PMI Belgium Facilitation: The Ultimate PM Skill? Call for Speakers 1
Part I: 2018 s Theme Introduction Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world s leading non-profit professional membership association for the Project, Program and Portfolio Management profession. PMI serves practitioners and organizations with standards that describe good practices, globally recognized credentials that certify project management expertise, and resources for professional development, networking and community. PMI Belgium Chapter is the local representation of PMI worldwide and has about 1000 members. Besides holding regular events in different cities, PMI Belgium also holds a full-day annual congress, now known as the PM Fair, where prominent speakers of national and international reputation share their experiences, recent developments, and future trends in the field of project management. Over 200 PMI members, sponsoring organizations and other enthusiasts of the project management profession, attend this popular event. This year s PM Fair will be held on Friday, the 5 th of October 2018 at the Proximus Lounge in Evere, Belgium, with a new stimulating theme that is aimed at inspiring all the participants. The Annual PMI Congress: Theme, Concept & Evolution The PMI Belgium Chapter has a long-standing tradition of organizing an Annual Congress, the PM Fair, in the beginning of October each year. The event will be set up like a Fair and will offer a fertile ground for professional interaction, networking and knowledge sharing. It will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas, opinions, values and best practices with professionals from different industries/organizations in an informal environment. It will encourage active participation in various PM roles at special booths. It will also allow sponsors/authors to demonstrate their products or services to a targeted group of professionals. In nutshell, it will be a very special, very dynamic and a very friendly Market of, for and by the Project Management professionals. As Project Management is not limited to any particular business segment or industry, we want to broaden our horizon with this concept to welcome practitioners, academicians, speakers, writers, lecturers, recruiters as well as sponsors from different organizations, industries, professions, universities, etc. The PM Market Place during the PM Fair consists of a place for everyone to meet and for each one to gain something as well as give back making our event the biggest annual fair that every PM professional looks forward to in Belgium. It is a place for both the persons who are looking for a job and the persons who can share some opportunities. 2
The PM Fair Market Place is the central point of our event where we organize animations and entertainment, share interesting and new content; provide many opportunities for networking, all in one place and the whole day and not just during coffee breaks or lunch. Hence, naturally it is the place to be during the event. The PM Fair also provides a high level of visibility to the PMI Belgium Chapter during the full day event making it an event to reckon with in the world of the project management in Belgium. The objective is to regroup professionals active in project/program/portfolio management in one place where they can share their experience with the others. At the end of the day, it is important that each attendee has learnt something new, continues to be happy with the choice of career in the PM area and is better motivated to achieve higher levels of performance in project management. In addition, have a lot of fun and enjoy themselves the entire day and leave with a feeling that he or she shall definitely return the following year with higher expectations. The icing on the cake; this year during the PM Fair 2018, we will be celebrating the 20 th Anniversary of the PMI Belgium Chapter. The Theme: Facilitation: The Ultimate PM Skill? The project manager s mission has evolved and facilitation skills have become ever more important and key to the success of the challenging nature of the projects we manage today. The theme of the PM Fair 2018 therefore is aptly: Facilitation: The Ultimate PM Skill? If project managers were often coming from the technical and specialised world in the past, they tend now to be more generic, less linked with a product or a technique and be able to change industry while still being competent as project manager. But what is actually a facilitating project manager? The facilitating project manager is a complete manager, being able to communicate adequately to every audience, listen and understand stakeholders. He is serious but he also can be playful if the mood changes. He knows the rules and can go beyond them if necessary. He can improvise, reach a decision in a group without imposing his point of view, create solutions while associating different points of view, adapt if things change. He knows that people can grow, he identifies the gaps and help filling them. The facilitating project manager use different techniques like games to help his team grow as a whole and individually. 3
