Record number of visitors attend The Best Practice Showcase

16 July 2008, High Wycombe, Buckingham, UK ……… The sixth Best Practice Showcase took place at the QE11 Conference Centre on a bright summer's day. The prestigious venue, which overlooks Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, attracted over 600 senior programme and project managers for a day of debate, discussion and learning.

A clear theme emerged from the day which focussed on how effective leadership has the ability to make programmes and projects happen.

Joseph Sopko of Siemens US explained how senior management support is essential for good programme and project outcomes. "To get executive support you need strong links to business objectives, strategy and benefits," he said.

The Showcase saw the launch of a series of books on leadership, team working and communication. Melanie Franklin, CEO of Maven Training who authored the series along with her colleague Susan Tuttle, gave delegates an insight into the special set of skills project managers need in order to lead projects effectively.

Melanie said 70% of businesses fail to achieve their desired goals. "The causes for failure are usually lack of strong leadership, lack of team skills, lack of stakeholder engagement," she said.

She explained the emotional and technical competencies that project managers need "Project managers introduce change and fear – the unknown quantity. They don't have the structural controls of the line manager so they need to motivate the staff working in their teams in a more creative way. It's vital that project managers are competent to lead others by managing themselves effectively," she said.

Maven Training ran a competition on the day of the event whereby delegates had to guess the number of jobs on a leading recruitment website with 'Change Management' in the job title. The actual number was 8542 and Jasmine Ragab, PMO Senior Analyst, Premier Foods, was closest.

Jasmine said: "I am very happy to be the lucky winner of the competition. We are currently establishing a PMO Library and the books will be the first ones to go on the shelves. I am a PMO Senior Analyst at Premier Foods, the UK's largest food producer, and the Group PMO's role is to provide a wide range of services to the whole business, including training on our project methodology, project support, workshop facilitation, reporting, and process improvement, etc. We have just invested in a tool to perform Portfolio Management hence I was very keen to attend the Best Practice Showcase to get some ideas on the matter. The seminars I attended relating to this were very good, Portfolio Management is a hot topic and I managed to get some interesting tips that I will definitely apply at work. There is even a P3O qualification coming out".

Sue Vowler, lead author of the new P3O (Portfolio, Programme, Project Office) guide from OGC, held two packed sessions at the event. She said: "This new guidance brings together all that currently exists and tries to make sense of it. At the moment there are many kinds of support office and some of the guidance is contradictory. The aim is to provide a single point of reference for setting up or running effective delivery support and/or enabling offices in alignment with OGC Best Practice".

Meanwhile Lead Author of the PRINCE2 update, Andy Murray, was interviewed by Alan Harpham, Chairman, APMG (OGC's accreditor) on the changes which will be implemented in the new PRINCE2 2009 manual.

Andy explained that the updated PRINCE2 – due for release in Spring 2009 – will comprise two publications, one focusing on managing projects and the other on directing projects. "The new directing publication will be brand new content," Andy said.

On the subject of exams, Andy told the audience that existing PRINCE2 qualifications will remain valid and there won't be a bridging qualification because the new version is not so different from the existing one. He also said that the updated PRINCE2 is aligned with the new Programme and Project Sponsor qualification from APMG as well as with the new MSP and M_o_R methods.

Rod Sowden of Aspire Europe gave two interactive 'Birds of a Feather' sessions concerning OGC's updated Maturity Models. "P3M3 is designed to enable organisations to understand their current level of maturity and highlight areas that would give them the most value and performance improvement in the short and long terms," Rod said.

There was celebration as three candidates who were trained by The Projects Group collected their Certificates in Programme and Project Management awarded by The Chartered Management Institute. Andy Delf of Magnox, Philip Cox of Atalanta Associates Ltd and Linda Tait of Kellogg Brown and Root Ltd also received a bottle of champagne each to mark their achievement. All three candidates said they were working towards gaining The Diploma in Programme and Management and were delighted to have reached the Certificate level.

The event also saw the launch of a new qualification aimed at leaders or sponsors of programmes and projects. Piloted by The Home Office, the APMG qualification certifies that senior staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to lead their teams effectively.

Emma Hilditch, event director said, "The Best Practice Showcase attracted over 600 visitors this year – more than any previous year. Exhibitors reported they had an excellent day and delegate feedback was extremely complimentary. We put on a varied programme for delegates, who will hopefully put what they've learnt to good use back in their workplaces and be confident leaders".

You can now watch or listen to the presentations and interviews that took place at the Showcase, at www.bestpracticeshowcase.com.