Tuesday 2 October 2012

PMI National Conference 2012

This is one of the most expected event by professionally. The event hosted at Leela Palace, MRC Nagar, Chennai. Schedule 28-30 September 2012. From morning 09.15 hours to 19.00 hours IST everyday. Its hosted by PMI Chennai & Kerala chapter together.

Being an early bird invitee, went to the location on 28th september 2012 by 09.30 hours IST itself. This hotel & location are new to me, got clues by discussing with Ganesh - VP Education of PMI Chennai chapter. But still I missed this location and went to TVH apartments, and got guided to the correct spot.

My number is 505 and get into the counter no: 5, and Mr.Selvakumar is the counter-in charge. With quiet patiently, he has explained about the Welcome Kit, RFID and provided with Pen Drive(quiet surprisingly) with technical paper. Selva, requested me to return RFID tag, on my return from the conference. He even mentioned that this conference is planned, "GO GREEN" initiate, by giving welcome bag. I just thought for a moment, that, since the bag is green in color, people started claiming as green. Somehow, Selva read my mind, and immediately, responded that, not only bag's color, but also the bag is made-up of fabric, without including any plastics and also many more initiatives taken on this reference, which you will see as conference progress.

As conference progressed, each speaker was honoured with Momento and also, a certificate for planting a count of tree, on the behalf of the speaker. Its very good. After each session completed, the feedbacks were requested, but again a change in the approach. Instead of providing in regular papers, they were informed to delegates by an SMS, we need respond based on the codes. Again another milestone, to minimize usage of paper. Very good.

After early bird sessions, actual event started, with a cultural event. The compere mentioned that the cultural event will be conducted by Karthik. One youngster, came and stood on the stage and four more came and stood on a stage, which is kept at different parts of conference hall. They played the song of 'Jai Ho' of AR Rahman and they made us to represent various components of orchestra and sing the song as in original. By stating in english, seems to be so easy, but the demonstration on the stage, through the delegates of 1200, is NOT AT ALL easy. But believe me, after this event, almost all of us were laughing and smiling limitlessly.

On day 2, we had Guruji Sri Sri Ravisankar session, which is a magic. Guruji, on the fly demonstrated 'Desktop Yoga', helped all of us to meditate for few minutes. Everything took around 18 minutes only, but we all felt as refreshed. His speech was around how individual could comfortably lead professional life, is Passion - Compassion - Dis-passion. He said, when world created, Lord Vishnu(Manager) came first, then Lord Brahma(Creator) came. What a connect between spirituality and professional...Simply great.

On day 3, we had session with E.Sreedharan, whom we consider as Father of India's Project Management. For everything and anything, he has solution and work around.He highlighted the key characteristics for the competitive project manager as, (a) Punctuality (b) Integrity (c) Professional Competency (d) Social responsible / belonging. He has explained each and every aspects of this in detail. Half of his time, dedicated to Q&A with delegates. One of the delegate is from Hyderabad Metro, and raised a question with reference to a problem faced by his management, which is delaying the project to proceed further. But the way Sreedharan, replied was amazing. He just replied, "start need to happen, where well-acceptance is available not where the problem exists. I am disappointed the way things taken over". Even if we allowed atleast 5 more minutes, I guess he might have completed project review session on the fly(without any notes, points, ppts).

Followed by Big Debate, which was Moderated by L.Sujeeth Kumar, who is a Location Head - HR for Infosys. The topic, "Could woman be better project managers?" It quiet delicate and complicate, where the both the sides, need to show decent edges, as pros and cons. But the moderator, so good, got to see those small things and blown-up in a debate fashion, which has made so interesting for the audience. Moderator, need to mention about, the way catch the point, the way blow with his own experience, and the way its presented to audience, believe me, it was great treat to watch, hear, and think about it. Excellent. Mr.Pascal, who is General Manager of Leela palace, was NOT supporting women could be better project manager, where he clearly mentioned that Woman managing men is OK, but Women managing women is a challenge. Actually he is from france. So this observation seems to be valid across globe. Interesting. The debate concluded with Sujeeth, wonderful conclusion note, favouring woman, but the way it was presented, is really impressive. Good Show Sujeeth.

Atlast the conference ended. But need to acknowledge their Volunteers, about their commitment, dedication, involvement, passion, ego-less operation are worth to appreciate.

Overall, it was interesting, knowledgeable, exciting conference. Worth more than we paid. Hoping to know more such opportunities.

1 comment:

  1. Good and thanks for sharing, SSK! Though I missed attending this being far away from India, still could relate and visualize how the conference went on..

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