Welcome to the Winter Women in Project Management SIG Newsletter 2019

APM Women in Project Management SIG – Winter Newsletter 2019

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Newsletter contents

Welcome message from our Chair
What we have been up to
Our strategy
Our strategy - collaboration
Upcoming events
Celebrating success
Links and books we like
And finally...volunteers

1. Welcome message from our Chair

1,283 Twitter followers. But what does that mean?

What do those numbers mean in the overall scale of APM and the wider online PM community?
How many of those people are actively engaged with us?
Are we actively engaged with all of those people?
What do that community really want from us?

There are many more questions I could list but you get the point, is what we are doing aligned to peoples needs in an ever changing environment? So my ask to all of you is to help us answer that question. You will see that we are going to highlight an element of our strategy in each newsletter going forward so that you can really see what we are up to “behind the scenes”; if you feel we are missing something please do get in touch. We have a committee member in charge of each element and now a few volunteers behind them for support – if you have a burning passion for part of our strategy we would be delighted to get your help (this is also a great way for us to find future committee members!).

Best wishes for 2019 and I hope to meet some of you at the International Womens Day events.

Regards,

Adeline Daly
APM WiPM SIG Chair

2. What we have been up to

Since our amazing conference back in September 2018, the committee has been involved with other APM events and moving the SIG forward.

Did you know that our 2018 conference was attended by over 450 with people travelling as far away as Iran. Our last conference won a Bronze award in the Association Excellence Awards 2018, after some stiff competition against the main APM conference that got the Silver award in bigger conference category. We are aiming to win Gold next year.

3. Our strategy

In the autumn of 2018 we proposed our APM WiPM SIG strategy for 2019/2020 which aligns to the APM strategy of “Inspiring Positive change” and we have identified three key objectives to focus on setting ourselves targets to measure our success.

a. Knowledge and research
APM Objective - Further develop, with academic and corporate partner support, an innovative knowledge and research programme which adds value to the profession.
WIPM Objective - To facilitate learning to enhance capabilities through the APM Conference and support relevant events /masterclasses.

b. Organisational innovation
APM Objective - Define and build APM as the model of a sustainable professional body for the 21st century.
WIPM Objective - To address the imbalance of female representation in the APM membership and the profession and widen the inclusivity for all minority groups.

c. Collaborate and engage
APM Objective - Accelerate the universal adoption of project management by people delivering change through collaboration and partnerships.
WIPM Objective - To encourage positive role models and strategies from current thought leaders on developing leadership potential , particularly but not exclusively from the female perspective.

Within each quarterly newsletter we will be focussing on one of our objectives and letting you know how we are getting on. This quarter’s focus is Collaboration examined in the next section.

4. Our strategy - collaboration

get in touch with Caspar. His focus is on the following areas:

Increasing events in universities; and more events for students not studying for a PM degree, to reflect the reality in the profession.
Increasing events and activities in schools; as well as the existing support for Inspiring the Future/STEM events, there are more opportunities to present on apprenticeships, the project profession and both of the above; the Make it Happen pilot is about to enter phase two – this is a way for relatable APM members to support students undertaking a project (prom, event, trip etc.) at a local school or college, giving up just two or three hours but making a big impact.
LinkedIn group exclusively for current/former PM apprentices to share experiences to reflect the different ways practitioners want to engage with APM
Two APM ambassador networks – one for graduates, one for current/former PM apprentices
Student-friendly marketing collateral – An introductory guide to the profession, featuring a range of case studies from different sectors and graduates/apprentices.
Parent’s guide to apprenticeships.

Did you know that back in 2014 Teri Okoro and Alison Whitehead produced a video for use by the APM and education sectors to showcase the diversity of both individual’s and professions in the project management community?

5. Upcoming events

International Women’s Day is coming up on the 8 March and the theme for this year is “Better the Balance, Better the World”. WiPM is working with various branches to make this year’s celebration a memorable one with multiple events on the same day – well we do like a challenge! The events will be held on Thursday 7 March as follows:

Branch	Event Location
East of England	Cambridge
London	Canary Wharf
Midlands	Milton Keynes
Northern Ireland	Belfast
South East	Crawley
Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire	Sheffield

Keep an eye on the APM website for updates and instructions on how to book these events.

There are also a few other events WiPM are involved in:
23rd January 2019 - Stakeholder Engagement & Midlands Branch Young PM of the Year Award 2018, Birmingham
24th January 2019 - A valid approach to project assurance, London

More exciting events are listed on the APM event page.

6. Celebrating success

7. Links and books we like

https://www.shop.girlsguidetopm.com/

Books:
“Nice girls don’t get the Corner office” by Lois P. Frankel.
“I’m absolutely Fine” by Annabel Rivkin & Emilie McMeekan - for some light entertainment and a distraction from the January blues.

8. And finally... volunteers

LinkedIn

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.