena Power Company and is an Entrepreneurship Task Member at Purdue University.

Mike Morrin, StartGarden, handles the investment side of SG, and has worked with Craig Hall at Digital Commerce. Mike has also worked in product development, software and even the music business. StartGarden is a 15 million dollar venture capitol fun.

Miles Smith, a 22 year old student at Grand Valley State University, who had an idea for using break-away technology on fishing lures. His idea has helped him win start-up money from several investors. He started his company, BAHRS, LLC, as a vehicle to develop and innovate new products in the sport fishing industry. Miles is a business major who doesn’t consider himself entrepreneurial, although when he was 11 he had 3 paper routes, and used his paycheck for candy and Legos. In college as a freshman, he would buy longboards on Craig’s List and flip them. He’d buy them for 30-40 dollars, and sell them for 150 dollars, which paid for books, rent, and lots of Yesterdog hotdogs.

Kendall President, Dr. Rosen reminded the audience to Be bold. Stay bold. To not waste time and to not think that anything you are doing is a waste of time. To not let perfection stand in the way of achievement. “Grand Rapids is a creative community with a head for design — a place that honors innovation, and entrepreneurship,” he said. “It is Kendall’s job to create a place where ideas can flourish.”

The participants then broke off into groups of 5-6 supplied with post-it pads, dry-erase markers, pay doh and pipe cleaners. The teams were given the task of picking one idea and framing it. Each group was given a series of variables: A person, a trend, a problem. They arranged and organized their notes into cohesive ideas. Each group chose a representative who had to deliver the concept in two minutes.Colorful sticky notes littered the tables. Sketches of all shapes and sizes dominated the scene.

After the initial exercise, participants addressed the questions to turn their idea into a business model. The event then transitioned into a Q & A session for the selected speakers. The take away message from the event wasn’t to teach participants how to start a business but rather how to get to that place through exploring experiences. Important lessons like surrounding yourself with people who inspire you and that starting a business is an end result of this type of mindset. Entrepreneuralism should be viewed as a way of attacking problems and encouraging constant change and that it is through this is the way of thinking that leads to positive experiences.

To read the entire blog: http://www.kcad.edu/blog/entrepreneurship-is-design/