Mississippi Society of Certified Public Managers®

By Melissa McGee-Collier, CPM, MSCPM President
Melissa_Collier@deq.state.ms.us

This year’s MSCPM Annual Conference, “One Step at a Time: Moving Forward Together,” was held on May 28-29 at the Eagle Ridge Conference Center on the campus of Hinds Community College. Over the two-day course of the conference, attendees dug into big topics: how to stay focused and motivated when times are imperfect, the impact of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, race relations importance and relevance in the workplace, the new ethics laws and their effect, and more.

Members from 20 state agencies were represented. We had a well-rounded group of mostly experienced state employees. The significance of this event is that majority attendance was by current MSCPM members. That means we did a better job of reaching our membership base, which is important to us.

The conference was kicked off by keynote speaker, Dan Hall, President of On Course Solutions, a training and coaching company dedicated to strengthening organizations in personnel development, strategic planning, and specific disciplines of team building, communication skills, conflict resolution, sexual harassment, and race relations awareness. Mr. Hall is also an executive leader of “Mission Mississippi,” a Christian-based group that works to break through racial barriers. Mr. Hall also presented a breakout session on race relations.

Our 41st State Auditor of Mississippi, Stacey E. Pickering, was our closing session speaker. In 2003 Mr. Pickering was elected to represent District 42 in the Mississippi State Senate and was Chairman of both the Local and Private Committee and the Enrolled Bills Committee.

This year's conference was small, but as rewarding as ever! Networking with colleagues to learn from each other and fitting in some relaxation time, too, made it all worthwhile – quality presentations, colleagues, and friends! What could be better?

© Copyright 2009, American Academy of Certified Public Managers®