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Project Management Speakers

Is your organization looking for a keynote speaker well versed in all aspects of project management consulting and training? Look no further! IPDI’s keynote speakers present interesting and engaging presentations on a variety of topics.

Doug Boebinger, Bill Dannenmaier, Myles Miller, and Tom Mochal share knowledge gained from decades of experience working, teaching, and consulting in the field of Project Management.

Featured Keynote Topics

Doug Boebinger’s “Poor Man’s” series:

“PM2: Poor Man’s Project Management” presentations discuss a systems approach to the numerous simpler projects that do not require the full suite of project management tools, but still need to be planned and executed to be a success in your workplace (and at home).

Poor Man’s Approach to Monte Carlo

Length: 1 hour

“Poor Man’s Approach to Monte Carlo” answers one simple question: What is the probability of your project meeting its schedule and cost goals?

Poor Man’s Approach to Scheduling

Length: 1 hour

A simple method to get the team to build a schedule for their project, while team-building at the same time.

Poor Man’s Approach to Earned Value

Length: 2 Hours

“Poor Man’s Approach to Earned Value” looks at a powerful tool that is not used to its full effectiveness due to a perception of complexity.

Other Featured Presentations:

Failure: An Essential Step To Success

Length: 1 Hour

Success is not a given, but failure is. How we deal with failure can determines how successful we will be.

Emotional Intelligence: Control and Identification

Length: 2 Hours

Technical skills and intellect take you only so far. People who master Emotional Intelligence tend to be more successful.

Negotiation: Nobody Likes It, but We Have to Do It

Length: 2 Hours

This presentation looks at the traditional methods used in negotiation and then proposes a better way: principled negotiation.

Effectively Managing Project Stakeholders

Length: 1 Hour

The presentation examines the five phases of team dynamics and how one needs to act and react to them.

Recovering Troubled Projects

Length: 2 or 4 Hours

This presentation looks at the necessary steps to stop the hemorrhaging and get the project back onto the path to success.

Re-Draw the Map

Length: 2 Hours

The presentation is an exercise in understanding requirements, quality criteria, and risk which starts with a fun interactive game.

The Black Swan

Length: 1 Hour

This presentation explores the concept of risk management dealing with very high impact, very low probability risks known as “Black Swans.”

Personal Time Management

1 hour, 2 hour, or 4 hour

This presentation looks at methods to determine, plan, and act to get the most out of your day – including the fun things!

Contact us to make arrangements to host one of our project management speakers at your event.

More Presentations

Don’t see what you are looking for? IPDI can can create and deliver presentations customized for your event or organization.

Governance is the term used to describe the creation and enforcement of your processes, policies and standards. There are two components – defining good processes and enforcing them. Governance is a top-down management process and requires each manager to be accountable for ensuring their direct reports follow the rules.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

For many years, there were two major approaches for structuring Information Technology (IT) development projects – traditional waterfall or iterative development. In the last few years, however, new approaches have surfaced that fall under the general category of “light” methodologies. Calling them methodologies is probably too broad a word. It might be better to refer to them as development approaches, or even philosophies. The purpose of this session is to provide an overview of the terminology and concepts of light methodologies, using Agile, Scrum, and Extreme Programming as examples.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Do you consider yourself to be assertive? And what does being assertive mean to you? Does it mean exercising your rights all the time, every time? Or does it mean knowing when to let someone else or some other cause or outcome take precedence over your rights?
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Myles Miller

Companies and organizations all over the world are trying to become more quality focused. This has led to a multitude of different quality management practices. Some of the programs, such as Six Sigma, are well known although perhaps not well understood. Many of the programs are only known by the practitioners. The purpose of this presentation is to briefly introduce many of these quality management practices, from total quality management to Kaizen to Poka-Yoke and more. It is an interesting look at the diversity of quality
practices.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

This talk reports on the latest research in managing difficult people on project teams, their effect on team performances, and organizational responses to bad apples.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree – but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them from fulfilling their potential and disrupts their careers. The key to controlling this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens (even to the best of us), and take active steps to manage your time and outcomes better.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Myles Miller

PMOs generally focus on building environments where projects can be successful. The nature of PMOs, however, is that they can quickly be viewed as an overheard organization that create processes and templates and is a barrier to the swift completion of projects. Of course, that is the opposite of what they should be doing. In fact, the focus of the PMO should be to help projects execute better, faster and cheaper. The way to avoid this is by adopting the philosophy of a “Value-add PMO”. Of course, your PMO may have one idea of value and others may have a different idea. The purpose of this presentation is to explain the context for understanding what “value” is so that the PMO is truly aligned toward value-add work. Once we are convinced the PMO is delivering value, you also need to market and measure this value so others are aware as well. You will learn about all three concepts in this presentation.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

