Welcome to the Autumn Women in Project Management SIG Newsletter 2018

APM Women in Project Management SIG – Autumn Newsletter 2018

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Newsletter contents
1. Welcome message from the Chair
2. Events update
3. New committee members - their roles and the regions they represent
4. Vision and 2019/20 plan
5. Upcoming events of interest
6. Celebrating success from APM WiPM 2017 conference
7. Links we like and book reviews
8. And finally...

1. Welcome message from the Chair

Welcome to the 25th anniversary year and the Autumn edition of our quarterly newsletter.

On Tuesday 25 September, we hosted our National Conference for Women in Project Management (WiPM) 2018. The conference also commemorated the SIG’s 25th anniversary sponsored by BAE Systems and was held at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, London, WC2B 5DA.

The event was a great opportunity to celebrate WiPM SIG’s 25th anniversary as we celebrated the successes of our committee members, and welcomed over 500 guests to the event.

We would love to have more volunteers and we are flexible in terms of how much time you can commit. Get in touch if you are interested and let’s start the conversation, we are passionate to have more people involved.

2. Events update

This year’s conference kicked off with a beautiful dinner to mark WiPM’s Silver Jubilee on 24 September 2018 at the University Women’s Club, London. Attendees had a wonderful time networking and sharing memories of the SIG’s growth from its inception in 1993.
amazing pictures from the day by visiting the photo gallery. Thank you to everyone for the parts played in making WiPM’s 25th anniversary and conference a huge success.

3. New committee members - their roles and the regions they represent

We are pleased to introduce our new committee members following nominations and elections in July:

Adeline Daly – Chair (Cambridge)
Yvonne McBain – Secretary (Scotland)
Adetoun Abiola – Newsletter lead (London)
Carol Bell – (London)
Briony Bragg – Social media lead (Cumbria)
Olubukola Feyisetan (London)
Vicki Griffiths (Thames Valley)
Teri Okoro (London)
Rebecca Scott (Midlands)
Laura Thornton-Coates (East of England)
Alison Whitehead - Newsletter lead (Coventry)
Emma Wright (Leeds)

4. Vision and 2019/20 business plan

Our Mission:
To develop a powerful profile.
We are active members of the APM and wider community and represent the voice of women.

Promote a no-barrier culture:
We encourage all project managers to succeed in their career by providing expertise and resources to facilitate career progression.

Engage with and respond to project professionals
We listen to the voices of our members and tailor our work to their feedback providing regular occasions to interact through continuing professional development events, webinars and networking opportunities.

Build a collaborative community
We grow a dynamic network with our members and link with like-minded organisations, sharing best practice in project management and professionalism.
We would love to know what you think of the above and if you would like to see other themes. Our committee is here for our members and we want to ensure we are in touch with our community.

5. Upcoming events of interest

International Women’s Day (IWD) 2019
This event is planned for March 2019 and will be organised in collaboration with the APM London branch events committee. More details will follow in the next edition of the newsletter.

Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) standard
Regular webinars and workshops are scheduled over the next few months to support applicants for this prestigious status.

6. Celebrating success from APM WiPM 2017 conference

Victoria Wiles
In September 2017 I attended my first women in project management conference. New to aerospace and even newer to project management, I was filled with a mix of excitement and trepidation as I knew I was about to mingle with female leaders of both my sector and industry, women that I aspired to emulate. However, this apprehension was unfounded, and I quickly realised that I was in a room with unrestricted learning and networking opportunities. I listened to talks about how you can use project management skills in your day to day life, how you can use it to inspire others, to make change.

At the time I was in the early stages of creating a social impact project working with refugee women in central London, teaching them employable culinary skills but also allowing the women to meet and have fun with other refugees. At the time of the conference it was just a speck of an idea; I’d reached out a few people, but I had struggled to actually get the ball rolling, actually fulfilling this idea seemed like a long way away. This all changed after I met a number of women at the conference. They gave me tips about how to shape the idea into something that was workable, ideas of how to finance it, and most importantly they introduced me to people in the humanitarian sector who could give me mentorship. From that moment onwards, the idea snowballed; inspired by the talks, the people I met, and the sector mentorship I was receiving, I had some much needed direction and the ‘Cooking Collective’ was born.

With the help of the Refugee Council we’ve just finished our first trial period, hosted at Mercato Metropolitano, and we are about to go into the next, more permanent stage. At present we have 12-16 refugee women in regular attendance; learning cookery skills such as making fresh pasta, choux pastry, as well as leading their own classes on cuisine from their own countries.

My Biggest takeaway
All the attendees and speakers were so willing to help and listen. I was trying to develop an idea in a sector that I knew very little of, but it was something I was truly passionate about. I found that everyone I spoke to could offer me guidance and advice, taking time out of their day to listen; and even if they couldn’t offer direction themselves they were so willing to take my details and put me in touch with someone who could. I met some truly inspiring women and I am very grateful for the opportunities and advice I was afforded by attending the WIPM conference; I am highly vocal of my gratitude and enjoyment of the conference and I can’t wait to attend this years.

Charlotte Claughton – 2017 WiPM conference pledge
To contribute towards my 2017 WiPM conference pledge, I have delivered a series of workshops based on project management on behalf of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts at an international event (Roverway) held in the Netherlands in July.

In addition, to mark International Women in Engineering Day my project team worked with Construction Manager to produce an article to highlight the female members of the team working on the refurbishment of Elizabeth Tower.

We would love to hear from you on your successes and feature you in future articles. Please contact us by email: wipmsig@apm.org.uk

Links we like and book review

APM project management journal
The autumn 2018 edition of APM’s Project journal celebrates anniversaries and unusual routes into the profession. Discussion by a panel of seven female project leaders, including two past APM WiPM Chairs, makes clear there are individuals who arrive in the profession via unusual routes and go on to excel. For more on this and other interesting articles see the autumn edition of Project.

8. And finally…

Thank you to all those who contributed to this edition. We would love to hear from you with more ideas and suggestions for future newsletters. You can get in touch through the following ways.
Email: wipmsig@apm.org.uk

Let us know via twitter: @apmwipmsig #apmwipm #WiPM

Contribute on LinkedIn

Adetoun Ayilara and Alison Whitehead
APM WiPM SIG committee member newsletter co-editors