Directly from the PMI Summit 2022 in Las Vegas

This week, Ricardo talks about the PMI Summit 2022 in Las Vegas, the world's premier project management conference.

He talks about the energy of being with thousands of people and networking opportunities.

Keynote speaker Amy Webb discussed emerging trends in project management in her opening address to the congress.

While giving her presentation, Amy Webb brought up the following points:

FOMO is not a trend (Fear of missing out) is the fear of being outdated.

Ricardo has recently produced a podcast devoted to the concept of FOMO.

Click on the link below - in session "More on this series," if you're interested in hearing it.

The metaverse may not be a trend, even though many people are getting into this new network.

Ask more and what if to avoid asking now what, so you don't need to ask after the problem happens.

It's important to play out potential problems in advance by simulating them. Using our skills, we must create reasonable scenarios for the future.

Listen to the #5minpodcast to learn more.

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Episode transcript

The transcript is generated automatically by Podscribe, Sonix, Otter and other electronic transcription services.

Hello everyone. Welcome to the 5 Minutes Podcast. Today I like to share with you some of my feelings about the PMI Global Summit 2022 that happened last week in Las Vegas in the US. And of course, I have been attending this conference for many, many years. So I was able to see the evolution. I was able to see how the profession has changed. But many people ask me why do I attend a conference like this one. And the answer is not because of knowledge and why. I want to start with this because many people think that you go to a conference because you want to get knowledge, and I understand. But honestly, today you can get knowledge from so many different sources. You can do an online course, and you can learn two different things. So it was not my main reason. My main reason was networking because, since the beginning of the pandemic, we were all concerned about how we can get together. And we did so many online events and online meetings. I spoke many times in conferences, and virtual conferences, but nothing, let me repeat nothing. Replace the opportunity to be face-to-face with colleagues that are in the same profession. So imagine how happy I was when I saw something like two or 3000 people sitting in the same conference room with the same thinking mindset, how I can improve the results of my projects. And of course, I know many people know many volunteers, many colleagues that I built over the years, but this opportunity to get close, to talk, to shake hands, to exchange business cards, trust me, business cards, still exist, you know.

And it was fun to have the opportunity to meet face to face, to eat together, you know, to eat popcorn. In a break at the exhibit hall, talking to people, and seeing what's the new book that people are publishing. And these are very basic on the network in that it's just priceless. For me, if that were the only feature of this conference, I would be in for sure. And the second aspect that I was looking in, King, is about trends because most of the time when I go to this kind of conference, what I want to see, I want to see what is going on. Am I at the right place at the right time? Should I shift my strategy? Is there something happening that I'm not aware of, that I didn't see, that I didn't realize? And PMI was very fortunate to start and kick off with the opening keynote of mine when I met Amy at the Thinkers 50. So I met her a couple of times, and she is absolutely brilliant. When we talk about the future, when we talk about futurology, trying to understand scenarios and she gave a brilliant presentation, but she gave me two trends that were very nice, not trends, but two aspects of thinking about the future that is very relevant.

Then the first one I already said a couple of weeks ago is the concept that FOMO is not a trend. Fomo, for those who do not remember, is the fear of missing out. And our fear of missing out does not build a trend. It's not because everybody is moving toward, for example, the metaverse. That metaverse is truly a trend. Many times you move this way because you have a fear of being out of something, and this is what is driving your behavior towards, for example, anything that becomes a little bit shiny; you know, you are like that bird that just you become like attracted for everything that shines and not everything that shines is truly a trend. And the second thing is that she said you need to ask what if to avoid asking now what? Oh, this was brilliant. It means trying to understand. What if the metaverse becomes a trend, and I am not ready for this? What if it doesn't mean that the event has already happened? But you are doing one of the things that I like most, and I did a workshop on that called Uncertainty Cycle is the concept of scenario planning and trying to understand the different possible trend scenarios that you may see in the future. And this will prevent you from asking the question now what? And now that means you are already late. So something happened, and you just miss the journey, and you just miss the boat.

And these two things were very, very nice. And, of course, she made a lot of fun comments about it. About the metaverse, about flying cars, about the disruption of the movement of people. But she used it as a very good example of, for example, the metaverse. And I need to be truly honest with you. One year ago, I was maybe it was this FOMO trying to figure out in my mind that I said, Look, the metaverse is in. I need to find ways of getting inside that. But I was very busy, and I don't want to say I missed it, but at that first wave, I was not surfing that wave. And now all the market, those who invested in that, are now questioning. Now, is it truly a trend or not? I have no doubt that technology I and this I will publish something together with Antonio Nieto very soon on that. But this is truly a trend, and I have absolutely no doubt about that. However, will we work in a bubble or live in a bubble like Metaverse? Then I have more questions, and I need to say nobody knows what the answer is. And this is exactly why, for example, for me, going to that kind of event is an opportunity for me to, I would say, clear my view and see. And at least this time of the year is a super important time of the year for me to think about. The next year was the opportunity to see, okay, am I on the wrong road? Am I making the right or wrong decisions? Should I shift my focus from this to that? And this is the trend, and then I can get the knowledge.

And, of course, on top of this brilliant opening of my web, we had so many sessions. My friends, also my friend Antonio Nieto, many of them, they gave lectures that were brilliant about the project canvas, about strategy. But for me, if you think about the investment of attending is definitely networking. It's definitely the opportunity to shake hands, meet, greet and talk to different people. This was, for me, priceless for those who did not have the chance. Pmma has a virtual experience. So many parts of this content are available for people to watch online on the knowledge piece, to watch online. So do not miss this chance if you are a member of PME to do that. And just a final disclosure, I'm not recording this and talking on behalf of PM IP as I did not sponsor that. Okay, so I'm just sharing with you my view and my impressions of the conference. And this is, for me a must-go event because for me I'm coming back with a lot of contacts and a lot of ideas that will help me to shape 2023. I hope you enjoy this podcast and see you next week with another 5 Minutes Podcast.

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