This talk introduces the concept of structured change control as it is used in high-pressure and intense projects. Management of change is presented in a context of risk management.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

This talk introduces a concept, Earned Schedule Management (ESM), that has recently been added to a project manager’s toolkit of techniques for managing expectations and estimates of schedule on active projects.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

When used appropriately, email is an incredibly useful communication tool. But, many of us feel overwhelmed by the amount of mail that we receive and need to respond to. However, there are ways to manage your email so that you’re more productive. We’ll explore strategies for doing this, so that you can get on with the real work at hand.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

Know anyone who never lets their temper get out of control, no matter what problems they are facing. You might think of someone who has the complete trust of her staff, always speaks kindly, listens to her team, is easy to talk to and always makes careful, informed decisions. We’ll look at why emotional intelligence is so important for anyone – and how you can improve yours.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

Accurate time estimation is a skill essential to good project management. Usually people vastly underestimate the amount of time needed to implement projects. This is true  particularly when they are not familiar with the task to be carried out. They forget to take into account unexpected events or unscheduled high priority work. People also often simply fail to allow for the full complexity involved with a job.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

In the last decade, several differences in the work habits of younger and older women across an array of occupational fields have been observed. In particular, the younger women tend to more often question workplace expectations, such as long work hours or taking work home, and they often are more open about their parenting obligations and commitments.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

Today, business is more complex than ever before. Technology, resources, people and ideas can be acquired from all around the world. It makes both operations and projects increasingly complex and international. What does it mean for project managers? How should they deal with extremely risky global environment? What are the ways to establish successful cooperation among people representing different cultures? Of course, we also have to achieve our project objectives on-time and within budget. TenStep is also a global company and we understand these challenges. Attend this session to learn tips and traps for managing global projects.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

The world is going green. We are collectively realizing that we do not have an unlimited amount of air or water or space to continue to utilize resources as we have done in the past. How can we apply these “green” concepts to our project management discipline? One obvious way is that we can manage green projects more efficiently. The sooner that project ends, the sooner the green benefits will be achieved.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Project management processes must provide value to a project, and the way to make sure that they provide value is to make sure they are scalable. Large projects need more rigorous processes. Small projects need lighter, agile processes. This presentation will explore the concept of implementing value-added, scalable project management processes. It is a must-view presentation for PMOs and organizations trying to implement good project management without getting too bureaucratic.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

PMOs generally focus on building environments where projects can be successful. The nature of PMOs, however, is that they can quickly be viewed as an overhead organization that creates processes and templates and is a barrier to the swift completion of projects. Of course, that is the opposite of what they should be doing. In fact, the focus of the PMO should be to help projects execute better, faster and cheaper. The way to avoid this is by adopting the philosophy of a “value-add PMO.” Of course, your PMO may have one idea of value and others may have a different idea. The purpose of this presentation is to explain the context for understanding what “value” is so that the PMO is truly aligned toward value-add work.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

This talk discusses two project management standards, ISO 21500 and the PMI’s PMBOK® Guide and discusses the differences and similarities between the two standards.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

Most organizations implement project management in an ad-hoc manner. These organizations focus on the project managers and provide them with training and templates. This is a good start, but it is not going to result in a strong project-driven culture. In fact, the majority of problems encountered in culture change initiatives of this type originate in the management ranks. These managers typically think it is up to the project managers to deploy project management successfully, but in reality, the success or failure of the initiative is within their control. All of the management hierarchy has a key role to play in ensuring their organizations successfully implement the project management discipline. This presentation describes the role of management in creating this project-driven culture.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Everyday interruptions at work can be a key barrier to managing your time effectively and, ultimately, can be a barrier to your success.  Because your day only has so many hours in it, a handful of small interruptions can rob you of the time you need to achieve your goals and be successful in your work and life. More than this, they can break your focus, meaning that you have to spend time re-engaging with the thought processes needed to successfully complete complex work.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

Outsourcing project work is more common today than ever. In the past many managers felt that if they outsourced the work, they also outsourced the problems. Most managers today know that this is not the case. Even though you outsource work, you cannot outsource your obligation to make sure the project is progressing smoothly. Unfortunately, in many instances, the vendor does not meet expectations. Tune into this presentation to hear the key elements and techniques for managing your critical outsourced projects.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Much of the work that you do can be organized as a project. When the projects are large, they need to be managed with formal project management discipline. But many projects are not large. They are small work efforts that need to be organized and managed efficiently, but not with the full rigor and structure of formal project management discipline. These are the projects of accountants, teachers, administrators and many others. These projects represent the vast majority of all work executed in businesses all over the world. This presentation describes fundamental work management techniques and skills for these non-project management professionals. Attendees will see how to understand the work that is requested, how to organize the work, how to manage the work and how to execute the work.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

