AI at Work: Smarter Tools, Smarter Teams 

A PMI-BE Partner Insights Event 

PMI Belgium is launching a new event format, Partner Insights, bringing together sponsors from different tiers to co-host a full event built around one shared theme. For our first edition, we're pairing our Silver+ sponsor cplace and Bronze+ sponsor Balanced Agile to explore how AI is reshaping project management from two angles: the platforms we use, and the way we learn to lead.  

Join us on Wednesday 9 September for a full afternoon of insight, discussion, and networking. Julia Hillenkötter (cplace) will show how AI embedded directly in PPM platforms can turn portfolio data into real-time insights and decision support, illustrated with a live implementation. Bart Briers (Balanced Agile) will take a different angle, showing how AI is transforming project management training itself, from simulations to learning assistants, and what that means for how PMs build capability going forward. Patrice Blanchard will moderate a closing discussion connecting both perspectives, before the event wraps up with networking drinks and finger food. 

The event is open to all project management professionals. Places are limited — register early to secure your spot.

Agenda

• 13:30 – 14:00 → Arrival & Registration 

• 14:00 – 14:10 → Welcome & Introduction (PMI Belgium) 

• 14:10 – 15:00 → AI Where You Decide: Portfolio Intelligence in Practice — Julia Hillenkötter (cplace), + Q&A  

• 15:00 – 15:50 → AI as a Learning Accelerator: What Project Managers Can Learn from Reinventing Project Management Training — Bart Briers (Balanced Agile), + Q&A  

• 15:50 – 16:15 → Coffee Break 

• 16:15 – 17:00 → Panel Discussion — moderated by Patrice Blanchard  

• 17:00 – 17:15 → Closing (PMI Belgium) 

• 17:15 – 18:30 → Networking Drinks & Finger Food 

Speakers and sessions: 

Julia Hillenkötter — Lead Product Manager, cplace (PMI-BE Silver+ Sponsor) 
Julia leads cplace's AI strategy, working directly with customers to design and implement practical AI use cases in project and portfolio management. Before cplace, she spent over seven years across product management, project controlling, and corporate strategy at organizations including Hoffmann Group and BMW Group. This cross-industry background gives her a grounded, business-first perspective on where AI creates genuine value in complex PPM environments, beyond the hype. 

Bart Briers — AI & Hybrid Project Management Expert, Trainer and Author, Balanced Agile (PMI-BE Bronze+ Sponsor) 
Bart Briers is a project manager, trainer, and innovation advocate with a passion for transforming how project management is taught. For more than 20 years, he has trained professionals and managers in traditional, agile, and hybrid project management, always bridging theory with real-world practice. 

As an honorary professor at EHSAL Management School, his mission is to prepare the next generation of project leaders for an increasingly dynamic, AI-driven world. To make learning more engaging and impactful, Bart pioneers the use of serious gaming, simulations, and experiential learning. He is the creator of the AI-Lympics 2074 business simulation and the author of the accompanying management novel AI-Lympics 2074: The Awakening, combining storytelling, gamification, and project management into a unique educational experience. His interactive approach inspires participants not only to understand project management but also to experience it. 

Patrice Blanchard — Chairman & Moderator, Project Box srl 
Patrice brings over three decades of project management experience across finance, radiology, gas transport, and retail, having delivered more than 150 projects. Since 2020 he has focused on coaching and mentoring the next generation of project managers, and is a seasoned international speaker with 13+ years on the global stage, including PMI World Congress in San Diego and Los Angeles. 

Sessions: 

Session I: AI Where You Decide: Portfolio Intelligence in Practice, Julia Hillenkötter, cplace  

What if your PPM platform didn't just track your project portfolio — but actually helped you understand it? Julia Hillenkötter presents a paradigm shift: AI that is embedded directly in the project management workflow, understands your portfolio's data model, milestones, and dependencies, and delivers real-time insights, forecasts, and decision recommendations. Based on a live implementation, this session goes beyond theory to show how AI-augmented portfolio management works in practice: from scenario comparison to AI-recommended prioritization — with humans always in the lead. 

Session II: AI as a Learning Accelerator, Bart Briers, Balanced Agile 

AI is changing not only how we manage projects, but how we learn to manage them. As the pace of change accelerates, Bart argues that static slide decks and one-off training days are no longer enough — and shows how AI can make learning more interactive, applied, personalised, and realistic. Using project management training as the central use case, the session draws on concrete examples from his own training and simulation work to show how AI can build realistic case studies, role-play scenarios, business-game simulations, immersive learning worlds, learning assistants, podcasts, videos, and feedback loops — all without requiring a technical background or a large IT team. The broader message extends beyond training itself: AI opens new ways for project managers to learn, teach, coach, and prepare their teams for increasingly complex projects. Attendees will leave with concrete tools, practical inspiration, and a clearer view of how to make learning within their own teams more relevant, human, and effective. 

Session III: Group Discussion 

The day closes with a chance to make these ideas your own. Attendees split into small groups of 5-8, each guided by a PMI moderator, to discuss key questions raised across the presentations and consider how they apply to their own portfolios and teams. The session ends with a shared debrief, where each group presents its findings to the full audience.