...The Art of Being Understood and Why It Matters.

July 13, 2011 - PMISSC Monthly Meeting - Dr. Bill Brantley - Univ. of MD Project Management Center for Excellence - "Did You Hear Me Say What I Think I Said?"

Please join us on Wednesday evening, July 13, 2011 at the Blair Mansion Inn in Silver Spring, Maryland, to welcome our guest speaker for the month of July, Dr. Bill Brantley, from the University of Maryland's Project Management Center for Excellence. Dr. Brantley will engage us in a probing discussion on the challenges of establishing and maintaining effective communication when managing projects and introducing organizational change. His topic, "Did You Hear Me Say What I Think I Said? The Art of Being Understood and Why It Matters" should resonate with everyone among us who has ever wondered if our message was getting through. You will learn how to use "honest signals" to engage your audience and techniques to determine their understanding. You will leave the presentation with a set of tools to make your communication more effective because you will know how well you were understood...

Early Show: Marcus S. Parker, PMP, VP of Professional Development for PMI Silver Spring Chapter and an executive management consultant with the Department of Defense through his company, The ATEM Group, will present a one-hour seminar for the Early Show (at 5:30 PM) on "Seven Steps to Writing a Winning Project Charter." Early Show attendees will complete a case study based on a real-world project scenario, and will receive a project charter guideline and template for use on their future projects.

Cost of the event, which will be held at the Blair Mansion Inn (7711 Eastern Avenue - Silver Spring, MD 20912), is $35 (payment in advance, or $40 at the door). Sign-in and networking begin at 6:00 pm (or 5:00 pm if you're coming to the Early Show, which starts at 5:30 pm), dinner is at 7:00 pm, and Dr. Brantley's presentation begins at 8:00 pm sharp. This event is worth 1.5 PDUs (or 2.5 PDUs if you come to the Early Show). For directions to the Blair Mansion Inn, click here.

PLEASE NOTE: For reasons of financial accountability, we are no longer accepting checks by mail for pre-registration purposes. Advance payment of $35 is now available only through PayPal. If you choose not to pay with PayPal, please plan to pay $40 (cash or check only) at the door.

Dr. Bill Brantley, PMP

Bill Brantley has worked in state and federal government (with a short stint in two dot.coms). He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management, an MBA in Project Management, an MA in Political Management, and is a certified Project Management Professional. Bill has taught web development and political communication online for the University of Louisville and was recently brought on staff at the University of Maryland's Project Management Center for Excellence. Bill's research interests include change management, project management, strategic government management, Web 2.0 technologies, GIS, simulations, and communication theory. He is also engaged in studies of complexity theory, mental model theory, and social networking theory as they apply to public administration and organizational behavior in general. His dissertation ("The Effect of Mental Models On Creating Organizational Alignment Around A Change Vision") is available in online wiki form here.

...representation of a mental model, from Bill Brantley's research.