We often state that a PMO must provide value to the organization or else it is likely to be cut or eliminated. Many PMOs struggle trying to show this value. This is generally for two reasons. First, many PMOs simply don’t provide much value. Therefore, it is hard to justify the work that the PMO performs. The second reason, and probably more common, is that the PMO is providing value, but it has a hard time articulating and measuring the value provided. If you fit this second category (providing value but don’t know how to measure) this presentation will help. We will discuss the creation of a PMO Scorecard.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

This talk introduces the concept of Monte Carlo simulation modeling that underlies much of risk management and forecasting models. The talk discusses how Monte Carlo simulations are created and provides the participants with a simple Monte Carlo tool as a takeaway from the talk.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

The Project Charter and Scope Statement describe “what” your project will achieve. The schedule tells you “how” you are going to achieve it. This presentation will focus on the project schedule and how to make it more valuable to your project. We will start with some fundamentals that you know but have probably forgotten. Then we will proceed into approaches and techniques to provide new insight into scheduling. We think you will find some new ideas and new motivations for the traditional project schedule.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Organizations all over the world are trying to get better at project management. For the vast majority of companies this means using their own employee backgrounds and experiences to map a course for improvement. This approach is fine but it is also limiting. Different people have different views for what an optimized project management organization looks like. You will learn the value associated with an organization assessment, plus an overview of these two project management standards.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

No company has the resources to meet all of its business needs. This is true in the best of times. It certainly is even truer when times are tough. Portfolio management is a process to ensure that your company spends its scarce resources on the work that is of the most value to your company, and work that is most closely aligned to your business goals and strategies. You will leave with ideas you can immediately apply to optimizing your own portfolio management process.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

As projects get larger, they can reach a level of complexity where ad hoc approaches to project management become wasteful and inefficient. For these projects, project management becomes a technical discipline in its own right. To run such projects efficiently, project managers use formal project management methodologies such as PMBOK® Guide or PRINCE2.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

No company has the resources to meet all of its business needs. This is true in the best of times. It certainly is even truer when times are tough. Even if your company is a rare one that has all the money it needs, you definitely do not have the people to complete everything you would like. Portfolio management is a process to ensure that your company spends its scarce resources on the work that is of the most value to your company, and work that is most closely aligned to your business goals and strategies. You will leave with tactics and strategies you can immediately apply to improving or building your own portfolio management process.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Prioritization is the essential skill that you need to make the very best use of your own efforts and those of your team. It’s also a skill that you need to create calmness and space in your life so that you can focus your energy and attention on the things that really matter. It’s particularly important when time is limited, and demands are seemingly unlimited. It helps you to allocate your time where it’s most needed and most wisely spent, freeing you and your team from less important tasks that can be attended to later… or quietly dropped.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

Some people think that a program is just a large project. That is not the case. The program is an umbrella organization designed to coordinate the work of many, many projects to ensure that the projects end up delivering a common, integrated solution. There are unique work processes that are used to manage a program. There are also changes to the project management processes for projects that run within a program. In this presentation you will see the differences between projects and programs. You will also learn an overall model for establishing, planning and executing programs.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

This talk introduces the place and context of the Project Management Institute and its impact on the profession and practice of project management.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

This talk discusses the place of research in the project management discipline and presents the results of the past several years of PMI’s Pulse of the Profession research studies. It then discusses how project managers can apply that research to improving the discipline within their own organizations.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

This talk introduces the concept of structured project Risk Management according to the process established by the PMI. The talk introduces the six steps of the PMI risk management process and does a short dive into project risk prioritization using a pairwise comparison tool that is provided to the participants as a takeaway from the talk.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Bill Dannenmaier

There are good meetings and there are bad meetings. Bad meetings drone on forever, you never seem to get to the point, and you leave wondering why you were even present. Effective ones leave you energized and feeling that you’ve really accomplished something. Learn what makes a meeting effective.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter:  Myles Miller

Organizations set goals and strategies to define their desired future state. Everything else falls out from there – portfolios, programs, projects, operations, etc. TenStep Strategic Services has a strategic planning model called LEAD to help organizations set the correct goals and strategies and to ensure that the work aligns to support them. This presentation describes the LEAD model and how it helps you activate your strategic plan.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Many PMOs aren’t articulating the value of their PMO to their organization. The result is that the PMOs may be considered overhead. In this presentation we will discuss why PMOs need to do a better job in value-based communication. You will learn practical tips and techniques you can apply in your own organization, as well as a framework for creating a Communication Plan for the PMO and how to focus on value-based vs. activity-based communication. You will leave with tactics and strategies you can immediately apply to improving or building your own PMO.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

