This interactive workshop focuses on using data for more than just reporting, but as a tool for decision-making. Drawing from real-world experience building and managing a product, this session explores how to identify the signals that matter, ignore the noise, and translate data into clear, confident next steps.

Project managers are often responsible for managing significant budgets and financial resources, yet many professionals receive little training on how to confidently lead the financial conversations behind those numbers. While most project management training focuses on tools, tracking, and reporting, the reality is that project success often depends on something less discussed: how leaders interpret financial signals and communicate about money with clarity, confidence, and credibility.

Most PMOs don't fail because of bad intentions — they fail because of missing infrastructure. They're stood up quickly, resourced lightly, and asked to deliver heavily, without the foundational systems that make reliability possible at scale. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn the PMO Reliability Framework — a practical, field-tested approach to building a PMO that teams actually trust, leadership actually funds, and impact organizations actually feel. Drawing over $500M+ in project experience across 19 countries and real case studies featured on The PMO Playbook podcast, this session moves beyond methodology debates and gets into the operational mechanics of what separates high-performing PMOs from the ones that quietly disappear.

AI is reshaping projects faster than most organizations are prepared to handle. In this session, we will apply a resilience leadership lens to the disruption already hitting project management work, from AI-driven scope instability and accountability gaps to teams struggling to adapt. Attendees will leave with a practical framework they can apply immediately, The Resilient PM Framework: Prepare. Protect. Adapt. This is not a session about learning AI. It is about leading through what AI does to your projects, your teams, and your organization before the disruption finds you.

Project managers are expected to manage increasing complexity while delivering results faster than ever before. At the same time, artificial intelligence is rapidly being integrated into the tools many organizations already use every day. For project managers working in environments that rely on Microsoft 365, tools like Microsoft Copilot are beginning to change how work gets done. In this forward-thinking session, participants will explore how project managers can become “AI-augmented” professionals by integrating Copilot into their daily workflows. Rather than replacing project managers, AI can act as a strategic assistant helping generate project artifacts, analyze data, summarize information, and streamline communication with stakeholders. Through real-world examples, attendees will see how Copilot can be used across familiar workplace tools such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and the Microsoft Edge browser to support common project management tasks. From drafting project charters and summarizing documentation to analyzing project data and preparing executive updates, this session will demonstrate practical ways AI can reduce administrative burden and allow project managers to focus on leadership, strategy, and decision-making. Participants will leave with applicable examples and a simple framework for incorporating AI into their daily work so they can operate more efficiently, communicate more effectively, and position themselves for the future of project leadership.

Over 400,000 Black women have been forced out of the workforce, but what corporate America sees as displacement, we see as opportunity. This is your chance to build something for yourself, on your terms, using the skills you have already mastered. As a project manager, you already know how to run operations, manage stakeholders, deliver results, and solve complex problems. Those skills translate directly into running a successful consulting business. The missing piece? The business operations foundation that will let you build sustainably without burning out. Workshop Overview A focused 45-60 minute presentation designed specifically for Black women project managers who are ready to transition from employee to consultant. This session addresses the unique challenges Black women face in entrepreneurship like limited access to capital, smaller professional networks, and the need to build credibility from scratch, while providing concrete operational frameworks using free and low-cost tools. We start with operations because without strong systems, even the most talented consultants burn out before they break through.

This is an interactive session where we will discuss categories of red flags from people, process, technology and vendors and identify early detection signals. We will then discuss the proper response framework and have an opportunity to do some role-play with real world scenarios. We will wrap up with how to escalate without blame and some recovery strategies, ending with how to CYB.

What if your best team member never called out sick, never needed a performance review, and worked at 3am without complaint? For Melessa Lawson, that wasn’t a fantasy — it was her operating reality. As the founder of My Little Helper & Co., a Charlotte-based transportation company, Melessa scaled her business from startup to $1.4M in revenue using 70+ custom AI tools and 12 AI team members — cutting her workweek from 80 to 25 hours. She didn’t do it with a tech background. She did it with strategy, structure, and a refusal to build a business that required her to sacrifice her life to run it. In this session, attendees will learn how to apply AI as a project management multiplier — not just a productivity trick. Using the proprietary C.E.O. Framework (Capture, Empower, Optimize) and the QUIET Method, Melessa walks project leaders through how to assign, delegate, automate, and audit using AI tools that integrate into the systems they’re already managing.

Leveraging relationships both established and emerging with effective, clear, concise, and transparent communication is one of the key pillars of maintaining a successful stakeholder relationship. Attendees will learn what to leverage, how and when and will walk away with actionable tools to support stakeholder engagement and continue building relationships towards program and project success.