Last month we held our highly anticipated Project Leadership Summit! Over 250 leaders from all industries came together to hear talks on some of the hottest topics in project management today. The day also marked a turning point in our chapter’s history: our official rebrand to PMI Boston, introduced by President Chet Lang. In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the event!
The Tracks at a Glance
The day was organized into tracks (leadership, innovation, and artificial intelligence), each designed to help participants succeed in today’s fast-moving project management environment. Each session offered a different angle on the same question: how to lead well when the ground keeps shifting. We’ll spend more time with each track and highlighted speaker in future posts, so keep an eye out for those!
In leadership, Lisa DiTuillio opened the morning with a session on guiding people through rapid change and developing the next generation of leaders who can adapt to what’s ahead.
Eric Foss brought an exciting innovation talk, showing how a good idea becomes real business value through decision gates and portfolio structure.
For our AI track, Offiong Bassey gave a captivating talk and shared a framework for building an operating rhythm that helps teams use AI effectively and keep moving forward.
The Mood of the Rooms
We spoke with several attendees about their experience throughout the day. People came for many reasons. Some came to earn PDUs, while others wanted to meet new people and sharpen their skills. Despite those different goals, our attendees shared a common one: to be better leaders in an ever-changing and uncertain environment.
Here’s a little bit from our participants:
“This is my second time at the conference. This year, AI is the obvious change for me. I’ve spent the whole day in the AI track, and it’s directly relevant to my work. I really appreciated the message that AI shouldn’t be leading the team or acting as the project manager.” – Brandon
“I’m new to project management, so this event is a great opportunity to network and learn from other people. You have to be open to learning new things, because the world is changing.” – Shirley
“I have my project management certification and came to earn PDUs and meet people. Lisa’s talk was fantastic. It covered leadership, the importance of listening as a leader, and how to help teams through transformation and change. The main thing I’m taking away is the need to work on listening when it comes to leadership.” – Amy
“What I took away is how much AI is changing the industry, especially project management. The human factor comes first, and AI is there to support and assist it.” – Moses
Taken together, these reflections point to two threads: how AI fits into the work, and how much good leadership still depends on people.
Our Partners and Sponsors
The summit was also shaped by the organizations that joined us as partners and sponsors. We are grateful to our nonprofit partners, who shared stories about feeding families, supporting students, and helping children in our local communities. Our sponsors brought expertise in planning software and executive function coaching to better benefit our project managers. We’ll spend more time on each of them in a dedicated post.
Thank You
Thank you to every attendee who shared their time and their honest reflections. Thank you to our speakers, who brought thoughtful ideas and real experience to the stage. Finally, thank you to the PMI Boston volunteers and staff whose behind-the-scenes work made this day possible! We hope you left with new ideas, new connections, and maybe a new way to think about the people behind the projects.