The format In 2018, the presentation style will evolve. We have decided to have only one track of presentations following the Ted format. Each presentation will indeed follow the 18 minutes rule. This is long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people s attention. It is the length of a coffee break. The 18-minute length also works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what they write. Chris Anderson To present, the speaker will have an amazing opportunity, a 10 by 4 meter triple HD screen, allowing him to create a real show for the audience. As we know that knowledge comes with practice, the speakers, with a practical subject, will have the opportunity to facilitate a workshop (limited time or full size) related to the presentation the performed before in a breakout room. This will give to participants the opportunity to have a hands-on experience on the presented subject. 4
The Program Content We plan to have four tracks in the congress (presentations master classes workshops). We have the following topics that might guide the potential speaker in providing his abstract: There will be four different tracks based on trends in the project management field. The speakers may also propose new or different idea(s) aligned to the theme of the event and the same are welcome. Track 1 New communication skills : o Using improvisation and theatre techniques for better presentations o Using games to share and create information in project teams Track 2 Resource management skills : o Resource skill assessment o Setting up a development path o Monitor and control development o Evaluation of effort considering the resource level Track 3 Product management skills : o Product development o Stakeholder management o Product priorities o Long term and short term view o Leading the customer in the definitions of his needs Track 4 Breaking the rules : o Beyond project management techniques o Innovation in product and project management A. The Sub-Themes New communication skills: Topics focused on new communication techniques that are not that new but still rarely used in project management. Topic 1: Improvisation for leaders Leaders are every day facing a changing world. However, they try to plan the project as much as they can, change and unexpected events are everywhere. In this case, the PM must have the ability to react rapidly to the unexpected. This can even happen in meetings with customers. How can improvisation techniques help the manager in finding the right word or exploring new horizons to find a solution? Topic 2: Games in project management Knowledge transmission techniques have changed and it is now obvious that active participation is the only way to master a subject. Gaming is the best technique to share knowledge and to challenge creativity. How can we effectively use serious gaming in project management? 5
Resource management Skills: Topics with the focus on knowledge, skills and behaviors specific for leadership oriented, cross cutting skills that help an organization achieve its goals. Topic 3: Group facilitation Working merely in groups is the best way to avoid mistakes individuals make and to make mistakes that everyone agrees to. Facilitated groups on the other hand have a totally different approach where hierarchy and authority pave way to collaboration and co-development. How do PM apply this in their project? Topic 4: Interpersonal skills Project management is 75% communication. Communication even at its best remains the biggest challenge. Project Teams being as diverse and heterogeneous mix as ever and quite often-virtual make it very difficult to understand and to be understood in exactly the same way as is intended. What are the interpersonal skills that need focus and development to have a better understanding of what is communicated or simply to be understood correctly by the intended audience? Product management skills: Topic 5: Sponsorship and facilitation The sponsor is the main customer for most Project Managers. How should we connect with him? How do we understand his priorities in order to have a project that better fit them? Topic 6: Customer journey In the future there will be less and less project managers and more product managers. This requires different skills to manage actual priorities of development. Whether we work in Agile or in iterative development, scope must be though in term of phases. How is the Product manager supposed to develop these features when the requirements are still unclear and the resources limited? Breaking the rules: Topics related to knowledge of and expertise in the industry and how to improve them to enhance performance and delivery of business outcomes. Topic 7: Resource allocation and development Working in a project requires the right person at the right place. But this is not always the case and often, you can notice a gap between the required skills and the requested ones. How do you adapt the project according to the resource? How do you justify the additional budget? Topic 8: Innovation Once you master the rules, the next step is to break them and look for new and sometimes better solutions. Expert project managers often have this ability to look beyond the project management rules to find innovative solutions. How can we apply these techniques for projects? Are there tips and tricks that can be mastered and applied directly in our projects? 6
