Sponsors - Can't live with them, can't live without them and AGM election results 2017/18

The London branch ran its AGM on 24^th May 2017. Following a review of the previous year’s activities and election of the new committee, it had the pleasure of an interactive session from People deliver projects: Sponsors - Can't live with them, can't live without them.

It is easy to write down a definition of sponsorship, and there’s plenty of research which shows how important sponsorship is. So why is it that so many sponsors seem to fall short of the mark in practice? Do sponsors actually know how to be good sponsors? And what about project managers (and the PMO)? Do they know how to get the best from their sponsor? At this experiential and interactive learning session, the audience explored these questions through a blend of acted scenarios and reflective breakouts.

Professional actors played a sponsor and project manager and interacted with the audience to highlight how to get this relationship right (and get it wrong). The actors baselined the sponsor role and went beyond the theory of confronting sponsor behaviour. After debate, laughter and serious learning the conclusion of the event was that project managers and PMOs get the sponsors they deserve.

People Deliver Projects has worked with 18 organisations on sponsorship capability over the last five years. At this event, they shared their learning on how to get sponsors in the room, and once there, how to engage them and facilitate real learning.

The branch AGM took place prior to the session and following nominees were unanimously elected to serve as the branch committee over the coming 12 months:

James Carey, Peter Chana, Sharron Escobar, Richard Fanning, Milla Mazilu, Raluca Popa, Martin Pressinger, Martin Savage, Matthew Tucker, Ross Weatherburn, Brian Wicks.