Reflections on a Successful Flight

AirbusMPF LogoOn the 23/24th October under a clear azure sky at the Airbus A380 Superjumbo facility in Toulouse South West France, the ‘Making Projects Fly Conference’ had an impressive take-off.

View with sun settingAirbus in Partnership with eVa in the UK provided the 100 delegates from across the Airbus Group and outside industry with a world class line up giving variety, depth, insight and entertainment all rolled into one effortless cohesive package topped off with a VIP tour of the A380 Final Assembly Line.

Didier Evrard, Senior Vice President and Head of the A350XWB Programme was the special VIP guest for the dinner on the first evening. He gave fascinating insights into his time working in Airbus and, following the creation of the Centre of Competence for Project and Programme Management, the significant increase in the maturity of Project Management practices and sustainable cultural change. This was a key enabler in the successful on time Certification of the A350-900 Aircraft.

The speaker line up over the two days was of an exceptionally high standard offering valuable insights, learning and new perspectives from the diverse world of project management. The expeditions of Amundsen, the ITER Fusion Project and the UK Major Projects Leadership Academy, topped off with Jack Pinter and his Agile Blues Band, were just some of the acts in this “entertainingly serious and memorable event.”

One delegate summed up the experience saying “Kurt Lewin said ‘There is Nothing More Practical than A Good Theory.’ The Making Projects Fly conference gave us theory, practice, inspiration and fun … I lapped up every minute!”

In a post-event survey delegates and sponsors alike were effusive in their praise with record breaking numbers describing speaker-led presentations as excellent in communicating and facilitating learning. In response to the killer question “Considering direct costs and the value of your time in attending “Making Projects Fly” to what extent did it provide a return on your investment?” [Eventroi] The answer was a resounding good and very good!

Steve Wake’s own presentation “Project Budgets and Portfolio Benefits – the Holy Grail” summarised many of the conference themes as he drew on Phil Driver’s prize-winning handbook “Validating Strategies – Linking Projects and Results to Uses and Benefits.” [See review in the November issue of Project Magazine]

As with any networking event of this type, great friendships and relationships were formed and video and audio captured by our good friends from PM Channel as part of a rich learning legacy to be made available via a growing digital archive.

Since Toulouse Steve has continued to busy himself with a mix of important APM business coupled with attendance at various premier UK conferences and events such as APM Awards, PMI Synergy14 and Project Controls Expo as he pulls together ideas, hot topics and new perspectives for even better events next year.

The ‘eVa in the UK’ series, now in its twentieth year, is set to make a triumphant return to the Armourer’s Hall in Central London on 16 /17 June next year – so save the date for another stage in the journey to project management professionalism!