The Forum on Construction Project Leadership
Columbia University, NY NY

The purpose of the forum is to examine some of the current and anticipated challenges facing construction projects and to discuss the critical role that project leadership will play in addressing the increasingly difficult project environment in the coming years. The forum will bring together a panel of top experts from industry and academia, who will examine the importance of both project leadership and project management as critical skills for project success. The panelists will discuss the best approaches to delivering successful projects in an uncertain environment. The discussions will include specific real-life examples as well as general concepts, principles and practices that are applicable to a wide range of organizations and projects. The forum will be interactive and will include a question-and-answer session with the panelists in order to provide an opportunity for the participants to gain an understanding of how to apply these principles and practices. Unsatisfactory outcomes of construction projects are very often the result of being over-managed and under-led. This forum will provide a unique and exciting opportunity to learn from the best experts how to apply a balanced approach of leadership AND management. Attendance should be a must for all experienced project managers working in organizations involved in the delivery of construction projects, including owners; developers; architects; design engineers; contractors; suppliers; local, state and federal government, as well as consultants, researchers, and educators.

By the conclusion of the forum, the participants will have gained significant new insights regarding how:
• To lead AND manage a project in a dynamic environment.
• Organizations can foster the development of project leaders.
• Project leaders can further their own personal leadership growth.
• Project leaders can identify and promote the development of the next generation of project leaders.
• Academia and industry together can develop and disseminate new knowledge regarding project leadership.

7 PDUs Offered (through Westchester Chapter of PMI)

International Smart Outsourcing Conference
Jersey City, NJ

Earn 16 PDUs for attending 2-days of International Smart Sourcing Conference being held on August 24-25, 2009 in the Hyatt Regency of Jersey city, NJ with a breathtaking view of NY city financial district (5 minutes by path train under the Holland tunnel to Wall Street in NY city). The organizer, Center for Global Outsourcing, is offering a 33% discount to the PMI members on the registration fee of $450. That means, for PMI members, $300 will cover 2 days' attendance, continental breakfast on both days, lunch on Tuesday, tea/coffee breaks, and conference proceedings. The discount code will be "PMI-Westchester-NY." Those interested in utilizing this discount must e-mail to admin@outsourceglobal.org one day prior to registering for the conference. The link for registering for the conference is "www.outsourceglobal.org".

Job Club

Support Group for Project Managers who are actively seeking employment led by Duff Bailey- For more information click here (meetup.com)

Second Annual Seminar at Sea!

In this exciting presentation, David Wanetick will share fifteen years worth of research into the common denominators shared by the world’s most successful people. The presentation will reveal the traits that separate world leaders from the second place finishers. PMI members will leave with specific actions and concrete ideas about how to advance their careers. You will obtain valuable insight into how to achieve and sustain momentum in pursuing goals and how to leverage small advantages to achieve disproportionate gains for your businesses and career.

Walk-Away Benefits Include Gaining Insights Into:
• Winning Clients Away from Your Competitors
• Winning Negotiating Strategies and Tactics
• Best Metrics to Measure Your Success and Progress
• Time Management Techniques
• Managing Your Team
• Merits of Conducting First-Hand Research
• Distilling Information
• Objective Decision Making vs. Vulnerability to Persuasion
• Detecting and Deterring Deception

Fifteen years of research and interviews with CEOs and other leaders in a vast array of industries ensure that Mr. Wanetick’s presentation is thorough, well supported and beneficial even for professionals who are already highly successful. And, unlike other programs that simply emphasize the value of good leadership and smart business decisions, this presentation provides a wealth of powerful historical examples that illustrate how the smallest of margins have changed the course of history.

David Wanetick is Managing Director at IncreMental Advantage, a highly regarded and internationally known research firm based in Princeton, NJ. Mr. Wanetick leads all the firm’s research efforts and is the author of The Power of Incremental Advantage: How Incremental Improvements Produce Dramatically Disproportionate Results as well as two other unique books on the topic of investing. He has lectured to senior executives and institutional investors all over the United States as well as in Toronto, Montreal, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Singapore, Kuwait, Israel, Hong Kong and Malaysia. He has been a guest on CNBC and CNNfn and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Investors Business Daily and many other newspapers and magazines throughout the United States

Mentoring Techniques

Job Club

Support Group for Project Managers who are actively seeking employment led by Susan Leong and Colleen Lew - For more information click here (meetup.com)

