Keynote Presentations

These presentations deal with topics that have broad interest and have significant substance, relative to project management. They are excellent choices if you're looking for a dynamic presention to open or close your next event.

A "State of the Union” Address on Project Management: An Examination of a Profession in Crisis

There are indications that project management is a profession in crisis, having suffered a loss of respect over the past 15-20 years. As a result, many of today's project management practitioners lead an extremely challenging existence.  Gary Heerkens takes a no-holds-barred look at the problems facing our profession through the eyes of people who practice it under exceedingly difficult circumstances. The expert opinions of Harold Kerzner, Neal Whitten, Janice Thomas, Jack Duggal, and Paul Giammalvo suggest root causes, revealing that the responsibility to improve is a shared one.
(Described by attendees as ‘the most important topic facing project management today’)

Make It Your Business To Be Business-Savvy...You Will Become Indispensable!

Describes how (and why) project management is slowly evolving from a technically-focused discipline to a business-focused discipline. Includes a "Learning Map" (takeaway), which identifies 100 targeted knowledge and skill items that business-savvy project personnel of the future will need to know.

(Definitely a "leading edge“, career expanding topic)

Calculating the Value of Project Management: How Can You Do It? (Why Should You Need To?)

Provides detail and insight on three of the more noteworthy (if not popular) research-based approaches for calculating or describing the value of project management which have surfaced over the past several years. Then, in a thought-provoking and highly interactive conclusion, uses the audience to explore a question that we probably should have started asking ourselves some time ago -- after nearly 50 years of formalized existence, why is there still a need to justify project management at all? 

(Enlightening, thought-provoking, and highly participative)

The Amazing Transformation of American Eagle Federal Credit Union

This true story chronicles the transformation of the American Eagle Federal Credit Union, a rapidly growing financial institution in East Hartford, Connecticut, as they sought to dramatically improve their approach to project management. It describes the design and installation of an entire project management infrastructure suited to meet their business needs. All aspects of the project management process were addressed, such as: developing procedures for identifying and approving projects, selecting project management software, implementing skill-building programs, developing a project process manual, and installing a PMO. The result was a dramatic transformation of their project portfolio -- from a liability to a strategic weapon.

(An actual, “true-life” case study that is information-rich, comprehensive, and practical)

INTRODUCING…The Revolutionary Strategic Project Management Maturity Model (SPM3)

This is a very advanced topic, and was one of just four presentations (out of 140!) selected at the 2007 PMI Global Congress for an encore presentation. It offers a new and different perspective on the concept of project  management maturity, and is intended to stretch the envelope of project management. Essentially, it takes the fundamental concept of PM maturity and bumps it up to the organizational or corporate level, proposing an approach for evaluating how mature a company is with respect to how it addresses project management from a strategic perspective.

(A very high level, leading-edge topic)