Flying High - This track will focus on the characteristics of high performing teams, assessing team development, exchanging feedback, developing a collaborative team culture and reducing conflict.

Global Perspectives - International project management is a key factor in NASA’s mission-driven project environment. Successful projects today require collaborative working relationships with international partners and suppliers. These thought-provoking presentations will provide global perspectives on this important topic.

Take A Chance - Projects are confronted by some type of risk every day. How they identify and deal with risk is often the key to success or the reason for failure. Customers, stakeholders, and project managers are asking for better ways to manage risk. Risk is too important to leave to chance, so explore these cutting edge sessions and put the odds of success in your project’s favor.

Connect and Discover - While we cannot change the past, we can learn from it and do better in the future. These sessions will help “get connected” to lessons learned from past missions.

Windows of Opportunity - There is power in project management, especially in the processes, methods and techniques project teams use to get the job done. Find out about successful project management processes and how to apply them to your project.

All Systems Go! - The technical dimension of NASA missions is a major challenge to the engineering teams supporting them. Sound systems engineering and engineering management are vital for formulating and implementing complex NASA programs and projects in a manner that enhances the prospects for Mission Success. This session explores lessons learned, new ideas, and innovative approaches to assuring continued technical excellence within the agency now and in the years to come.

Words of Wisdom –What are the topics and challenges of interest to today’s NASA project teams, and what do the agency’s senior leaders have to say about them? Bring your questions to these informal and insightful dialogues with NASA management.

Blazing Trails – PM Challenge 2009 features actual experiences and challenges encountered by NASA project teams in a hands-on case study format where the audience plays the roles of key project stakeholders. What would you do in these situations? Find out in these Blazing Trails track sessions.

 

Key dates:

• September 12, 2008 – Abstracts & Speaker Biographies due

• November 3, 2008 – Registration opens

• December 19, 2008 – Speaker presentations due

• January 30, 2009 – Registration closes

Additional information, including speaker requirements, abstract guidelines and registration can be found at http://pmchallenge.gsfc.nasa.gov/speaker2009.htm. The co-chairs for the NASA PM Challenge 2009 conference are Dorothy Tiffany and Walt Majerowicz.

Presentations for the PM Challenge Conference must not include a sales pitch or advertisement for any company or product, nor any ITAR information. All presentations will be included on the conference CD to be distributed to all attendees and will be posted on the conference website after the conference. All speakers are required to submit their final power point presentations by December 19, 2008.

Under NASA’s Office of the Chief Engineer, the Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL) provides leadership, advice, direction, and support for the development and learning of the NASA program/project management and engineering community. APPEL trains the technical workforce through a competency-based and experiential development process; promotes continuous learning through a blended learning model, which leverages the expertise of university and private industry partners; offers performance support to project teams through assessment, workshops, expert consulting, rapid deployment training, coaching, and mentoring; and facilitates the dissemination of lessons learned through online resources and communities of practice. The Director of APPEL at NASA is Dr. Edward Hoffman. For more information, visit http://appel.nasa.gov/.

Created in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is America’s focal point for research, development and exploration of outer space. In 2005, the US President and Congress committed the United States to exploring the solar system and beyond: completing assembly of the International Space Station, flying the new Crew Exploration Vehicle no later than 2014, returning astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade, and sending human missions to Mars and beyond. For over 50 years, NASA has been leading the world in the development and usage of advanced program and project management. Additional information about NASA can be found at www.nasa.gov.

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Presentation slots at the conference will last around 20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions, answers and debate. If you would like the chance to join the project management debate as a speaker at the APM Project Management Conference, then submit an outline of your presentation to the Conference panel. The outline should be no more than 250 words and submitted in PDF, Word, or Power Point format. Presentation outlines should be submitted by the 27th June 2008 to conference@apm.org.uk.

Full details about the conference can be found at www.apm.org.uk/conference.asp. For further information about speaking, attending or exhibiting at the event, contact conference@apm.org.uk.