Transformation For Success, PMINYC Professional Development Day

Speakers and Topics:
· Al Zeitoun - “Passionate Execution”
· Arlene Rosenberg - “Five Imperatives for Project Managers to Stay Sustainable in Difficult Times”
· Donald Gardner - “Project Management on the Head of a Pin”
· Ken Clyne - “Why Agile… Why Now? Doing more with Less”
· Lou Gasco - “Managing Change: Business Transformation and Project Management”
· Jerry Julian - “Facilitating Transformation in Project and Program Performance”
· Ricardo Viana Vargas - Afternoon Keynote – PMI Chair
· Credit Suisse - Morning Keynote

Core Skills for Managing Projects: Two Day Course

As Project Management Professionals, we are experts at the process of initiating and executing projects. Here is an opportunity to further develop your collaborative project leadership and facilitation skills to add value to your services to your clients (internal or external).

In Core Skills for Managing Projects you'll learn how to incorporate valuable team based methods and tools to work with your project teams in a collaborative way so they are committed to achieving the project goal.  Trained at companies like, McKesson, Wyeth, International Paper and many more, this program offers project managers with years of experience a new outlook and fresh set of tools to improve your ability to  be successful.

People have different styles and good communications is essential to all involved in a the project team, from team members to clients to management. Various communications styles work for different types of people and personalities. This presentation will be on how to recognize distinct styles and personality types and deal in the most effective way for each individual person. Since people are unique with different motivations, we will discuss how to recognize yourself and others, how to match the personality and skills to the task and how to keep yourself, team members, clients and management all working together smoothly to accomplish a goal.

Completing the project on time and on budget is only one part of a successful project, it is also keeping all members of the team feeling positive throughout the project and contributing to a successful outcome. As a project manager, you will likely be working with these people for many projects to come and these "soft skills" can make or break your success.

Patricia Tamowski works as a business and personal coach and is a Certified NLP Trainer and Master Coach as well as a Certified Master Hypnotist. She assists individuals and teams reach their goals both professionally and personally and has an office in Katonah, NY. In addition to training and coaching she has over 20 years of experience in the business world, including over 14 years software development, IT management and project management and is a certified PMP. She as a BS in Economics, an MS in Information Systems.

Leadership Training for Managers

Inside the Project Manager's Toolbox: Using the Right Skills for the Job

Job Club

Support Group for Project Managers who are actively seeking employment led by Susan Leong and Colleen Lew - For more information click here (meetup.com)

Effective Communications and Human Relations

PMI Westchester Chapter is pleased to announce our partnership with BrainStorm New York

As part of the partnership, we have secured a limited number of 1-Day Guest Passes* (a $795 value) for PMI Westchester Chapter Members.

Your 1-Day Conference Pass includes access to all sessions including:
• Business Process Management Conference
• Business Architecture Conference
• Cloud Computing Symposium
• Business Decision Management/Business Rules Symposium

- Earn PDUs - BrainStorm New York is a Registered Education Provider (REP)
- Best practices and lessons learned from world-class organizations
- One-on-One meetings with selected Presenters, Practitioners, Analysts, etc
- Dedicated daily networking opportunities
- Complimentary 30-Day Professional Membership on BPMInstitute.org
- Complimentary 30-Day access to archived conference sessions online
and much more…

To take advantage of this Exclusive Offer, please enter Priority Code PMIWESTE when registering
by October 28.

Alternatively, call BPMInstitute.org directly at 508-475-0475, x15 with questions.
View details in the BrainStorm New York Brochure ~ Agenda-at-a-Glance

Strategies and tactics to successfully achieving Lean transformation in enterprise software delivery. Adopting Agile software development practices in an enterprise requires significant change management skills. Software development is merely one element of a value chain with numerous touchpoints. Each of the stakeholders will face their own challenges in adopting the Lean practices that are required for Agile to be truly successful in delivering working software into an established enterprise with existing processes. This presentation provides pragmatic approaches to achieving Lean transformation outside of the development organization with real-world examples of best practices and pitfalls to avoid.

