Dear Practitioners, Along with news about the heat wave and floods, came in a positive piece of news – after several years we are going to have a good monsoon this year. This good news for the economy will have a spiraling effect across industries. It wouldn’t be over-optimistic to suggest that we can look forward to increased project activity and busier days ahead. Last month we had the privilege of hosting PMI strategic advisor, Dr. Ed Hoffman, who is the former chief knowledge officer of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and academic director, information and knowledge strategy, Columbia University School of Professional Studies. Besides other engagements, Dr. Hoffman delivered the keynote address at PMI Kerala Chapter’s annual conference on 9 June. He used his experiences at NASA to elucidate how project management can be adapted for disruptive times, in line with the conference theme. We are going full steam ahead with our preparations for the Project Management National Conference in New Delhi on 12 and 13 October. Registrations will open in August, and I expect registrations to close quite early. There are some exciting options this time for conference sponsorship. The confirmed speakers so far are PMI President and CEO Mark A. Langley; Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Bank of Baroda and founder, Social Venture Partners India; spiritual teacher Brahma Kumari Shivani; and Chhavi Rajavat, sarpanch (village head) of Soda in Rajasthan, a management graduate who left corporate life in 2010 to become India’s youngest sarpanch. We will keep posting updates on our conference site, so stay locked. We are introducing a new format, Pitch Perfect, in the conference to let practitioners talk about innovative methods and techniques that they have successfully implemented in their projects. Going by the number of submissions we have received, we will have an interesting mix of ideas and solutions to choose from different industry sectors. We have created an archive of short video clips of 2-3 minutes each, containing excerpts of keynotes delivered at previous national conferences. You will find this treasure trove of knowledge and wisdom thought-provoking and highly relevant. PMI India is now on LinkedIn. I urge you to become a part of our LinkedIn network and receive PMI news and insights regularly. We have launched a podcast series, Projectified™ with PMI, that has lively conversations on hot topics and emerging trends that are of interest to project managers. If you have not logged on to it yet, here is the link. In the past couple of months, we have had annual conferences of several chapters. Continuing with our tradition, we have felicitated several longstanding members of Kerala, Bangalore, and Hyderabad chapters at these conferences. My heartiest congratulations to all of them. In June, there was another cause for celebration. We inducted 12 new Champions in our Champion Graduation Program. Congratulations to the new Champions, and all the best for your efforts in advocating project management across organizations. Warm regards, Raj Kalady Managing Director, PMI India