- Description:
Event: a discussion about Harakat company for communication.
Date: at 28th. Oct.2018
Organizer: Ms. Shahad Al Nasser.
Presenter: Ms. Alanoud Al showaier.
Location: at PNU, A6 BA building theater.
I attended a conference presented by Ms. Alanoud Al showaier the account and project director of Harkat company which is a company spiralized in communication and creating visual content for different sectors and companies, for example, motion graphic, whiteboard and animations, they can turn your idea, project or a product into a fun and entertaining visual content. The conference was about project management in general, Ms. Alanoud gave a brief information about herself, she graduated from KSU majored in economy, she worked previously in many companies such as Altayyar company and eTree digital marketing agency, and the company she currently works in is Harakat.
I was very excited to attend the conference and meet Ms. Alanoud in person, as she will discusses a subject of my interests and want to learn more about, mainly because it is my major second reason is that I am planning to make my own project in the future, hence, it would be the perfect opportunity for me. The conference was about the basic knowledge on project management which included the life circle of a project from start to finish, and how to arrange these stages and also how to manage the ricks in any project, the presenter showed a true and real examples, which helped me to relate to the information she is giving. I was able to ask questions at the end of the conference and take notes during it on the subjects we discussed, which increased the level of understanding of the subject and help me to relate to it in the future as a student in PNU and as a project manager to be.
- Analysis of learning:
The conference started with an introduction on Harakat company, their achievements such as a video they produced for the Saudi national day, I personally was one of those who liked the video which makes it easy to relate, then she moved on to who are the main clients and how did they serve them, which made me feel proud of a Saudi company accomplishments, and felt encouraged to start my own business, the presenter talked about the types of projects and they are big projects which started before three years or over and there budget is over than 3 million, then medium project which the project started in three years and there budget is three million, lastly the small projects and they are the projects started less than a year and budget of 500,000. The presenter later spoked about the five stages of the project life cycle for any project and they are initiation, planning, execution, closure. The importance of these steps is to organize any project and each stage has its own steps for example, planning a project includes meeting with projects manager and stockholders and planning the timeline, financial planning and identifying the ricks that may face the project. “The project lifecycle provides a structured approach for the delivery of the project. This allows everyone working on the project to identify how the project is progressing. It also has clearly defined activities and outputs for each phase.” (Julie Downing, 2012). Moreover, it was a good information to have and it made me more aware of the steps needed to plan a project which will benefit me in the future.
In addition the presenter talked about the stages to planning a video which was, concept creation, story board, illustration and production, These are the steps to make a successful content in any visual content, this particular information grabbed my attention because my business project In mind was to be an expert and a designer in motion graphics, so I was very interested in the content of the conference and sure that it will be a good reference for me.
Lastly, Ms. Alanoud talked about risk management and how it is critical to plan every stage in a project “effective risk management strategies allow you to identify your project’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. By planning for unexpected events” (Tara Duggan, 2018) and more importantly to expect any sudden changes and she made an example of change request which is mainly when a client unexpectedly changes their request for the product or service, when this problem occurs it is very important to be fast, flexible and have problem solving skills as they are the key of a project failure of success, “Although an effective leader is said to share problem-solving responsibilities with the team, we expect our project leaders to have excellent problem-solving skills themselves. They have a fresh, creative response to here-and-now opportunities, and not much concern with how others have performed them”. (Kouzes 1987)
- Evaluation of learning:
Overall, the conference was enlightening, and I gained many information that I am curtained it will be helpful in the future, after attending the conference I realized that I need to take more lessons on risk management and educate myself about my project for example the similar companies and rivals to understand how the business works, also I should plan the it life cycle and duration of my project, now that I know how to. Moreover, brainstorming is a good way to start any project planning or an idea because it helps arrange information and keep the idea flow.
The confrere in general reached my expectations and more, yet I wished there was more information about the execution of the project rather than knowing the results, and I wanted to know more about the best qualities to have for a project manager.
References:
-Downing, j., 2012. Explain 5 Benefits of a Project Lifecycle. [Online]
Available at: https://www.parallelprojecttraining.com/forums/topic/explain-5-benefits-of-a-lifecycle/
[Accessed 7th July 2012].
-Duggan, T., 2018. Why Is Risk Management Important to Project Success? [Online]
Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/risk-management-important-project-success-56920.html
[Accessed 30th June 2018].
-Kouzes, J. & Posner, B., 2012. the leadership challenge: how to make extraordinary things. 5th ed. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Madlin 