After this presentation, attendees will gain insight into the following:
• Establishing the extended value chain to enable collaboration
• Fostering agility in delivery partners who have not adopted agile
• Driving change management across the organization
• Achieving compliance without massive overhead.

www.actionablestrategies.com

Jeffrey A. Wu is the CEO of Actionable Strategies, a boutique consulting firm specializing in key items on the executive agenda and solutions that drive performance improvement, lower total costs and manage risk. By applying Lean principles across the practices of Strategy and Organization, Business Excellence and Enabling Technologies, the firm helps clients drive top line results and bottom line performance. In technology project, Lean principles are applied as Agile techniques for software development and other implementation projects. Mr. Wu has over 25 years of technology and leadership experience with including worldwide operational responsibilities. As a CTO at ADP, he successfully transformed product development for 3 business units into unique Agile organizations across a global footprint. Numerous clients have benefited from Agile and highly iterative lifecycles during his tenures as CEO of consulting firms Claritas, Wharton Solutions and TwoFour Consulting. Earlier in his career, Mr. Wu served as VP of Product Strategy and Development for Mergent International, VP of Business Development for Computer Concepts Corporation and Director of Global Business Development at Thomson Financial where he initially ran technology and operations as Director of Global Systems Planning. Mr. Wu graduated from the Wharton School of Finance with a double major in Finance and Management. He has lectured and spoken extensively for organizations such as New York University, Business Week, CMP and Gartner Group. He has published articles and papers on both business and technology, including works on Agile with Cutter.

Take Charge of Your Career Again!
Present Yourself Like a Pro, Get That Perfect Job, and Achieve the Success You Deserve

You're the best qualified for that position. Attend "Take Charge of Your Career Again!" to hear how to:
• Precisely communicate the true value you can bring to any company
• Present your true worth to any company
• Communicate without bragging
• Sell yourself with ease
• Enhance resumes and business cards to differentiate yourself from your job-seeking competitors
• Succeed in every interview, so you can decide which position you will accept
• Generate the right job leads
• Build business networks that will help you achieve your career goals
• Minimize the time between jobs and the number of times you will be in transition
• Better manage your overall career

You can't afford not to attend this executive career workshop!

PMP Review and Preparation: Five Day Course

The Project Management Professional Certification – Exam Preparation is a five-day hands-on program that is designed to help you prepare you to sit for the PMP certification exam. Through the use of a case study, threaded throughout the Triaprogram, and experiential activities aligned with the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide-4th edition released in 2008), this program is designed to help you understand and organize the PMI process groups, knowledge areas and processes of project management practice necessary to pass the PMI certification exam.

The curriculum is presented in a dual fashion; the theory of PMI is balanced by the reality of the course instructors’ project management experiences. This dual approach provides the student learner with real examples of the theory of PMI. There are numerous discussion topics throughout, along with exercises to reinforce what participants have learned in the classroom, which translates into opportunities for incorporation of improved practices into your current projects. Knowledge checks are facilitated after curriculum lessons to measure the students’ progress and pm theory retention.

Job Club

Support Group for Project Managers who are actively seeking employment led by Susan Leong and Colleen Lew - For more information click here (meetup.com)

PM Challenges in Tough Economic Times

Risk Management is a significant pain point in organizations of all maturity levels. This presentation will focus on improvements beyond the mechanics and theory of RM. Topics will include: What does it take to make RM successful? Managing Risks for maximum value add. Short and long term improvements you can start now!

David W Burr is an internationally known trainer, coach, program manager and public speaker. He has taught project and program management and facilitated process improvement for over 10 years in the United States, China, India, South Korea, and Mexico. He has more than 20 years experience in the project management practice, managing multi-million dollar technology, manufacturing, and construction projects, and mentoring all levels of management on project management and process improvement.

His focus on refining PMOs in many global corporations has reshaped their organizational influence and increased their overall value-add. He is a recognized expert in project Management Methods, Process Improvement, and Organizational Change. He has extensive experience in CMMi, and is ITIL Foundation and PMP certified. He lives in Hebron, Connecticut, USA with his wife Monica, and his children Ben, Tyler and Jessica.

Job Club

Support Group for Project Managers who are actively seeking employment led by Susan Leong and Colleen Lew - For more information click here (meetup.com)

Fractured Projects and Program, how to:
• Identify holistic goals of the project
• Identify stakeholder supporters
• Breaking down the goals into bite size pieces
• Smell testing a project, recognize a fractured project early
• Manage project scope- determine what’s really important
• Be Smart; reassess project goals
• Define when to hold and when to fold
• Claiming success, getting and giving credit

Any project can fracture, the key to success is to be very smart about what the goals are, who the players are, and to be flexible about how to do things and get things done. This talk will be interactive; we’ll talk about some of the projects that I’ve worked on and some of the projects that you’ve worked on. What went wrong? What went right? How to recognize fractures? And how to make projects work!

