By Mike Ososki, PMP
This is how BrewDog Atlanta’s front door entry floor welcomes all patrons into their fine establishment—a funny irony for project managers! Nevertheless, we welcomed our new members here, and had a great time. The venue-provided food was excellent, along with a free drink ticket, 3 separate subgroup meetings, and everyone enjoying plenty of friendly networking.
One of the 3 subgroup meetings was “How I Used PMI to Grow My Career,” an activity in which nearly everyone has great interest. Joe Sisto (Chair-Elect of PMI Atlanta’s Board of Directors) led this one with great encouragement to new members. When Joe first became a PM in 1998, some discouraged him, saying that the profession was “like being a secretary.” (No disrespect to secretaries! :), but Joe didn’t see it that way. He states that project management is his passion, and knows that good PMs have great impact to drive success for projects, people, and companies. When Joe asked, “Why do you want to be a project manager?,” new member Ken Ellzey had a great answer: “It’s the way my brain works.”
Another subgroup was “Getting the Most Out of Your Membership.” This one, led by Allison Gardner (AVP New Membership) covered all the many offerings and ways PMI can be an invaluable resource to advance people, the profession, and their employers. Between education, events, networking, volunteers, job searching, mentoring, and the list goes on, please consider to participate and to give and receive the many resources that makes our organization great.
Finally, the Bingo Networking group rounded out the subgroups, with strong emphasis on the networking part, as there were less playing the game while everyone just kept talking with each other—and that’s what it’s mostly about, right?—good communication! Making new friends, building relationships, and helping each other as able seemed to be the general theme of the evening in this fun-driven atmosphere.