Elevate your project management skills by mastering the art of conducting productive kick-off sessions, regular status updates, planning meetings, technical discussions, and Agile/Scrum ceremonies.

Explore strategies for managing conflict and handling disruptive 'meeting goblins' like Billy the Bully or Tina the Tangent-Taker. In the post-COVID landscape, gain valuable insights into running remote meetings and incorporating retrospectives. The workshop encourages active participation through hands-on exercises in breakout rooms, including a successful PMI PD Day case study where participants take on different 'goblin' roles.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify and learn how to repond to non-productive “shadow personalities” that arise in meetings (Meeting Goblins)
• Advance your project meeting facilitation skills.
• Learn and practice techniques to foster team cohesion in project environments.
• Develop conflict resolution strategies for effective project team meetings.
• Gain knowledge and proficiency in running remote meetings and utilizing AI.

Deliverables

• 90 minute presentation based on the book Great Meetings Build Great Teams: A Guide for Project Leaders and Agilists by Rich Maltzman and Jim Stewart  
• Interactive ice-breaker game that you will want to apply to your larger meetings
• Additional activities to hone your project meeting facilitation skills

Speaker Bio's

Richard Maltzman: I consider myself a ‘pracademic’ – currently (and for the past 10 years or so) Master Lecturer at Boston University, an author, and a consultant, providing clients with a deep learning experience and improved results. I am “retired” from a 40-year career in telecom, mainly in engineering and project management. At the University level, and in consulting, my focus is always on the converting weaknesses into strengths while teaching clients/students how to apply learned skills to everyday situations.
In 2010, I co-founded EarthPM, LLC, a company devoted to integrating sustainability thinking into project management. His integration of a holistic, global view of project management has resulted in international consulting and worldwide speaking engagements (Costa Rica, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Mexico, Canada, India, Italy, The Netherlands) in which the focus is the long-term success of projects, with an eye towards ecological and social systems. My blog at PMI’s projectmanagement.com (People, Planet, Profits, and Projects) site has become very popular, and I have started a podcast, “B’yond PM” on Spotify, after being a guest on far too many other podcasts.
A co-author of seven books on project leadership, including the recent Great Meetings Build Great Teams, and the upcoming GreenPMO, I’m a former VP of Professional Development for PMI Mass Bay (the Boston area PMI Chapter), and was on the Review Committee for the 7th Edition PMBOK® Guide, helping to assure that sustainability thinking finally made it into the Standard and the Body of Knowledge.

James P. Stewart: 

Since 2003, Jim has been Principal of JP Stewart Consulting LLC. Jim is a certified PMP® and possesses multiple Agile certifications including IC-Agile coach and Certified Scrum Product Owner. Jim is a long-time member of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and served for several years on the board of the local chapter. He has, for many years, taught and developed courseware for PMP® classes and co-developed an Agile 101 online course.

Since going solo in 2003, Jim has implemented several PMOs, worked on projects rolling out software such as Salesforce and Workday, acted as Scrum Master for startups and recently worked with a global pharmaceutical as Agile coach to assist them in their Agile transformation.

Jim also mentors and coaches individuals to become project managers and agilists including an Iraqi vet and an associate researcher at a leading school of public health. With Rich Maltzman, he is co-author of the book How to Facilitate Productive Project Planning Meetings and its update, Great Meetings Build Great Teams: A Guide for Project Leaders and Agilists.