Claudine Halpern is a chameleon; she has worked in many different situations during her more than twenty-five years in business; as a management consultant, Claudine advised many of the major brokerage, insurance, and financial houses, completing more than fifteen major corporate initiatives during the past ten years. As a crisis manager for major corporations, Claudine successfully brought in projects and products that other firms would not touch. As a specialist in business and management consultancy, Claudine consults to emerging businesses across the spectrum. Ms. Halpern has successfully completed more than fifteen major implementations in the last 10 years.

Project Management Institute - College of Scheduling, New York City Campus Kick-Off
Featuring "Scheduling - What's Next? A Panel Discussion", Sponsored by Oracle

Since Kelley, J. E., Jr., and M. R. Walker set up to solve the time-cost conundrum and invented the "Critical Path Method (CPM)” projects have evolved to include almost all the engineering and construction skills. As such the main challenge for project managers became coordination of the varied and different efforts and skill sets toward a common goal through careful planning directed toward the project's completion. To effectively execute the functions of “Corporate Governance” management attention should be focused on the use of “Project Controls” in planning to achieve visibility, predictability and accountability of project performance. This will further stress the need for the right “Schedule/Plan”.

Industry experts will introduce their views on project controls from the “Un-Pairing” of schedule development and the actual use of the plan, the inadequate training and technology support, lack of corporate commitment, impact of declining project quality requirements on scheduling to new and evolving technologies and changing project environment.

Richard Sappe is the E&C Industry Strategist for Oracle|Primavera. Mr. Sappé combines experience from both the professional and the technology side of the AEC Industry. His publications are focused on the intersection of technology and the AEC industry. Previously Mr. Sappé worked for Bentley Systems, Inc. and Haestad Methods, Inc., developers of engineering & design and analysis applications. Prior to that, Mr. Sappé served as a consultant for an environmental engineering firm. Mr. Sappé earned a Masters of Environmental Management degree from Yale University and a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology from Ursinus College.

Stuart Ockman is the President of Ockman & Borden Associates, project management consultants specializing in project planning and control, claims management and claims avoidance. He has over 25 years experience in engineering and construction management utilizing computerized project management systems for scheduling, estimating, cost control and financial analysis on a wide variety of projects. Mr. Ockman is a registered professional engineer and project management professional with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University, an M.S. in Construction Management from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School. He is the co-founder and Chairman of PMI’s College of Scheduling and was previously a Vice-President of PMI and Vice-Chairman of the Project Management Journal Advisory Board.

Tarek Bahgat is a seasoned professional with 28 years experience in project management and project controls. He has solid experience in project control functions including estimating, scheduling, Cost Control, Value Engineering, and Risk Management and Document Control. Mr. Bahgat has served the engineering and construction industry both in the design office and in the construction field. Mr. Bahgat’s experience spans Power, Infrastructure, Bio Pharma, and commercial. Mr. Bahgat is Vice President for Gehry Technologies (GT) and is the Managing Director of the Middle East Operations. Mr. Bahgat is an industry leader in the implementation of Building Information Modeling and using BIM in Facilitating Value Engineering/Planning, and Risk Management. Mr. Bahgat pioneered the facilitation of Risk Based Value Planning workshops utilizing BIM technologies for the coordination of the construction at the WTC Site for the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center. Before Joining GT Mr. Bahgat was a Senior Principal at PMA Consultants, and led its New York Office. Prior to that Mr. Bahgat worked with Luis Berger, Washington Group, Ansaldo and ABB.

Pradip Mehta, PMP, CCE, PSP, EVP, PMI-SP, Manager of Project Controls, AECOM. Mr. Mehta has 29 years of diversified and extensive experience in implementing project control processes and systems at the corporate, regional and project specific levels for both owners and contractors. Mr. Mehta has a M.S. in Construction Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has provided expert testimony in contract disputes related to delay and damages. He currently serves as a Director-at-Large of PMI College of Scheduling (PMICOS) and also chairs sessions in the Enterprise System Track at the Annual PMICOS conferences.

