He delivered a really motivating talk about his work with Caterpillar, Boeing, Airbus and so many other companies to help focus our mind through the upcoming days about what we need to be looking at.
Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Viewing Posts by Emily Luijbregts
Ask the Experts comes to the Global Community
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Announcement!!Based upon the comments on previous blog posts, I've spoken with the other "Ask the experts" and we've agreed that during our free time at the conference to answer questions. Depending upon audio quality, this may be through Q&A in a blog post or video uploads to Twitter. So, have you got any questions for: - David Maynard - Priya Patra - Dan Furlong - Gina Abudi - Emily Luijbregts? You'll have seen in previous posts what we specialise in, so please leave your questions below before this Friday (5. October) so that I can prepare some great Q&A for our online community. |
Wanted: You.
Categories:
Social Responsibility,
PMI,
Reflections on the PM Life,
Mentoring,
Lessons Learned,
New Practitioners,
Teams
Categories: Social Responsibility, PMI, Reflections on the PM Life, Mentoring, Lessons Learned, New Practitioners, Teams
| I've been talking to some colleagues recently about what makes a conference valuable and the overwhelming reaction has been: The audience and their participation. I've also spoken at several conferences (most recently at a national conference in the Netherlands) and the one thing that really made the event stand out to me was the quality of the questions and the feedback from the audience. Whether you think that it's valuable or not, sometimes the 'easiest' questions are the ones that make us think the most. The definition of "why", "how" can really help others understand a unique viewpoint or difference of opinion. As we start the ramp up to #PMICON18; there is one thing that I'd like to ask of you. Whether you are attending in person or following virtually; i'd encourage you to participate in the discussions and threads that are created. Actively discuss and question the presenters and keynote speakers with the information that you want to know and really try to share the knowledge that you have gained over the conference. Throughout the conference, my fellow 'Ask the Experts' and I will be posting here as well as on social media (@Em_The_PM) on our experiences, how the conference is going and perhaps some insights/videos from the breakout sessions. Is there anything that you'd like to see at the conference? Are you burning to know how the networking sessions look like? Do you want to see who the 'Ask the Experts' are? Let me know below and we can make sure that we try to cover it. |
Ask the Experts - #PMICON18
| #PMICON18 is coming up! Once again you're given the opportunity to book a session with some great Global Project Management SMEs to get advice, answer your burning project question or just to chat to. I've been fortunate enough to return to the Global Conference and will once again be looking to add and share knowledge to the wider community. What can we talk about? Below are a few areas that I specialise in and am happy to sit and talk about! I'm also open to wider topics like: gender inclusion in Project Management and successful adoption of user organisational change!
So, let's start the discussion already. What would you like to talk about during #PMIcon18? Have I missed anything that you'd like to see? - Emily Luijbregts |
What to expect at the PMICON18
| This year will be second PMI Global Conference so I wanted to give you some ideas and expectations for what you can expect at this upcoming conference. Networking: One of my favourite parts of PMI conferences are the networking opportunities. At the recent EMEA Conference, I not only met new colleagues and connections that I could talk to but I was also able to make new like-minded friends! During the conference, you'll have a series of different networking breaks that give you an opportunity to grab a drink, snack and meet other PMs doing the same thing! There are also some great lunches where you can sit down and eat with the speakers that you've just heard lecturing with and there's the ability to ask further / personal questions for advice. In the evenings there are usually some great activities and networking events to make sure that you're getting the most of these sessions. Great talks: Every presentation that you see at the conference has been peer reviewed, processed, rehearsed and given a lot of attention! The talks that you see will be the best of the project management community at the moment and allow you to access some of the latest thoughts from the most experienced SMEs in the world. Learning I will always bring a new notepad to the conference and by the end of it, it is jam packed with notes, actions, ideas, further learning opportunities.In every talk that I go to, I like to write down: What is my biggest take away from this topic? and really try to focus on what I will be getting out of it. This could be an action to learn more or it could be a question that I want to raise with the presenter. Advice from Ask the Experts: During this years conference, you have the ability of being able to book into