Eugenia Schwalm and Michelle Pallas will present to the Detroit chapter of the Black Data Processing Association www.bdpa.org.

The LavaCon Conference on Professional Development and the Greater New Orleans PMI chapter are co-producing a three day Professional Development Summit in October.  Attend three days of breakout sessions and hands-on workshops on how to increase revenue, decrease costs and enhance your corporate value.

Dates:    October 25-27, 2009

Location: Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel, New Orleans

Eugenia Schwalm, PMP and Manager Partner at Lighthouse Consulting Partners will be presenting:

One Hat, Two Hats or Three…How many do  you wear?

In these economic times we are asked to do so much more with the limited time we have. We now must wear many hats for one project: Project Manager, Business Analyst, Technical Writer, Designer, etc. All rolled into one person. How can we perform the activities associated with these roles more effectively?

GNO PMI PDD Schwalm Oct 26 2009 Many Hats [Compatibility Mode]

Are you a Right-Brain or Left-Brain Thinker? Essential Aptitudes for the Digital Future

Based on the book A Whole New Mind by Daniel H Pink, we will look at the future as Mr. Pink calls the “Conceptual Age”. How can these aptitudes be applied to roles we perform in a software development lifecycle?  During this presentation we will perform a few tests to see where you are today and how you can improve your right-brain thinking.

GNO PMI PDD Schwalm Oct 26 2009 Right Brain or Left Brain Thinker [Compatibility Mode].

If you register by Friday, August 7 you can receive over $500 in corporate value gap analyses, plus personal and corporate performance coaching.

See the conference website to register: www.lavacon.org or   www.pmigno.org

Troy, Michigan   Michelle Pallas and Eugenia Schwalm, Managing Partners of Lighthouse Consulting Partners, will present at Comerica’s annual project symposium in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  Michelle will present best practices in controlling scope through stakeholder expectations management on September 17^th and Gina will layout early warning signs that alert project managers to the need for project recovery on September 22^nd.

Michelle Pallas is certified in project management (PMP) and supply chain management (CIRM).   In addition to training, Michelle also provides consulting services as a session facilitator, process designer and change strategist.   Michelle provides coaching to executives, directors, managers and entrepreneurs. 

Eugenia Schwalm is certified in project management (PMP) and business analysis (CBAP).   Prior to joining Lighthouse Consulting Partners in 2000 she was part of a Global Project Risk Management team with PriceWaterhouseCoopers where she audited and managed the recovery of global IT projects. 

About Lighthouse Consulting Partners 

Lighthouse Consulting Partners is a global provider of training and consulting services for organizations collaborating in a virtual environment and across geographical boundaries.  Project management and business analysis training programs and services help technical and operations departments manage projects, requirements and relationships with internal customers, distributed resources, and vendor partners. 

www.lighthouseconsultingpartners.com

• Seven 3-hour evening sessions beginning September 10
• Held in Royal Oak Michigan
• Attending all sessions will give you 21 hours of Professional Development Hours required

Cost: $435

Please register before August 21. Space is limited!

For registration or for additional information
Contact Beth Adams at (248) 246-6477 or email us at info@lighthouseconsultingpartners.com

Greater emphasis is on:

• Collect requirements – replaces ‘scope planning’
• Identify stakeholders – added
• Manage stakeholders – changed from controlling to executing process (added outputs: stakeholder register and stakeholder management strategy)

Clarification on the following topics:

• Enterprise environmental factors
• Teaming agreements
• Triple constraint was replaced by balance of constraints (scope, quality, schedule, budget, resources and risks)
• Difference between the project management plan and documents used to manage the project. Project management plan is input to executing and monitoring/controlling processes, no longer an input to planning
• Charter versus project scope statement

Procurement Knowledge Area was restructured to be 4 processes (instead of 6):

1. Plan procurements
2. Conduct procurements
3. Administer procurements
4. Close procurements

New Appendix on interpersonal skills detailing

• Leadership
• Team building
• Motivation
• Communication
• Influencing
• Decision making
• Political and cultural awareness
• Negotiation

The authors worked hard to be sure the outputs of one process flow into another process as an input. All process names are in a verb-noun format and graphics were updated using a new and consistent format.

Troy, Michigan   (November 3, 2008) Eugenia Schwalm of Lighthouse Consulting Partners will present to the PMI Huron Valley Chapter (http://pmi-hvc.org) Project Recovery: When to Admit that It’s Time to Get Help!.  Ms. Schwalm will touch on many challenges that most Project Managers would rather not face.