One of the primary reasons that projects struggle is that the project team does not fully understand the customer requirements. This leads to rework, missed expectations, extensive changes and ultimately missed deadlines and budgets. The project team must meet the needs and expectations of the client to be successful. These client needs and expectations are set through the gathering and agreement on the requirements of the final solution. Gathering requirements involves more than just asking a few questions and then building the solution. Projects with any degree of complexity need a formal process to ensure that all of the requirements are accurately gathered, reviewed, documented and approved. In this presentation, we will discuss the TenStep model for gathering requirements – elicitation, validation, specification and verification. You will see it is a logical model that you can implement on your projects.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Let’s face it. Most of us don’t work in best-in-class project organizations. Most of us don’t work in worst-in-class organizations either – although many of you might say you are closer to this designation. The fact is that too many organizations have basic problems executing projects. Let’s just call them “challenged.” In other words, projects seem to get done in spite of the challenges that are presented from the organization. This presentation will provide insight into ways to solve challenges and elevate your organization to a higher level. We won’t set expectations that there is one technique or approach that will magically make everything perfect. But there are logical techniques and approaches that can help you improve. This presentation will help you decide which ones make sense for your organization.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Some people think that a program is just a large project. That is not the case. The program is an umbrella organization designed to coordinate the work of many, many projects to ensure that the projects end up delivering a common, integrated solution. There are unique work processes that are used to manage a program. There are also changes to the project management processes for projects that run within a program. In this presentation you will see the differences between projects and programs. You will also learn an overall model for establishing, planning and executing programs.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Projects are the way that your company moves toward its desired future state. Project management is an enabler to help you execute these projects successfully. This session looks at discreet project management processes and describes how each process enables a project manager to achieve project success. We will quickly discuss the history of project management, why project management is important and applying project management as a value-added enabler to project success.
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Tom Mochal

Contact IPDI to make arrangements with one of our project management speakers. Custom onsite and virtual training courses also available.

Client Reviews

Our project management speakers have been engaged to speak for numerous Project Management Institute (PMI)® chapters, businesses, and organization throughout the world. Read what just a few of our hundreds of clients have said about our project management speakers.

Feedback from our participants was so overwhelmingly positive…

“Doug was our principal speaker last year at our local Project Management Institute (PMI)® chapter’s professional development day.  The feedback from our participants was so overwhelmingly positive that we retained Doug as the primary speaker again this year, and we are currently working with him to provide a Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification prep class to our group.  Doug’s mastery of all the aspects of project management are evident in his presentations and his responses to participant’s questions.  His unique delivery style keeps his audience engaged and fosters active participation from the attendees.  While we have had other speakers come to our group throughout the years, Doug’s enthusiasm and knowledge have made him a favorite.  We would highly recommend Doug, without reservation, as a presenter/instructor for your group.”  — Frank Lopes, PMP®,  Vice President of Programs, PMI® Western Lake Erie Chapter

We plan on having Doug back next year…

“We have had the pleasure of having Doug Boebinger present to our PMI® Michiana chapter on two occassions; first a monthly dinner program, and second an 8-hour PDD. Both events were well attended, due to the subject matter presented, and for the PDD based on his previous presentation and our Board of Director’s recommendation. We plan on having Doug back next year for our PDD. Thanks and Great Job Doug!”– Ken Riches, PMI® Michiana Chapter

You never forget what he teaches!

Bill has the amazing ability of combining entertainment with technical knowledge – you never forget what he teaches! He is truly a unique person that always leaves a legacy whenever he is present. Rather than delivering dry material, Bill puts in the energy to understand his clients’ needs, customize his material, and deliver relevant and interesting material. – Andrea Passman, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Operations

Really keeps the learners engaged.

“Myles Miller is the one of the best presenters of on-line live training technology.  He really keeps the learners engaged.”
– Lennie Whitcomb, Corporate Learning Manager, Gannett Fleming 

He took a dry topic and made it interesting…

“Doug has presented at the Michigan Thumb Chapter Professional Development Day this fall and most recently at our January chapter dinner meeting presenting Poor Man’s Monte Carlo.  He took a dry topic and made it interesting and we were amazed at how Doug made the presentation understandable and applicable to our membership. I have been able to apply what he presented at work, providing great value to me.   We have received very favorable feedback and would like to have him back.” — Rick Crawshaw, PMP®, Director of Education

Your presentation and knowledge transfer was a great fit…

“Taking this opportunity to say ‘Thank You’ in a big way for accepting our invitation to be our guest speaker…  Your topic entitled ‘Black Swan (no, not the movie)’ was very appropriate for our audience.  Your presentation and knowledge transfer was a great fit for many of the project PMs’ work and in today’s environment.  Thank you again for the great presentation and knowledge share.”  – PMI® WLEC Board

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Project Management Speakers

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