a session with some of the leading Project Management Professionals in the world. There is the stand called: Ask the Experts where you can get personal and private access to some of the best minds in Project Management today... and you can ask them whatever you want! Do you want to ask about career advice? An issue in your project? Networking opportunities? Certification advice? or just to talk about how they managed to get where they did today. I will be there as well and I'll be ready to ask and support you with any of your Project Management queries! You can sign up here! Summary: This conference is presented by people like you. They're normally all Project Managers with extensive experience in their industries and they want to share their knowledge with you! So, let's start a discussion: How do you prepare for conferences? Do you take a notepad along with you? Do you just like to 'go with the flow'and see what happens? - Emily |
PMIEMEA18 - Conference Summary
| What a great few days it's been! I've been helping PMI with their social media for the EMEA conference alongside Karthik Ramamurthy and Priya Patra (both very well known individuals in their own right!). We were tasked with the aim of bringing the conference to those who couldn't attend in person so I made sure that I was tweeting (@Em_The_PM) as much as I could to bring you the different sessions that I attended and what a day at the conference looks like. It's important to know that the PMI conferences are not just about the sessions that you attend or the PDUs that you can earn by attending. It's got so much more value! The opportunities to be able to speak to your peers and Subject Matter Professionals really gives you live advice and coaching (and all included in the conference price!). This is my first time at the EMEA conference and I've really learnt so much about how projects run (and also how they fail) in the EMEA conference area. I decided to arrive a day early for the conference and took the time to spend the afternoon picking up my badge (a.k.a finding where the conference centre is and how long it'll take to walk in the morning) and then also enjoying the beautiful weather that we had in Berlin. We were really spoilt with high temperatures, beautiful sunshine and a relaxed environment. The first day of the conference is ALWAYS jam-packed so I took the time to make sure I knew where everything was (including the lunch location!) and then making my way to the keynote session. The great thing about PMI conferences is that they tend to bring in some awesome keynote speakers and they didn't disappoint with Rowan Gibson (@RowanGibson)
You can read more about my Day 1 here but suffice to say that it was really enjoyable and they did have to kick us out at the end of the day because we couldn't stop talking to each other!
Day 2 (Tuesday) was another really great day. A full breakdown of my day is here but whilst others chose to go offsite to visit the central station or the airport, I decided to stay and attend the workshop: Winning Well. Becoming a more strategic Project Manager with the great Karin Hart (@letsgrowleaders) . It was the first time that I've blown bubbles at the start of a session! This has to be one of my favourite sessions because not only was it very interactive and made you really think about how YOU can become more strategic but it was also about how we can constantly improve ourselves and always look for improvements. In the afternoon, I presented my own topic "Dude, where's my control. Transitioning from Project Manager to Scrum Master" to a packed room of attendees. It was fantastic to see so many engaged people and be able to spend time afterwards to answer questions and help others with their issues. It was a really great day for me and I really enjoyed being able to present my thoughts to others.
My second day concluded by talking to others during Happy Hour. I managed to make a lot of great connections and really connect with them about what they were doing and where I could help. Happy Hours are one of the best events for me because I'm able to really talk to other people in a more relaxed setting (as opposed to the formal session structure). It's great being able to talk to others over a drink and a few snacks to really get to know each other. Day 3 was the final day of the main conference and I did a short summary here. Being able to connect with others on the PMI Events app was a great way to round off the entire conference because we ended up sharing a lot of contact details and information with each other that wouldn't have been possible with just exchanging business cards. By being able to message other attendees we could arrange to meet up for a coffee during the break or alternatively message about which session we were thinking of attending next. What did I get out of the conference?
Is a PMI Conference for me? I'd say yes ;-) But in all honesty, the PMI conferences are great for being able to get A LOT of information and knowledge in a very short period of time and to make new connections along the way. The conferences are 3 days in total and they're very intense days, but you're well taken of with food, drink and a great atmosphere.
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