I met Karen Macdonald at the BPUG seminar and while talking with her over lunch I asked if she would interview for my blog. I'm excited that she agreed to do it and here's the what she thought about the seminar.
So, now that the blog is going places, it's time to let you know more about Project Management groups and accreditions. Ofcourse after we have gone through some details of the 2 day's of seminar.
Among all the sessions I have heard in the seminar, they are a few which seemed very interesting. The information and the content were great however a few speakers had a charm of their own. Humor sure helps, to lighten up the subject and keep the listeners entertained. The list of speakers can be found here.
Oliver Buhr, the Danish Project Manager working in Germany was full of humor. The audience enjoyed the occasional laughs as they did the subject. Alan Harpham of the APM Group was remarkable in his wit. Alan made sure every speaker in the seminar was at ease while he chaired the sessions.
One of the session that I think everyone enjoyed was Plenary workshop: Discovering your mental cribsheet. It was simple, easy to follow and one of the most interactive sessions of the seminar. While the audience was left scribbling and talking among each other - it was everyone's involvement in the room that grabbed the attention. It turned out to be a great topic to network over at lunch.
It began with an exercise of how you come back from a leave and suddenly realise that one of the project managers is sick and you are taking over the project. So, you can write down the 5 questions which come to your mind and share it with the person sitting next to you. I actually took my original scribbling from the session and re-did it in "paint" so I can put it up here (see picture).
Other sessions I have to talk about includes Keynote address: the 40 minute business bootcamp by Colonel Bob Stewart DSO. A natural speaker, he taught about the necessity of careful planning, risk assesment and what leaders should be. Elizabeth Harrin, the youngest speaker talked about the emerging world of web 2.0. I think the trends of web 2.0 startled a lot of the audience and how they needed to keep up with the younger generation. It was a fresh approach with most wondering what "twitter" actually perhaps did. Funny I thought, it's time our generation brought something unique to the table.
Watch this space, more on Prince 2 exams and a discount voucher worth 50 pounds from the- PSO coming up.
(Click on the picture: Scribblings from the seminar. )
The idea of going to a seminar on this scale for the first time is quite scary really but it seemed alright. Thanks to Kate (PR manager for the event) and the APM group, it all seemed very easy.Of course your passport.
Make sure to check out the location before and be there on time. The rest is really easy, you just go with the flow of the sessions and the people. However, a new country can be challenging in a lot of way. For me, being in a room full of people almost twice my height was really challenging. My height is not one of best assests.
Conversing with senior project, programme, portfolio managers and authors/experts/trainers could be really hard, specially when you are just starting out. It's such a thrill to just share the space with all of them and frankly most are really nice people only if you can master the guts to say, hello.
The most surprising part was meeting people right there who actually read my blog. Now, that was huge and inspiring.
Here are the websites of organizations present in the information booths:
More on the seminar coming up soon.
(Picture: At the Lancaster Hotel during the seminar tea and networking break)
Finally I get to meet Elizabeth Harrin today at the BPUG International Congress. It was wonderful and overwhelming (as you may figure out from my clumsy expression in the picture).
