Last weekend, in hotel Adria in Biograd na Moru, we have held our 6th National Project Management Workshop. This year’s theme was ‘Project Control’.
There was around 50 participants from all over Croatia. Some of them were students interested in the area of project management, while others have already been involved in the work of Young Crew Croatia-e or CAPM. The third part was from the world of business, with years of experience in this area and a lot of enthusiasm to share it with others who wanted to learn.

At the beginning of the workshop, an opening ceremony was held, where the welcome speech was conducted by Marlena Pavić, project manager, and Miro Hegedić, member of the board of YCC. After that, the stage was left to the keynote speakers. The first one was Hrvoje Meštrović, as representative of our longtime sponsor Primakon, after which came Josip Pavković, representative of Croatian bank of development and reconstruction. They have share with us their longtime experience in the field of project management and explained to us how they deal with risks in their workplace and how does the project control works in their companies.

After the opening ceremony, we have continued the agenda on a casual note with PM quiz night and a networking event.

The main program of the workshop was held on Saturday when our cheerful and enthusiastic coaches, Hajnalka and Daniel Collado- Ruiz, the top experts in the area of project management and with many years of experience in Young  Crew, took over our participants.

The concept of the workshop was to divide ourselves in teams per five members. The main goal was to build the highest tower form things like straws and play-dough. Sounds easy? Well, in order not to make everything too easy, there were our trainers who had two-times roles. Firstly, they were workshop facilitators, but on the other hand, they were also the client and the director of the company the teams are working for.

Workshop was done in four phases, between which there was always some quick keynote and reflection of what had happened in that round of the building. So we have passed through the phases of planning, forecasting the risks, learning how to communicate with stakeholders, then again revising our plans and building our towers (successfully!) at the end.

We should not forget that we have had some man from the states Department of safety to check our towers out, also some testings in case of an earthquake, and the clients have had their special wishes. But, at the end, we can proudly say that no matter whether their tower is the biggest or not, we have definitely learned from one another and the whole theory background will be the thing that will stays with you.

At the end of the day, we have given two prizes for the most proactive persons of the workshop. Personal prize was taken b Andrija Blažić who won free trip to Brijuni for 7th national workshop. On the other hand, the team with the highest tower which has touched the ceiling has won!

The night ended in a caffe bar Kaldi in Spanish themed party, with flowers in the hair, sangrias on the bar and little bit of Latin rhythms.

The last day of the workshop Hajnalka and Daniel have done the sum up with lessons learned pointed out. All the participants were given their certificates, as well as donators and sponsors for their support.

Nevertheless, the biggest thank you is going to our coaches and all the participants for coming and being in such a good mood! Hope to see you all next year!

Some photos from the workshop

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