Topics for presentation and discussion include:

1. How to know when recovery is needed
2. Why did this happen?  Is it always the fault of the Project Manager?
3. How to recognize the signs that the project was in trouble
4. When to ask for help
5. Recovery steps to take and when
6. Support needed to be successful
7. Recovery IS a project in itself
8. When is recovery not an option
9. Relevant case studies

Eugenia Schwalm is certified in project management (PMP) and business analysis (CBAP).   Prior to joining Lighthouse Consulting Partners in 2000 she was part of a Global Project Risk Management team with PriceWaterhouseCoopers where she audited and managed the recovery of global IT projects. 

About Lighthouse Consulting Partners.  Lighthouse Consulting Partners is a global provider of training solutions for organizations collaborating in a virtual environment and across geographical boundaries.  The company’s programs and services help technical and operations departments manage relationships with internal customers, distributed and offshore resources, and vendor partners.  Services range from hands-on coaching and consulting to best practice based workshops, specifically tailored so organizations in a range of industries can better translate business needs into valuable solutions. www.lighthouseconsultingpartners.com 

Eugenia Schwalm, CBAP, of Lighthouse Consulting Partners and Sabina Apsey, Manager Business Analysis Competency Center, of Kelly Services will be speaking on how delivering requirements management services with top notch business analysts improves internal relations between IT and business areas.

Key implementation steps include:

- rolling out standard templates to make the work easier,

- designing a consistent methodology across functional areas, and

- supporting the change with role clarity and targeted training and coaching.

For information about Kelly Services, Inc., a world leader in human resources solutions headquartered in Troy, Michigan, visit www.kellyservices.com.

Lighthouse Consulting Partners is a global provider of training solutions for organizations collaborating in a virtual environment and across geographical boundaries translating business needs into valuable solutions.  www.lighthouseconsultingpartners.com.

Michelle presented the latest findings from research groups such as Gartner, Forrester, Cutter Consortium, NeoIT, and others.   How IT can provide the business community with full solutions by acting as the prime contractor was laid out in a new approach to supplier selection.   Governance is the critical success factor in managing multiple vendors.  Co-management principles need to be built into a 3-tiered structure that includes executive oversight, sourcing management and operational monitoring.

A greater emphasis on governance is the cornerstone of the autumn, 2008 release of “Effectively Managing the Service Provider”, a course in the Global Outsourcing Leadership Program (GOLD).  “The GOLD program is offered in response to the increasing number of technology suppliers in the United States and Europe turning to offshore and outsourced development to lower delivery costs and gain access to diverse IT skill sets,” notes Michelle Pallas, Managing Partner of Lighthouse Consulting Partners: “We teach IT managers, teams and executives how to translate business needs into relevant solutions regardless of their provider’s organizational structure or where they are located.”

It used to be that young people went to school, mastered the basics and moved on to college or technical school and then to a career. Not anymore.

The basics are no longer enough. Today’s students must have at least a basic understanding of how things work in today’s global economy. They need it to understand the oil crisis, economic challenges facing our state and what it will take to be successful in the ever-changing global marketplace.

Automation Alley’s Global Trade Mission program is a perfect example of the experience and knowledge students are gaining today that will make them that much more prepared for the world. My company, Lighthouse Consulting Partners, has the opportunity to work with several very bright students this year in the Global Trade Mission program.

The Global Trade Mission (GTM) was launched as a county-specific answer to questions raised in 1998 by President Bill Clinton’s Export Council, where leading CEOs lamented regarding a lack of American high school students’ understanding of exporting and the current trade environment.

Approximately 100-150 students from across Southeast Michigan school districts are placed in teams of four and assume Corporate Roles to help guide their research and are issued a Trade Challenge: to research, develop, and market a product for consumers in another country

This year, the Lighthouse team is working with students assigned to Challenge 4: Three R’s in the Global Economy: “utilize communication and information technologies and a partnership with international learning institutions to deliver a “global citizenship” course for the new global economy.” It is a blast! We learn together with the challenge teams about how to research international learning options; then we offer our experiences in business and marketing planning, course development and delivery, global citizen challenges and typical training costs and revenue models. It is an amazing collaboration! I have witnessed teams uncover political country-specific constraints and turn them into an advantage by asking the tough questions of a cultural coach. They immediately adapt the business plan and moved forward. They have an ‘adapt or die!’ enthusiasm I wish we could bottle. Maybe these students will put me out of business some day and the need to teach managers global collaboration skills will become an obsolete need. Adapt or die, I say to myself.

We are amazed at what we saw and learned by the students we work with. Not only are the kids happy to hear what we have to share, but they also demonstrate the kind of “thinking outside the box” that future employers will look for in top notch candidates

Lighthouse Consulting Partners is proud to be a part of Automation Alley’s tenth annual Global Trade Mission program. I encourage companies in the area to get involved in this tremendous program and students; tell your teachers you want to be part of the Global Trade Mission program in 2009.

The knowledge student gain is “must have” for Michigan kids.

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