PM & PMO Conference BRIDGE - our experiences

All speakers and partners were invited to an informal get-together the evening before. We gratefully accepted this invitation to make our first contacts in this way. It was a great experience to finally see the people in person that we only knew from LinkedIn or video calls. The atmosphere was good and exciting conversations were held - the anticipation for the main event the next day grew even more. The next day, the conference started right in the morning. We had the honour of being one of six exhibitors at the conference. We only brought a handful of printed documents with us, as we preferred to show our digital content on the tablet for reasons of sustainability. And here we are already at the topic of the conference: sustainability in project management. The speakers have expertise in this field, and this was shown to all participants during the day. The event started with a welcome from the two co-organisers Inga Ablingienė and Edita Kemzūraitė. Unfortunately, Inga was not able to attend the event in person, but she was present in a virtual way and supported the participants who joined the event online. After the welcome speech, Gilbert Silvius gave the first presentation on "The Practice of Sustainable Project Management". This was followed by the presentation "What Makes a World-Class PMO" by Americo Pinto, founder and chairman of the PMO Global Alliance. After a coffee break, which was used for networking, there were three more presentations:
"What (Not) to Do in a Megaproject: Lessons from Baltic Synchronisation" by Artūras Kuliešas, "Impact of Big Data Analytics on Decision-making in Organizational Project Management" by Laila Faridoon and "The Long-term Value Creation Through Enterprise ESG Journey & Practical Applications" by Auksė Žukauskienė.

This was followed by the lunch break: the kitchen of the Radisson Blu Lietuva did its utmost here. Everybody was satisfied with what was on offer. The lunch break was also used for networking and exchanging ideas among colleagues and like-minded people. After the break, four more presentations were given by Audrius Rutkauskas, Skirmantė Ušurliakienė, Monika Martinsson, Liudas Galdikas, Arūnė Matelytė and TaJuanna M. Taylor.

After another coffee break, two presentations followed: By Joel Carboni, who unfortunately could not be present onsite, on the topic "Sustainability will not solve the earth's problem. We must do more" and by Inga Popovaitė, who reported on her experiences in the Mars simulation station. After the official part was concluded by Inga and Edita, we moved on to the less formal part, the networking reception. Toasts were made to the successful event and conversations were held with other participants, and the day full of new impressions drew to a close. We were able to use this day to have exciting conversations, get to know great organisations and maybe one or the other cooperation will arise from it in the future? We will let you know!  The conversations with attendees about project management certifications, agile project management and the relevance of soft skills in the future were inspiring.  

After this eventful day, however, the on-site programme was not over yet. The Project Management United team offered all participants who were present in Vilnius to participate in site visits. The participants had the choice to get to know Vilnius Airport and its projects or to look behind the scenes of Danske Bank. We opted for the airport excursion. So, on Friday morning we went to Vilnius Airport. We were given visitor passes and after a security check, the tour started. We were told which project is currently in progress, why you are not allowed to cross the red line behind which an aircraft is positioned and why fuel dumps are much rarer than is sometimes claimed. We were taken to baggage handling and visited the fire department. After we were told why the normal driving license is not sufficient at the airport, the interesting tour came to an end. 

After a few hours, the next item on the agenda was the guided tour through the old town of Vilnius. Even though our hotel was in the old town and even though we arrived in Vilnius on Tuesday evening, we unfortunately hadn't had the chance to see much of the old town until then, so this offer was quite fitting for us. It was conducted by none other than a team member of the PMU: Remigijus Pielikis, who is also a city guide in addition to his job as Scrum Master and as a team member of the PMU. It was obvious that he is fully in his element. He had a lot of exciting information in store and took us to the most important sights and buildings in the city. After an interesting tour, another eventful day was about to end. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers for this great time in Vilnius. Not only was the event a complete success, but the programme surrounding the event was wonderful. Unfortunately, Inga could not be there, but Remigijus and Edita always were attentive, made recommendations and were always available for a conversation, even if they were busy conducting the event. And the fourth team member, Indrė Barauskaite, did a great job with the visualisation before and during the event. Among other things, she created all the posters, the videos and the slides for the presentations. We had a great time, made many interesting new contacts and that was exactly the aim of the BRIDGE: bridges were built, project managers and project participants could exchange ideas and cooperate. Thanks a lot for the good time, the invitation, and the programme. We are already looking forward to next year!

We definitely think it is worth attending the PM & PMO Conference BRIDGE. The day was filled with knowledge and exciting talks. In addition, there was the possibility to participate remotely as well as on site. Interested people from further away can therefore participate in a totally stress-free way via their computer, without having to fly to Lithuania. From our point of view, however, it was time to finally participate in an on-site event again. The flight to Vilnius only took 2 hours, so it was not a long distance for us. And it was the networking, the exchange of information on site and the supporting programme that made a big difference. Moreover, Vilnius is worth a visit, and we are already looking forward to the next time we visit Lithuania to get to explore even more. However, the feedback from people in our community who participated remotely was very good. In our opinion, the hybrid format is an optimal solution.