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Many professions have associations that govern certifications to standardize skillsets and help their members in all stages of their careers. For project managers, PMI (Project Management Institute) is that association. PMI is a global organization with a local chapter here in Sioux Falls. Each year, our local chapter hosts an annual one-day summit. I've been attending our summit for many years now and have always found the day to be educational and inspiring. This year was distinct as I joined the Sioux Empire chapter board as the President-Elect. When I started my board journey less than a year ago, I had very little information on what it would entail. I was completely blown away by the commitment and dedication of the volunteers that support our chapter. During the six-plus months before the summit, I experienced first-hand the amount of effort and time it takes to plan and host this one-day event. I could talk for quite a while about the awesomeness of my fellow board members, but that can be another blog post for another day.

We started off the day with a light breakfast and networking. The energy in the room was palpable as people shared their stories and learned more about their fellow attendees. April Callis Birchmeier led our first speaker session to talk to us about change management. Project managers are change agents that deal with competing schedules, evolving requirements, scarce resources, and more.   April's message was timely and well received. After April, we moved into more technical sessions, where Joshua Barnes talked about PMI's newest toolkit, Disciplined Agile (DA). DA is about using processes from various methodologies to build a customized way to manage projects. This toolkit allows organizations to personalize their project management journey and make it their own. It's the most revolutionary thing to happen to project management since Agile in the early 2000s. After lunch, we had a mentor panel consisting of leaders from local businesses, which was moderated by John Beranek. This was probably the most popular session of the day, as we all could relate to the panelists' stories. We then heard again from April on sponsor engagement and did a deeper dive into Disciplined Agile. Our last session of the day was held by John, our panel moderator from earlier in the day. The session had some interaction with the crowd and a chance to share trigger points and tools to help manage day-to-day interactions. John brought humor, wisdom, and years of experience working within the justice system and finished up the day with personal insight.

The great news is that you don't need to be a trained project manager to enjoy this summit or benefit from membership in our organization.   You already ARE a project manager in your daily life - juggling competing priorities, managing schedules, and communicating with family, friends, and co-workers to get things done. So, why not take a day to learn new skills and meet some amazing people right here in Sioux Falls? Join us next year - we already have our date - August 8th, 2023 at the beautiful University of Sioux Falls campus.   I guarantee that our summit will not disappoint! I look forward to meeting and connecting with you!