In a welcome move away from the virtual conference, I attended and presented at Wellingtone’s FuturePMO Conference in London this October.
From Keynote speakers to experienced project practitioners, the agenda covered a wide range of topics from industries across the private and public sectors.
Wellingtone is known for its themed summit, and this year was no exception. The conference centre was dotted with retro arcade pinball and gaming machines – all working models, with the theme of “Levelling Up”. When you wanted a break from the networking and scheduled talks, you could try your hand at PacMan and get your score into the top 10.
For my presentation, I spoke on the topic of AI and its implications for the project profession. I outlined the benefits and challenges of AI as they pertain to our profession and focused on the risk of not engaging with AI as it continues to develop at pace.
Spending time with our peers is valuable, providing us with insights into how our colleagues in different industries deal with the same challenges.
With 4 auditoriums on the go at once, attendees had the opportunity to “pick & mix” from various speakers and topics.
There were some fantastic and informative speakers on the day, from Marc Hudson, representing West Midland Fire Service, to Donna Wayman from Zurich who spoke on the challenges of expanding a PMO Service. Wellingtone’s Director of Consulting Services, Emma Arnaz-Pemberton, delivered a thought-provoking session on the power of choice. The Keynote speaker – Kriss Akabusi MBE – delivered an energetic and motivational speech to a captivated audience and left us with a number of inspirational messages such as “The past is for reference, not for residence.” to keep our focus looking to the future and always working towards our goals.
For anyone who has not attended, I highly recommend this conference as a go-to annual event to attend. Wellingtone have established a stress free, fun, no sales environment, to network & learn from peers.
