After more than two years of remote meetings and conferences, PMI Pune-Deccan India hosted its first face-to-face PMI Region 11meeting on 7 and 8 June in Pune.

Prasanna Sampathkumar, region mentor, PMI South Asia, kicked off the first day with a welcome address. Dr. Srini Srinivasan, managing director of PMI South Asia, set the tone for a productive day with an opening address.

Abhishek Sharma, chapter partner, PMI South Asia, presented the outlines of the PMI Chapter Empowerment program to encourage more volunteering and improve community-building exercises. Mr. Sampathkumar shared the results of South Asia Chapters’ satisfaction survey and overall membership figures. Nisha Nanda Kumar, chapter administrator, PMI South Asia, spoke about the annual planning and charter renewal exercise.

Visukumar Gopal, region advisor, PMI South Asia, and Leena Gupte, program administrator, PMI South Asia, deliberated on the Youth and Social Impact team’s activities and its contribution to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr. Sharma and Mr. Sampathkumar explained PMI’s Culture Journey and its adaptive approach, and its partnership with Kin&Co, a culture and purpose-led change management consultancy. This was followed by portfolio-based group discussions and presentations by chapter leaders.

A major highlight of the event was the awards and recognition ceremony to acknowledge the contributions made by chapters and leaders. West Bengal Chapter was honored with Chapter Milestone Achiever-10 years, Chennai Chapter with Chapter Milestone Achiever-20 years, and Naga Saujanya Yelisetty from PMI Pearl City Chapter for the Outstanding Chapter Leader-2022.

The second day was a half-day event that started with an opening address by Mr. Sampathkumar.

Soon after, an informative session on the “Board Culture” was conducted by Tejas Sura, member, PMI Board of Directors, and Girish Kadam, past region mentor. It shed light on the board culture status, typical challenges, factors that determine a good board culture, and guiding principles for PMI chapters.

This was followed by an ethics workshop by Dr. Deepa Bhide, chair, PMI Ethics Insight Team, and Karthik Ramamurthy, member, PMI Ethics Insight Team. They talked about how proactive ethical leadership is critical for chapter success, ethics tools for chapters, volunteers and practitioners, and Chapter Board ethics assessment.

The event also highlighted PMI Cross Regional Collaboration programs initiated by various chapters, such as PMI Chapter Xchange, PMI Kerala Academic Outreach, PMI Kerala Whiz Talks, and PMI West Bengal Chapter Outreach-NGO Connect.

In between, some great talents from chapters peppered the evening with fun elements - from a comedy skit by Mr. Saujanya to a musical delight by Dr. Oscar D’Souza from the PMI Mumbai Chapter.