PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by Miles Shepherd in the UK

The association for project management (apm) will hold their 2010 national Project Management Conference - Building the Future in Partnership - on Thursday, 21st October 2010 at The Brewery in London. For conference information, click here.

The 2010 apm Project Management Conference will provide an interactive forum for participants to contribute to the national project management debate as the profession faces up to the greatest challenges it has ever faced, including a post-recession economy as well as environmental, social and political reform. The 2010 conference will also include APM's annual awards banquet on Thursday evening, 21 October. For more information, visit https://www.apm.org.uk/conference.asp.

According to the apm, the project management profession is under increasing pressure from customers and stakeholders. Every project or programme is under scrutiny and needs to be seen to deliver benefit. Partnerships with contractors, across the project portfolio, with external stakeholders and within the profession itself hold the key to future project management success. In Delivering the Future in Partnership, the APM Project Management Conference will addresse the full range of challenges for the future of the profession.

Conference Chairman, Professor Darren Dalcher, Director of the National Centre for Project Management at Middlesex University will steer delegates through a programme that aims to provide ongoing dialogue about the needs and future of the profession and the difference that it can make to UK PLC.

The 2010 conference in London will focus on 'building the future in partnership', preparing for the challenges that lie ahead and developing the capabilities and skills needed to master them. The conference will bring together thought leaders and practitioners to combine practical concepts, emerging theories and inspiring case studies. Building the future implies understanding the past and recognising the present before we can move on. Invited speeches will complement the themes as they build on lessons from the past, developing an appreciation of the challenges of the present, and ultimately, going back to the future and exploring new ideas and perspectives.

Three key speakers will frame the conference and its issues. Stephen Carver, Lecturer in Project Management at Cranfield University, will open the conference by highlighting the lessons we need to learn from history about working in partnership.

Sir Peter Gershon, current chairman of Tate & Lyle, will reflect on his experiences in the government's Efficiency and Reform Group to examine the current challenges faced by the profession.

The conference will close with Michael Cavanagh, director of organisational learning, development and project management Galatea, outlining a challenging new future - '2nd Order Project Management'; a new paradigm in the profession advocating a whole new toolset for the management of future projects.

In between, the conference will address four major themes featuring speakers offering both thought leadership and insightful case studies. 'Partnerships' will look at managing key relationships within projects; contractors, partners and financiers. APM President Martin Barnes CBE, Tom Foulkes Director General of the Institution of Civil Engineers and David Pitchford, Executive Director, Major Projects at the Office of Government and Commerce, will all speak about different aspects of managing these relationships.

'Portfolios' will address newly emerging prominence of portfolio management. Here, Steve Jenner from the new APM Portfolio Management SIG, Paul Major of Program Framework and Louise Woodford of Ministry of Justice will all address the latest hot topic within the profession alongside APM 2009 Programme of the Year winner, Remploy.

'Managing Change' will look at projects and programmes which have a profound impact on their stakeholders, from the UK Digital Switchover, Terminal Five and NHS projects. The final theme will look at the partnerships within the profession that will help develop 'New ways of working'. Here, we'll be looking at agile project management, relationship management and the impact of new media on the profession.

The programme promises to outline how project and programme management will need to adapt to our increasingly demanding environment. It will inform, entertain and challenge, offering delegates the opportunity to understand where the profession is going, the environment in which it will operate in the future and the new skills needed to grow their professional competence, prosper in this new environment and begin to deliver the future in partnership.

The Association for Project Management (apm) is the UK's national body for professional project management. With over 17,500 individual and 500 corporate members throughout the UK and abroad, apm is one of the largest organisations of its kind in Europe. The organisation develops and promotes project management across all sectors of industry and beyond. apm's mission is: "To develop and promote the professional disciplines of project and programme management for the public benefit." apm is the UK member of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). With headquarters in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, apm has twelve regional branches throughout the UK and one in Hong Kong. More information can be found at www.apm.org.uk.

PMForum is a media partner for this event. Previous news articles about the apm conference can be found at http://www.pmforum.org/events/2010/apm-2010