After spending two days at home organizing a conference i scheduled most of my meetings this week in Brisbane CBD on Wednesday, which is tomorrow.

I start of with meeting Neil Glentworth (www.glentworth.com) a great Project Manager and Consultant i got introduced to at the Executive Lunch with John Thorp . We will have a chat about his work at Queensland Government and his new challenges he will face shortly.

After meeting Neil i will get together with Carla Simpson, a Project Manager and Team Leader at Queensland Government to discuss the principals how to select good PMs from a pile of CVs and Resumes and after the interviews. Going to be interesting approaches and ideas to be shared. Is a PMP a criteria or is it the stomache or the length of the CV provided, we will see.

Catching up with Carla and a coffee is followed by Lunch with Graham Scott. Graham has done a great presentation at the PMOZ 2008 conference this year in Melbourne but ran out of time. A case study he was using looking into the Space Shuttle Meltdown during the Landing Approach (I guess 2003) and drilling into the fact that missing relationships have been one cause of the desaster. Graham is scheduled to do a presentation at the PMI Chapter Meeting in November, and believe me, we will grant him the time he deserves, as he is a fantastic speaker.

After meeting Graham i might see Craig Johnson from Hypersystems International to discuss a Consultancy Brief issued. Some interesting work that needs to be done and is coming up. Cant talk more about it, how ever, market experts might know what i am talking about. Meeting is not firm yet, so i might end up with my favourite way of ‘wasting time’ by browsing the Business and Management Book section at Borders. So if you have nothing to do, just give me a call under 04 8848 0801 and lets have a coffee at Gloria Jeans.

After browsing the books or meeting some great new or known people (call me) i will get together with Andrew Pieron, the QLD & NT State Manager of ‘cliftons‘. We will talk about the growth of his business here in Brisbane but also Queensland and how Cliftons is able to support almost every request in any city based on partnerships, as well as about the new 24th floor that has been opened with a big party this year in March, which provides great venues and facilities for all sorts of meetings, trainings and conferences. TJTV will tell you more later on.

After checking out the new promisses at Cliftons I will meet with Richard Egelstaff. Richard has done a great presentation in the last Chapter Meeting (September) and we will discuss and resolve some outstanding questions. What kind of education should certified PMPs focus on to take the next step. This will be recorded on Video and published in my TJTV section later on as this is the most pressing question. We also going to discuss his involvement in the conference I am currently organising (more on that in a couple of days).

Meeting with him will lead me into the final commitment tomorrow, which is the PMI Queensland Chapter Board Meeting. Some interesting decisions to be made and new intiatives to be launched.

There three conferences coming up late September and early to mid October in Australia and New Zealand that I am currently aware of.

Brisbane, September 22nd to 25th, Project Risk Management Conference

First of all in late September the IPQC organized Project Risk Management Conference 2008 is coming up. Claimed to be the one and only Conference in Project Management focusing on Risk Management it will take place in Brisbane starting on the 22nd of September with a Master Class, 2 day conference afterwards and workshops on the 4th day.

The price ranges from $2.999+GST for the conference only to $5.995+GST for the whole lot plus another $799+GST for the DVD incl all the papers.

Canberra, October 12th to 15th, AIPM Conference 2008

Starting with a welcome reception on Sunday the 12th, leading into a packed conference program from the 13 th to the 15th. Framed into Keynotes in the morning and the afternoon an inspiring program has been put together. Keynote Speakers like Andrew Look, John Lloyd, Rodney Turner and Miriam Baltuck have been locked and the program is full of industry recognised speakers.

The price ranges from $650 for a student to $1.295 for a non AIPM member for the full conference.

Auckland, New Zealand, October 06th to 08th, PMI NZ Natyional Conference 2008

PMI NZ is well know for the conferences with a great inspiring attitude, a great social program and great speakers. This years Conference will drive that perception even further. The conference will start of on Ocotber 6th with Workshops on eXtreme Project Management, Agile Project Management and a radical Bootcamp for Project Managers, a On Site Visit Programme in the afternoon and the registration for the conference opens in the evening plus the icebreaker cocktail function. Tuesday and Wednesday are fully packed with great keynotes and presentations. Have a look at the programme.

The Social Prorgamme will focus on the “Carnival” Conference Dinner with a

superb three course dinner, interspersed with award presentations and more stunning entertainment. Following the formal part of the evening we will be dancing the night away to live music from one of New Zealand’s bands.

The price ranges from $395 to $1.325 for the conference plus $150 for the dinner function.

More on the programs to come as we are moving closer to the events.

Allright, what do we get out of this (September 2008) month PMI chapter meetings across Australia:

Perth, Western Australia, Wednesday September 10th 2008, 06:00pm: 
Speaker:
Acting Superintendent Lance Martin, Program Director - Communications Infrastructure Program, Western Australia Police
Mr Brian Considine PMP, Associate Director - (Program Manager - Communications Infrastructure Program), Fujitsu Australia Pty Ltd
Topic:
The Police Metropolitan Radio Network project was commissioned on schedule and on budget in December 2006, and has now been successfully rolled out to all police users across the 10000 km2 coverage area. The speakers will provide an overview of the project, focussing on some of the key project management challenges encountered how the challenges were overcome. In particular it will outline, how the PM team successfully incorporated the management of risk into the procurement cycle to lay the foundations for a successful implementation; provide an overview of the key lessons learnt and how they will be applied to future projects undertaken by the Program; describe how the implementation managed the business change to provide measurable benefits to WAPOL.

Adelaide, no further information on the website

Melbourne, Tuesday September 30th 2008, 06:00pm:
Speaker:
Lloyd L. Carter, Consultant, SYPAQ Systems Pty Ltd
Topic:
Development of ISO 21500 Guide to Project Management
In recent years there has been a proliferation of sector specific standards worldwide which have had no overarching standard to set the generic principles and procedures of Project Management globally. In addition these standards have had no common vocabulary or processes that could be referenced by the global project management community resulting in different definitions and interpretations. This standard will provide a common platform which will become a reference point for all project management professionals and hence facilitate knowledge transfer and the harmonization of principles, vocabulary and processes in existing and future standards.
 

Canberra, September:
Speaker:
ANAO
Topic:
Better Practice Guide 

Sydney, Wednesday September 17th, 07:30 am:
Speaker:
Eleri Morgan Thomas
Topic:
Women in Project Management
Eleri’s talk will reflect on the challenges (and excitement) of managing projects in a community services environment where every dollar spent on infrastructure is one that isn’t spent on a client. The workforce is predominantly female and their focus is primarily on the delivery of services to clients. At the end of the day, every project managed in Mission Australia has to demonstrate real value for money and value for effort across the board. 

Brisbane, Wednesday September 17th, 06:00 pm:
Speaker:
Richard Egelstaff
Topic:
A Review of Project Management Education in the UK, USA and Australia
In this presentation Richard Egelstaff will explore different levels of education relating to project management.  The presentation is designed to help anyone contemplating recognition or seeking qualification as a project manager.  Richard will explain how private providers, such as PMI or AIM compare to formal education institutions, such as TAFE and University.  He will also discuss the ideas behind competency or employment based qualifications as compared to academic qualifications.  In this respect, the qualification trends in the UK, USA and Australia with particular emphasis on project management learning and employment is explored. 
If you are thinking of gaining a formal education in project management in Australia at either an undergraduate or post graduate degree level then this presentation will save you hours of research and guide you towards the best education solutions for you.