An interview with Robert Goatham - Speaker on July 18th

If you're wondering about some of the topics that will be discussed during this event, read up on the interview with Robert Goatham by our volunteer blogger - Brooke Ferguson.  She sums it up as "situational awareness and project management".  Read the details below:

Robert Goatham says that becoming a project manager was a natural progression for him. He’s passionate about understanding people and about expanding our Body of Knowledge. After twenty years as a project manager he made the conscious decision to move towards education. His “in the trenches” experience across the world has lead him to believe that more effective training programs can be produced through a comparative analysis of successful and failed projects.

This analysis has lead Robert to the conclusion that most projects don’t fail on the process side of things alone. He’s hinted at 6 dimensions that effect a project, one of them being process. I’m guessing that another of those is decision-making. Perhaps there’ll be a dimensions matrix in PMBOK 5?

Robert wants us to have higher levels of situational awareness after attending his session. He sees projects as a series of decision-points, where those decisions aren’t just a moment in time; they are influenced by many factors. In the hurly burly of project management we often rush our decisions - perhaps confusing being decisive with making good decisions? If we take a little more time and explore our options we’ll be aware of the bigger picture and be better informed when we make our decisions.

Thinking on my discussion with Robert, the usual bugbear in project management comes to mind - planning. Many inexperienced project managers want to jump into the doing without really thinking about what we’re actually doing - I can say ‘we’ as I’ve certainly been guilty of this.

If you want to find out about these other dimensions and how to have more successful project outcomes, come to the Four Seasons on July 18th for the monthly chapter event.

A White Paper on Leveraging Tools For Collaboration

Microsoft has provided a very informative and detailed whitepaper on enhancing your project collaboration processes.  Visit our sponsor page for more information and a link to download the file.

Conference News! Read our interview with keynote speaker Ken Hanley

Here is your opportunity to read beyond the personal bio and presentation abstract!  

Our own chapter volunteer blogger Brooke Ferguson interviewed our annual conference keynote speaker Ken Hanley and discovered some fascinating facts about him and gained some insight into his wealth of knowledge.  More importantly, Brooke has given us a good idea of what to expect from his keynote address.  

Read Brooke's interview with Ken Hanley here.

Learn more about the annual conference and career fair agenda here.

Chapter Facebook Page Launched! "Like" Our Page and Possibly Win!

We have launched a chapter facebook page to help connect our membership more and bring increased awareness to all that our chapter has to offer.  Visit our Facebook page and "like" us now.  Liking us allows you to also stay on top of our numerous events and networking opportunities.  Enter the contest on the page and you could win a $25 gift certificate.  More details on the page.

Chapter Conference Early Bird Registration Incentive Prize Announced!

Please bookmark Wednesday June 20th, 2012 as the date for our annual chapter conference and career fair. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!  Early bird registration ends on June 1st! Register now and have a chance to win a Kindle Touch!    

This year's theme will be "Leadership in action".   Visit our dedicated conference and career fair page for more detailed information on the agenda, speakers and registration.