John Pantelides, is the Chief, Program Controls for the MTA-NYCT Capital Program Management Department. Mr. Pantelides has been with NYCT for 23 years and is responsible for the Estimating, Schedule Control, Cost Control divisions as well as the overall coordination of diversions, flagging and work trains. Mr. Pantelides has 34 years of diversified and extensive experience in successfully developing and implementing program and project control process, systems and management delivery during all phases of a project. Mr. Pantelides has a Bachelor, degree in Civil Engineering from New York University.

Moderated by Hosney Abdelgelil; Project Controls Director of Hill International Inc. He is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of Program and Construction Management experience in various disciplines of Construction and Related Business Development activities. His group helps clients manage risk through all phases of construction. Mr. Abdelgelil focus is on improving the efficiency of the design and construction processes through the integration of technology and human skills and improved communications. He is one of the founders of the new center for BIM in New York City (BIMplex) currently in the planning phase. Mr. Abdelgelil is a board member of the PMI COS, Co-Founder of NYC BIM and a member of the National BIM Standards Committee bSa-NIBS. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering and M.S. in Construction Engineering and Management from NJIT and long term certification training in Project Management from Bremen University, Germany.

Other certifications that PM's can obtain to enhance their skills and value

Mentoring or peer coaching is not about teaching “the rules”. Peer coaching is serving as a “sounding board” to assist the Coachee in working through an issue. The Coach listens, reflects on the information in a different way, ask open-ended questions, all with the purpose of assisting the Coachee to reflect/review the issue in a different mode. The Coach moves the conversation to a conclusion so the Coachee develops next steps to move forward on the issue. In your normal life one can serve as a mentor or coach to friends, colleagues, and staff. Friends can serve as “coaches” to each other.

Please come in participate in an interactive meeting and improve your skills with peer coaching.

Grab Bag of Topics

Job Club

Support Group for Project Managers who are actively seeking employment led by Colleen Lew, Chris Hanson and Stewart Joe - For more information click here (meetup.com)

Today, more than ever before, the pressure on project participants to deliver more with fewer resources on a tightly constrained schedule demands the use of an earned value based management process. However, there is a widespread perception in the industry that implementing an earned value based system will bring an added degree of bureaucracy and paperwork that may outweigh the benefits derived from it.

This presentation will address a few streamlined approaches to get the most out of implementing earned value on both small as well as large projects. It will also examine different elements that play an important role in determining how effective earned value will be for you in your particular application. The speaker will also discuss a case study to expose some of the dangers and pitfalls of the "strict" interpretation of variance data related to earned value.

Pradip Mehta, PMP, CCE, PSP, EVP, PMI-SP, serves as a Manager of Project Controls for the AECOM company, a global design program management conglomerate. Mr. Mehta has 29 years of diversified and extensive experience in implementing project control processes and systems at the corporate, regional and project specific levels for both owners and contractors. He has successfully implemented earned value based systems on small as well as large projects including federal programs. Mr. Mehta has a M.S. in Construction Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a frequently invited speaker on "Project Control Best Practices", "Delay and Damage Evaluation" and on "Implementation of Enterprise-Wide Project Management Systems”. He is also a certified Earned Value Professional - EVP, Project Management Professional - PMP, Certified Cost Engineer - CCE, and Planning and Scheduling Professional - PSP. He currently serves as a Director-at-Large of PMI College of Scheduling (PMICOS).

PM Tools and Techniques

Professional Development Day (PMI-UNY)
Neal Whitten: “Let’s Talk! No-Nonsense Leadership, Accountability & Maturity”

For the past five years or so, the Upstate NY Chapter of the PMI has organized an day-long Professional Development Day (PDD) focusing on contemporary project management topics. This year, back by popular demand is Neal Whitten, well known author and speaker on leadership, communication and team-building.
Registration fees cover a light breakfast, lunch, snacks, all conference materials (including books and handouts) and 7 PDUs. For further details, call Tim Christensen, PMP, VP Communications UNY-PMI, 518/320-2015, 518/402-9914. Register here.

Job Club

Support Group for Project Managers who are actively seeking employment led by Colleen Lew, Chris Hanson and Stewart Joe - For more information click here (meetup.com)

It is human nature to seek to avoid loss. Theoretically, we make rational decisions to improve our situation and respond to circumstances. But are we always rational? Whether it be an investor holding a stock that have lost value and has poor prospects for the future or a driver who is late for an appointment begins to speed, risking a ticket or accident and even further delay, this irrational fear of acknowledging a loss can cause people to keep investing in a poor undertaking. Ironically, this behavior can also cause individuals to increase a loss, the very outcome they were seeking to avoid.

