ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Full Program is Now Available

We wanted you to be among the first to know - the leading project management and business analysis conference is coming back to Orlando in 2012!

This year's ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event will take place September 10-12 at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando, FL.

We're excited to announce the 2012 program and speaking roster for PW&WCBA. Download the brochure for the complete event details and speaking roster.

ALL NEW KEYNOTES: 
• Jim Durkin, SVP, World Trade Center Transportation Hub, Tishman Construction Corp.
• Don Mann, Former Member, SEAL Team Six
• Linda Martino, VP, Business Engagement & Application Delivery, The Clorox Company
• Lysa Ratliff, Senior Director Cause Marketing & Partner Communications, Habitat for Humanity Int'l • Fredrick Redd, PMP, Director, Project Management Office, Port Authority & New Jersey Transit
• Harvey A. Robbins, Ph.D., L.P., President, Robbins & Robbins, Inc.
• Connie Steward, SVP, Human Resources, Learning Systems & Organizational Development, Habitat for Humanity Int'l
• Margo Visitacion, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Forrester Research

More Choices & More Opportunities to Learn:
Choose from 3 morning workshops AND 2 afternoon summits to expand your learning:
• Risk Management Excellence for PM & BA Disciplines
• Agile Essentials: People, Planning and Product Practices
• Achieving Excellence in Project Portfolio Management
• Annual PMO Summit
• Annual Agile Summit Four Breakout Track Themes:
• Elevating the Role: From Manager to Leader
• Creating a BA Center of Excellence
 • Social Communication, Innovation & Collaboration
• Tools, Techniques & Trends Plus, earn up to 36 PDUs/CDUs in just one conference package!


Also, as a reader of our blog, you can receive 15% off the standard registration rate with Priority Code PW12BLOG. For more information on the ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts and to register, visit our webpage.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Michelle LeBlanc at mleblanc@iirusa.com.

Cheers, The ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Team

Follow the ProjectWorld Twitter: https://twitter.com/project_world
Join us on LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/Jo2DS6

Call for Presenters: ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Web Seminars Series

ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® On-Demand Web Seminar Series
Event Date: Web Seminars to take place from May - November 2012, will work with facilitator on selecting a date
Location: Virtual
Website: www.projectworld.com
________________________________________

INDUSTRY ALERT: OFFICIAL CALL FOR PRESENTERS
Papers are being accepted on a rolling basis,
We suggest you submit your proposal as early as possible.

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking experienced facilitators and consultants to present virtually as part of our ongoing year-round education series for our ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® attendees.

About this unique event:
PW&WCBA is the industry's year round resource for project, program and portfolio managers and business analysts who wish to move beyond the fundamentals and learn leadership, strategy and enterprise-wide information in order to be more valuable for their organization.

Who and what are we looking for?

We are seeking experienced corporate practitioners, consultants, industry experts or solutions providers to lead a web seminar, 60 minute presentation inclusive of Q&A, to share new approaches and techniques our attendees can implement immediately. Web seminars will take place from May - November 2012. Priority will be given to proposals that highlight NEW case studies on pushing beyond the PMBOK and BABOK, presenting new skills, techniques and best practices for today's PM and BA worlds.

We expect our speakers to move beyond the fundamentals.

2012 Presentation Topic Areas include, but are not limited to:

• Agile Methodology
• Managing Stakeholders Expectations
• Collaboration
• Enterprise Business Analyst Responsibilities
• Mind Mapping
• Enterprise Business Analyst Integration in the Business
• Facilitation Skills - PowerPoint & Story Writing
• Critical Chain
• Managing Virtual Teams
• What a BA Needs to Know About IT
• Portfolio Management
• Moving from a Manager to a Leader
• Motivating Teams & Increasing Team Performance
• Building an Excellence Center
• Risk Management
• Enterprise Architecture

BONUS: In addition to the exposure and honor of being part of our "on-demand" web seminar series, you will also receive FREE admission to the 2012 PW&WCBA conference ($3,000+ value).

CALL FOR PRESENTERS:
For consideration, please e-mail rmcdonald@iirusa.com with the following information by Monday, April 30, 2012:
• Proposed speaker name, job title, and company name
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• Title of Presentation (one line, benefit focused)
• A brief summary of content to be delivered (no more than 75 words), followed by 3 bullet points of what the audience will gain from your presentation (key audience takeaways)
• Short bio of speaker (50-75 words)
• Speaker's high resolution headshot (optional)


Additional Details:
• Commercialism and self-promotion are NOT permitted or tolerated. If this happens, you will NOT be invited to return, your complimentary pass to PW&WCBA 2012 will be revoked and your web seminar will not be a part of our "on-demand" library.

Thank you for your interest in PW&WCBA. Please visit www.projectworld.com for more information.

PM Insights: Career Path Woes

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

One of our most popular topics at the 2011 Your Space was Table 3: Career Pathing

Many of our attendees have reached a level of PM or BA certification and are now looking to move up in their careers. In fact, one 2011 session was titled "Congratulations, You're Certified! Now What?" and Chuck Millhollan spoke spoke extensively on this topic as well.

The #PMChat community on LinkedIn recently covered this topic with a poll, "Does your company have defined career paths for Project Managers?" and 90% of those answering reported "No"

So are PMs and BAs universally at a loss when it comes to Career Pathing? Our participants at Table three gathered some insights and takeaways from the conference that could help solve this problem.

• Cultivate Transferable Skills: Soft-skills are learned, not taught. Certification is base-line to open the door for many PM or BA jobs, but social skills (interaction), communication and connection can give you that leg up. Secondly, ask "what do you want to do?" Focus on your strengths, you may already have the skills, but need to recognize then, seek a mentor for assistance.

• Expand Job Scope: Our participants at Table three identified a common path: College entry to Business Analyst to Program Manager, Project Coordinator or Internal Consultant. But noted that it is hard to find a path once PMO or Project manager. Expand your job scope through management leadership skills or consider senior level consulting. 

• How to keep up and move forward: Our team suggested staying energized and keeping up with current practices in the profession by joining professional societies (or attending events such as PW&WCBA?). Plus, diversify your teams and learn from your colleagues.

What would you add? What is the best bit of career pathing advice you have received?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com