Phoenix Rising: Tales from PMI Global Congress 2014

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Career Development   ProjectsAtWork  

For me, it started with a tweet. I was all set to head out to Phoenix for PMI Global Congress for some work that I was doing with the Project Management Institute. On Saturday, I checked Twitter for #PMICongress before leaving and could sense that the excitement was building for the start of the largest event of the year. Then something caught my eye about the Sheraton in downtown Phoenix--my hotel for the week. I thought that I had misread it, but no--there was a fire. Thankfully the scale was small, but it was where a lot of my friends and colleagues were staying, and where I was soon due to check in.

It wasn’t the most pleasant start to this year’s Congress, but as you will all probably now know, no one was hurt. While a lot of people were inconvenienced, it didn’t put a damper on anything. The PMI staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to find new hotels for everyone, and it’s easier for those affected to keep a sense of humor when it’s sunny and 90 degrees! The event itself was truly spectacular. The Phoenix Convention Center is a wonderful venue, and as I walked into the Congress area for the first time the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement.

There were a number of firsts at the PMI Global Congress this year, and they were aimed at what I think is one of the biggest benefits of attending Congress--the opportunity to discuss and…

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.