These peculiar behaviors have been explored in the economic field as part of a growing body of knowledge referred to as behavioral economics. With the bursting of the real estate bubble, this field of study has been growing in prominence. Applying these economic concepts to the field of project management, this discussion is a brief exploration how our desire to avoid loss can cause us to irrationally make our situation worse in the hopes of somehow breaking even as well as some techniques to identify and avoid these situations.

When working on a large project, the motivation to smooth over issues or impediments early on can be great. Small losses in early phases usually lead to fast tracking or compressing later phases, most notably quality assurance and testing, rather than pushing out the final date. Thus, the project continues to appear “on schedule” even though it has just added more risk. This frequently leads to the anti-pattern seen in organizations when projects are “green” for 80% of their schedule, and then become flagged as “yellow” or even “red” as they get close to a release and problems come to a head.

After going through several situations real life situations involving loss aversion, the presentation will conclude by enumerating and illustrating several practices that can be used to help illuminate and prevent this dynamic from occurring one’s projects. Participants should walk away with an understanding of the concept, as well as a few concrete tools they can use to help see this behavior when it is occurring. Thankfully, many times once we see such a behavior, we can self-correct quickly.

Brian Bozzuto is a Senior Consultant and Agile Coach at BigVisible Solutions. With an extensive background in large financial service companies, he has worked as a developer, analyst, project manager, and coach through the entire systems development life cycle. He has worked with numerous large organizations including Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Fidelity Investments, Investor's Bank & Trust, Bank of America, and Fleet Bank. His current focus is working directly with teams improve project outcomes and be more responsive to their customers by using Agile practices such as Scrum. With a broad range of experience using various frameworks including Scrum, Six Sigma, and CMM he is a Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP) and Project Management Professional (PMP). Brian has worked on numerous large integration projects involving enterprise portals and other web technologies. Brian has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems (CIS) from Bentley College and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Boston College.

Risk Management: Essential

Annual Symposium and Sunday Seminar (PMI-NJ)

The New Jersey Chapter of PMI, would like to invite all neighboring PMI Chapter members to attend our annual Symposium and Sunday Seminar and at the same rates offered to PMINJ Chapter members! Attached below is information about our annual event. Please feel free to link the information or mention it to your membership. We welcome all to attend.

If you have any questions, please contact Aita Salasoo, VP Symposium at: vp-symposium@pminj.org or Jerry Flach at: d-symposium@pminj.org.

In today’s lean times, dynamic organizations and business leaders are looking for business-savvy project managers (PMs) who can maximize return on their investment (ROI). The scope for ROI objectives is often the organization at large and not just for the project. PMs need to understand the organization’s business goals and align project goals with organization’s business strategy. In addition, they need to estimate and deliver results predictably, to not jeopardize corporate financial planning and performance figures. These pressures are particularly in evidence as we start the second decade of the 21st century.

PMINJ invites you to explore and gain valuable business skills and financial project management techniques from leading experts on May 2 and 3 2010 at the Pines Manor in Edison, New Jersey.

On Sunday May 2, we have an afternoon seminar entitled Debits and Credits for Project Managers: Fundamentals of Accounting and Related Business Cycles by Anthony Reed, CPA, PMP.

On Monday May 3, we have our 2010 Regional PM Symposium. The theme this year is “Business-Savvy Project Management”.

This event sells out quickly - so mark your calendars for May 2 & 3 and sign up now! 600 Maximum attendees on May 3! Earn up to 8 PDUs on Monday, 4 PDUs on Sunday.

Details at: www.pminj.org, under "Symposia" tab. Online registration is available from the web site under " Registration". Neighboring Chapter members should contact the registration team to get a code to enable the member rate. A block of rooms has been allocated at the Crowne Plaza Edison across the street from the Pines.

Do you have clients that constantly ask for minor extras at no additional cost? Do you have problems getting the right resources for your projects? Do your team members consistently miss schedule dates or exceed budgets? Maybe the problem is that you are not an effective negotiator! Most experienced Project Managers typically have good ‘hard skills’ in project management, such as defining scope, budgeting or scheduling, but come up short in some soft skills areas such as negotiating. In the song “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers, he sings “if you’re gonna play the game…ya gotta learn to play it right. You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run.” His song unfortunately has the wrong title. It should be “The Project Manager” because the lyrics exactly describe project situations that Project Managers constantly encounter in negotiations. This talk will present the ‘David Letterman’ list of the top ten mistakes made in conducting project negotiations, along with techniques that can be utilized to avoid these mistakes. The talk will then describe a recommended procedure to follow when preparing for a negotiation. Finally, effective tactics that can be applied to project negotiations will be described, including concession strategy, and the use of time, power, authority and questions.

