Newcastle Forum |
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The Newcastle Forum, co-ordinated by Kendall Squire, provides events and activities for people located around the Newcastle area of NSW.
Newcastle Forum, is a members only discussion group for people in this region.
In the course of 2006 AIPM was contacted by several companies and individuals in the Newcastle area, expressing an interest in the activities of AIPM. In April 2006 an introductory event was held in Newcastle which attracted substantial interest, and the NSW Chapter Council undertook to co-ordinate an ongoing programme of events for the area. In the first follow-up event, a small group met for breakfast in July 2006. In the course of a pleasant social but productive breakfast, some general objectives of the group, the desired format of events and a forward programme of events to early 2007 were all agreed.
In discussion it was also evident that Project Managers in the Newcastle area had a particular interest in keeping in contact over and above formal events organised. To this end, the Newcastle Forum specific to that interest group has been set up on the AIPM website.
An extract from the October/November The Project Manager:
AIPM has established a new subgroup with the NSW Chapter called the Newcastle Forum, to provide events and activities for members living and/or working in the Newcastle and Lower Hunter area of NSW.
Kendall Squire (NSW Chapter Councillor and Associate Director of Tracey Brunstrom & Hammond) is the Newcastle Forum co-ordinator, acting as a link between the NSW Chapter Council and AIPM members in the Newcastle area. ‘I am trying to give the members a sense of ownership in their group,’ said Squire. ‘There is now an enthusiastic core of members who are driving the program of events, and I am just acting as a facilitator.'
‘Many of the project managers in the area are the 'project management representatives' in small organisations, rather than being part of large PM teams,’ he said. ‘Several members expressed a general feeling of isolation and working out of reach of project management support. They wanted to be able to discuss issues and problems at hand.’
In July 2006, a group of 12 interested people met to discuss some general objectives of the group, the desired format of events and a forward program of events to early 2007.
It was evident from the discussion that the main reasons people want to become involved with the Newcastle Forum are for:
- Project management knowledge development
- Career enhancement or personal development
- Social and networking reasons
The Forum aims to hold around six events per year, with the majority being after work and mid-week. In line with the above three objectives, events will generally consist of two or three parts, being:
- one or two impromptu five-minute talks by Forum members on their project management experience or current projects, and
- a technical presentation, and/or
- a presentation on an aspect of AIPM (membership/RegPM/mentoring).
So far, events planned include:
Oct 2006
Tuesday 10 October, 5pm (to be confirmed)
Hosted by Greg Martin of BAE Systems at RAAF Base Williamtown
- Peter Shears (CEO) and/or Markus Meier-Lindner (Corporate Services Manager) will talk about certification and the RegPM process
- Impromptu five-minute talks by Forum members on their PM experience or current projects
- Briefing on BAE's approach to Project Management
- Followed by site tour of BAE's facilities at Williamtown
Dec 2006
Wednesday 6th December, after work
Christmas BBQ and drinks at the Newcastle Club
Organiser: Ross Broadbent of Broman Services
Feb 2007
Thursday 22 February
Quality theme
Organiser: Gino Capone of Computer Systems Australia
In addition to these events, the project managers showed interest in keeping in contact so a members-only discussion forum, has been set up on the AIPM website.
The Newcastle Forum is already attracting interest from individuals and organisations in the area that are not yet members of AIPM but are interested in joining.
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