B. The Workshops/Master classes We are interested to have workshops/master classes related to the topics in the sub-themes below: Topic 1 - Improvisation for leaders Topic 2 - Games in project management Topic 3 - Group facilitation Topic 4 - Interpersonal skills Topic 5 - Strategy facilitation Topic 6 Customer journey Topic 7 - Resource allocation and development Topic 8 - Innovation The workshop must be delivered in conjunction with a presentation and be a practical application of the topic presented during the speech. The workshop will be organized after the topic presentation. 7
Part II: Call for Speakers This is a call to be a speaker at the prestigious PMI Belgium Annual National Congress, PM Fair 2018. A Speaker is an important part of PM Fair Team and the quality and relevance of the presentations are crucial for success of the event. Knowing that you are presenting at THE Project Management event of Belgium the onus lies on your shoulders to deliver the most fitting sessions, keynote or workshop/special activity. The call is for: (Please, see proposed Program Layout in Annexure A) - 2 Keynote Speakers - 9 Classic sessions (18 minutes) - 4 limited duration Workshops (1 hour) - 1 Masterclass workshop (2 hours) There are no fees foreseen for our speakers as you are considered volunteers. Travel and accommodation expenses could be discussed on a case-by-case basis. Each presenter should prepare his or her submission to include the following (see attached form): 1. s first name, s last name 2. PMI Credentials 3. Job Title 4. Company name 5. Mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number 6. s profile for website (300 words) 7. s profile for introduction (100 words) 8. High-resolution headshot. 9. Give your role preference (Classic speaker, Keynote) 10. Are you interested in organising a workshop after your speech? (none, limited time, full size) 11. Presentation experience. 12. Audience experience level (Low, medium, high) 13. Topic of the PM Fair your speech relates to (1-9) 14. Presentation title. 15. Presentation description 16. Learning goals summary i.e.: what do you want the audience to learn from your presentation. 17. Presentation full details 18. Presentation history (presented before, never presented before) 19. Sample presentation recording of 1 min max presenting the speaker and the topic. This video will be used for the evaluation of the speaker skills and in the promotional campaign for the congress. A link to an online video of a given speech on the topic is also allowed 20. Any special requirements for your presentation. Submission have to be submitted by email before 9 th of June at content@pmfair.org Submission deadline: 9th June 2018 Notification of Selected s: Starting from 22 nd June 2018 8
Selection process for PMI Belgium Annual Congress edition 2018 The selection process consists of the following steps: 1. Submit your request to be a by sending in your abstract and other details before the due date. 2. The abstracts, materials submitted will be reviewed for alignment to the PM Fair theme, relevance to the profession, feasibility of proposed activity, experience of the speaker and a list of selected presenters for the event will be decided. 3. Selected presenters will receive a confirmation letter with more specific information and deadline for the submission of their full draft presentation. 9
A: Program Lay-out Draft program of the day is as shown below; there will be a walking/working lunch organised but no specific lunch break. The program will be finalized after the selection and confirmation by the presenters. 08:00 09:00 09:00 09:20 09:20 09:40 09:45 10:30 10:30 11:00 Registration & Welcome Breakfast Auditorium Opening by the PMI BE Chapter President Stephane De Vroey + Christine Dassy Speaker's Talk: Each speaker gets the stage for 1 minute to present his topic MORNING KEYNOTE SESSION TBD Subject TBD Coffee Break Auditorium Breakout 1 Breakout 2 Lobby 11:00 11:20 11:30 11:50 12:00 12:20 12:30 Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 3 WORKSHOP Workshop 1 WORKSHOP Workshop 4 Coffee stand Walking Lunch 13:30 13:50 Topic 4 14:00 14:45 AFTERNOON KEYNOTE SESSION TBD Subject TBD 15:00 15:20 15:30 15:50 16:00 16:30 16:30 17:00 16:50 17:20 17:30 17:50 Topic 5 Topic 6 Topic 7 Topic 8 Topic 9 WORKSHOP Workshop 2 WORKSHOP Workshop 3 Coffee break MASTERCLASS Workshop 5 1/2 MASTERCLASS Workshop 5 2/2 Coffee stand Auditorium 18:00 18:30 Closing by PMI Board + PM Fair PM 18:30 20:00 After Congress meet up (Open bar - Food - Networking) 10