Project and event management

Have you ever had an issue arise on a project or at work and wished you’d caught it before it happened? Or yet, if it was inevitable, that you would have been prepared to reduce its impact? Every project comes with risks. By applying the recommended Risk Management methodology, you can successfully manage risks and often eliminate them – before they become issues and potentially take your whole project off track!  In this workshop, you will learn to identify and assess risks, to prepare risks response strategy and plan, to implement and monitor the plan, and to control and communicate all aspects related to the risks identified. You will also learn to use tools to evaluate and track risks throughout the project lifecycle). Many people do not feel comfortable talking about risk – but it’s a must and, good news, it gets easier. This workshop is designed to help individuals, teams, and organizations improve their familiarity with a risk management framework tailored to project management, and develop an ease with identifying, managing, and communicating about risks so that projects can be executed as smoothly as possible.

Many organizations host or participate in a variety of meetings and events, large and small, throughout the year. When properly executed, these meetings and events can deliver a tremendous return on investment in terms of exposure, education, marketing, sales or other objectives. Conversely, the impact of a poorly executed meeting or event can be substantial. All too often the very critical role of organizing meetings and events falls to someone who has had no formal training in this field. Facilitated by a Certified Meeting Planner, this two day workshop will provide you with a sound foundation for successfully planning and executing a wide variety of meetings and events.

Organizations are constantly developing new products, programs, and services to better serve their clients. They may need to streamline business processes, increase quality and customer satisfaction, or deal with increased competition. Good project management is often the solution for successful completion of these business and organizational requirements. Many project management workshops are geared toward the relatively small number of people who want to become certified as a professional project manager. This workshop is designed for people who want to understand the value of project management and need to manage or participate in projects as part of their job. Designed and delivered by a certified project manager, this course provides hands-on experience on using best-practice tools and techniques to plan and manage a project successfully and to the client’s satisfaction.

It’s easy to forget the “manager” part of your “project manager” title among the other range of activities you are responsible for. However, your management skills are an important part of your success as a project manager, so it is crucial that you grow both of those skill sets. There are also some advanced project management techniques that you can master to help bring your projects to successful completion. This workshop presumes that participants have a thorough understanding of project management, including topics such as preparing a statement of work, setting project goals, scheduling, budgeting, managing project risks, and executing a project.

At the core of every project are its people: the people who want the project, those paying for it, and those you will depend on to do the work. The best-planned project can still fail if you ignore its important interpersonal dimensions. This workshop is about creating success through people. It goes behind the science of PERT, MS Project, and GANT charts to look at the art of working and communicating with people connected to the project. Within a five-step process for project planning and management, we will study the human side, addressing issues such as qualifying the need for the product, scoping the project, team work, communications, and risk management. This workshop is complementary to our sister workshop, Project Management 101. The 101 workshop explores the steps and general practices of project management in greater detail over two days. This one-day workshop, while providing an overview of the steps, emphasizes the human dimension of successful projects. We will rely on a variety of training situations including discussions, cases studies and group work.

Stakeholders are parties that will be affected by a project’s execution or results. Stakeholders can have their own expectations and objectives and have the potential to strongly influence a project’s outcome in positive or negative directions. Whether obvious or covert these stakeholders’ expectations must be articulated and understood before they can be managed. This workshop focuses on tools and techniques to discover the project’s stakeholders, identify and clarify their expectations, and develop a plan to manage these expectations. Attention is paid to stakeholders’ spheres of influence, including their influences on each other. Political, legal, and community influences will be examined along with strategies to mitigate or enhance such influences. Political and legal influences can include existing legislation as well as future trends and directions. Community influences could originate in the geographical, business and social community where the project is occurring, the professional/technical community that is involved in implementing the project and using its results, as well as other interested communities of people. Case studies are used as learning vehicles to develop an awareness of stakeholder expectations and expectation management plans, and to tie stakeholder requirements to the project’s scope management, procurement management, risk management, and resource management plans.

It’s no surprise that organizations spend an increasing amount of time in meetings and presentations – whether they are introducing new concepts, brainstorming ideas or sharing information.  With poor planning and unclear agendas, meetings and presentations end up losing focus and devouring time, energy, resources and money. *Participants are asked to bring a sample 10-minute PowerPoint presentation (on a USB stick) that they have personally created for the Workshop to present to the group for critique.  Participants may practice the public speaking portion of the presentation either prior to the workshop or during the breaks/lunch.

This course explores the more complicated aspects of event planning and goes beyond the basics to help you plan, budget for, and execute flawless events in your organization. Participants should have some experience planning events or have previously taken the Introduction to Successful Event Planning workshop.