Events!

I'd wanted to go to ProjectWorld for years; I'd always heard such good reports about the way the conference was run, the quality of the speakers, and the audience the conferences were targeted to. However, between the Institute's conferences and asapm board and committee meetings, my travel flexibility has been limited.

I was even signed up for the Spring event in the LA area—and then instead, found myself representing asapm at the International Project Management Association's meeting in Utrecht, the Netherlands. That meeting was very successful, as IPMA accepted asapm as the USA Member Representative of the global organization.

Raffle for the Free Conference Pass
Thus when ProjectWorld marketing guru Carina Kuhl suggested a marketing trade-out, where our members and readers could win a free ticket (worth over $1000) in exchange for asapm helping promote the September Washington D.C. conference, I decided that someone from the asapmboard should also attend. By the way, we made it very clear that asapm board members were not eligible for the Raffle, and member Randy Peeler, PMP was one of two eventual Raffle winners.

My comments about the ProjectWorld D.C. Conference are based on over 10 years of attending Institute conferences, and before that, attending and speaking at those from other organizations, such as the International Function Point User Group, plus National Computer Conference and Data Processing Management Association conferences in the early 80's.

From this frame of reference, here are my comments about ProjectWorld D.C., in six areas: Organization, Topic Relevance, Speaker Quality, Keynote Presentations, Venue and Timing, and Value. I've used a 5-point rating scale, where 5 is high.

Organization 5/5
This Conference started out with a bit of confusion when the venue and date was shifted soon after the LA Spring Conference. Last Spring, I had already blocked out the original ProjectWorld date. But following that misstep, everything appeared to run like clockwork. Attentive staff made sure everyone knew where they were going, and appeared committed to resolve any and all problems on-the-spot. The helpfulness of ProjectWorld staff is the best I've seen in a conference in the last 15 years.

The breaks between sessions allowed time to network, one of the biggest benefits of a Conference such as this, as well as plenty of time to see the Exhibitor area. One of my interests in attending was to evaluate the interest Exhibitors appeared to get. As usual, people more often appeared to want tools rather than training and consulting.

Topic Relevance 5/5
In the registration process, one identified which "tracks" or topic groups you are interested in attending. Some were sold out, but the information appeared to be used mostly to decide how to allocate the available rooms. It was gratifying to me that the "People Side of Project Management" seemed to be the most popular track.

This ProjectWorld event seemed to have fewer "new Project Managers", than its competition, and there were many topics of value for those who are more advanced. There is a large proportion of attendees who practice in Information Technologies, but the topics were not excessively skewed in that direction.

I was especially interested in seeing how topics that had to do with Enterprise PM, Portfolio Management, and our favorite topic, PM Competence, were attended. The ones I saw were very well attended, which tells me that ProjectWorld has a good hand on their audience's pulse. Of course, other tracks, including Fundamentals and Advanced Skills probably drew good-sized crowds, but because I did not attend many of those sessions, I can't comment on them.

Speaker Quality 4/5
Some of the speakers were consultants; those I observed did a good job of informing the audience, rather than selling their wares. One thing that gripes attendees is when you pay for a conference and see endless commercials. One of the things I really like in conferences like this is when real practitioners share what they are doing, how it works, and what they learned. Speakers at this conference were especially good at involving the audience in questions and answers.

One critical comment: Speakers, please repeat the question or comment before responding. Participants, please clarify your thought before speaking; I heard a few too many long soliloquies in the Q/A sessions.

Keynote Presentations 3/5
One was great, one was good, and one, well, I would not want to be that person. In the old days, I would have fired my staff member who left me so totally unprepared to present to 300-600 people. The speaker had knowledge and experience to share, but he read his report. No slides, no looking up to see the hurt in the eyes of those feeling sorry for him. Before the session was 1/2 complete, nearly half the audience had left. Pity those up front, because it was harder for them to leave.

I thought it might be one of those tricks, where after 5 minutes of reading the paper, he'd jump into an animated routine that enthralled the audience. I really felt sorry for him, as I'd done something similar in 1968 to a US-wide audience of highway engineers. At least I had someone to hand the presentation over to when I could not catch my breath in front of 300 people.

Venue and Timing 4/5
Except for the switch in dates and location early in the year, I think Washington D.C. is a pretty good location for a conference. The hosting hotel was some distance from the nearest subway station, but taxi and hotel shuttle services worked fine. It is a tribute to the richness of the conference content that I never made it down the street to the huge Tysons Corner mall.

I do suspect the timing, one month before the Institute's conference in Anaheim, may have hurt participation a bit.

Conference Value 4/5
I believe different participants attend conferences for a host of different reasons; we use those factors in evaluating a conference's value. With the cost of airfare and accomodations exceeding the cost of the conference, this conference had the greatest value for those in the Washington D.C. area, whose companies or government agencies paid the admission fee. Still, there were many people who travelled from all over the USA, and to some extent, the world.

After seeing a decline in participant value in other conferences, and observing more recent attempts to improve that value, I'd say the value is definitely here. Of course, having decent lunches is a minor coup in forming impressions, but related conferences could learn quite a bit from ProjectWorld.

Would I go again? Definitely. When is the next ProjectWorld? Several will be held in 2005. Watch the ProjectWorld website for details. In the meantime, stay tuned for the announcement for asapm's Congress 2005.

PMP is a registered certification mark in the USA and other countries of the Project Management Institute.

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