This talk will help you understand when to hold your position, when to fold (compromise), when to walk away and when to run. This talk should be of interest for experienced Project Managers looking for pointers on how to be more effective in negotiation situations. If you think you’re a skilled negotiator, come to this session to see if you are making any of the 10 most common negotiation errors. You may be surprised!

Joe Lukas has been involved in project management for over 30 years. His jobs span engineering, manufacturing, construction, project controls, estimating, contracting and both Program and Project Management. His projects experience includes information systems, product development, capital construction and manufacturing. Joe joined PMI in 1986 and has held many Chapter Board positions in Rochester, NY including two terms as President. He is a registered Professional Engineer, Project Management Professional and Certified Cost Engineer.

Joe is Vice-President for PM Centers USA, a PMI Global Registered Education Provider and the 2006 PMI Professional Development Provider of the Year. PM Centers USA delivers complete solutions in project management and business analysis through online, public and private training and consulting. Joe also teaches and consults for PM Centers USA clients and has written over 30 articles on project management topics.

Virtual Team/Project Management

In this time of budget cutbacks and tightening the belt it is more important than ever to be come more effective in your project management techniques. Looking at project managers who are incredibly successful in their industry it is not necessarily what they do but how they do it differently that distinguishes them from the rest.
This lecture will discuss eight lessons from individuals who are considered some of the finest project managers in the world these lessons will include things that you can use immediately to improve not only your project build teamwork and interaction. These techniques are changing the way we fundamentally look at a project not necessarily requiring additional funding resources.

Presentation abstract:
Through extensive interviews and personal contacts R. Camper Bull has been able to identify eight key techniques that project managers who are considered superior in their field are doing to make their projects better. The techniques are integrated with the fundamental steps of leading a project and are designed to be implementable with any project. Although most Project managers may do some of the steps by generic description it is truly changing the way you fundamentally look at the steps that make the difference between an ordinary project manager and someone leading a project.

Takeaways from the seminar:
- Eight concrete ways to change how individuals are managing a project
- Suggested techniques on executing these changes within your project structure
- Guidelines to remind and emphasize these techniques

Session learning objectives:
- Identify effective non-resource draining strategies to boost project management effectiveness
- Communicate these eight ideas to help project managers see how they can implement them within their own project management process
- Show that not all project management improvements must be through costly tools

"Eight Lessons" presentation from Camper (requires Quick Time from Apple Inc.)

R. Camper Bull, a co-founder of Armiger International, has held leadership and management positions in both commercial and non-profit organizations. He has led a division of an international software company; served as lead Account Executive for Fortune 500 companies. Camper led development of the multi-media marketing product team and developed the corporate image as an industry leader and innovator in the market. He managed the development of new products including the launch of wireless paging at Bell Atlantic.
His background in developing the strategic planning and implementing growth initiatives for a Global software origination included restructuring the company to better address the market with a global offer, significantly helped the company gain a global footing in the software industry.
Camper has developed and delivered many leadership training programs for commercial, government and nonprofit organizations. Camper teaches Leadership at the graduate level and was on the development team for PMBOK version 4. Camper has been able to transfer these practical skills into useful training tools, helping attendees gain a fast yet comprehensive understanding of these tools in their business environments.
Camper is an international speaker on Leadership for Rotary International and was identified as the “best facilitator of leadership programs”. Camper was granted a Paul Harris Fellowship from Rotary International for “tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.”
Camper is the creator of a PMP prep class that not only teaches individuals to pass the exam but how to integrate this knowledge into their everyday project management experience.

Credentials:
As an active member of the Project Management Institute and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Camper has spoke at numerous Project Management Global Congresses is a sought after speaker and trainer He is the author of the book Moving from Project Management and Project Leadership. He also hosts the Project Leadership Podcast a free podcast for the project management industry.
Camper was educated at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, in Economics with concentration in Complex Organizations, Business Ethics, Managerial Economics and Finance. He completed additional studies in the European community in Brussels along with intensive French language studies in Paris.

Going Green and What It Means to the PM