On February 10th, PMI Belgium held its first satellite event in Namur. This evening was an opportunity for our members to meet in a Walloon location, participate to an interesting workshop and also share a drink!

Copenhagen Tavern

February 10th, 2015. Namur. In front of the rail road station, across the street, a discreet yet warm location hosts the first satellite event of PMI Belgium Chapter in the Walloon region.The Copenhagen Tavern is one of those bars with a smooth environment, low music, low noise, wooden furniture, yellow lights, gentle service, on two floors. A perfect place to stay a couple of hours without seeing time flying by. A perfect place to hold a meeting with a few fellows project management enthousiasts.

Heading The “Millenial” generation

Around 25 PMI Belgium chapter members met together for the satellite event in a relaxed atmosphere. The event was organized by Ann-Marie Millecam and Bassam Sater, Director of Sponsorship.

After everyone ordered its welcome drink, Kris Troukens, former Chapter President, made a roughly one hour presentation about the so-called “Millenial” generation, the 26 to 35 years-old young professionals, and their impact on the society.The figures presented, taken from a PMI survey in United States, show how much this generation is different from their predecessors by having different education levels, worldwide connections, high ambitions, high self-confidence, different consumption habits and lifestyle. And obviously, how they live hyper-connected! The presentation of such figures was of course an excellent reason to drive a workshop about the “Millenial” generation and how companies and professional see them and deal with them on a day-to-day basis.

For your information, the presentation is made available by Kris on Slideshare.

Heading An interesting Return of Experience

Four groups formed to think about the 2 questions open at the end of the presentation:

• “Do you have a Millenial PM in your team, and if so what is theimpact (+/-) on the project?”
• “Could we “exploit” the Millenial’s capacities to speed up Project delivery?”

As a “Millenial” myself, I was really interested in hearing the results of this workshop. And I have to admit that I recognized alot in both the presentation and the workshop answers. Globally, it appears that the “Millenial” generation is perceived as pro-active but impatient, somehow arrogant, but great results can be achieved if they are mixed with senior professionals to drive them. It looks like it’s a bit frightening to work with or give responsibilities to those young professionals with long teeth, who also master this unknown scary world of Social Media. But everyone admits it gives this generation great communication skills. Sometimes way to much by comparison of Company Policies and what can be told or not. The final word of this workshop could be “framing” in a sense that this generation offers potential but needs to be managed in orderto stay on tracks.

Nothing new from any other generation then, ain’t it?

Heading A good end

At the end of the workshop, people mixed up to talk a bit. Some left and some stayed to share a dinner. I can’t wait for the next satellite event of this kind to share again ideas, meet great professionals and of course have a drink and, why not, a dinner next time!