PMI Forum 2026: THINK BIG. LEAD BOLDLY.

Think Bigger to Deliver M.O.R.E.: Leading Project Success in an Age of Transformation -  Dr. Danny Chung

Artificial intelligence, accelerating technological change, and global transformation are reshaping organizations and raising expectations for project professionals. In this new environment, success requires more than delivering projects on time, on budget, and within scope. Project leaders must think bigger about the value they create, lead boldly through uncertainty, align diverse stakeholders, and continuously adapt to changing conditions. In this session, PMI Board Director Dr. Danny Chung explores how the definition of project success is evolving from delivery to value creation and why this shift matters now more than ever. Drawing on PMI's latest research, he introduces M.O.R.E.®: Manage Perceptions, Own Success, Relentlessly Reassess, and Expand Perspective, a leadership mindset that helps project professionals move beyond execution to drive meaningful outcomes, navigate transformation, and maximize project success in an increasingly complex world.

Carpe Diem, Be Curious: a Life Philosophy Through 100 Countries -  Paul Bradbury

Most people build careers in the conventional way: education to get expertise, work experience, slow promotion. Others choose a less conventional strategy of going with the flow and seeing where things end up. With a four-word slogan of Carpe Diem, Be Curious, Paul is still trying to figure out what he will do in life at the age of 57, but join him for a tour of the journey so far, which has taken him to 100 countries, from a male chambermaid in a Munich hotel, laser crystals researcher in Moscow, French teacher in Japan, humanitarian aid project manager on the edge of Siberia, and aid project manager to 600,000 refugees immediately after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. And then there is the Croatia chapter...

Think Bigger Than Projects: A Mindset Shift for Greater Strategic Impact - Gregor Androjna

Despite decades of project management innovation, nearly 70% of business strategies and almost half of project initiatives still fail to deliver their intended results.

The response is still often predictable: implement a new methodology, launch another transformation, introduce new tools, adopt Agile, or more recently, embrace AI. Yet the same challenges persist.

The issue is rarely project execution alone. Many organizations have become highly focused on the execution phase of projects while paying far less attention to the equally critical stages of strategy definition, prioritization, value realization, and organizational adoption. As a result, they might be delivering projects successfully, yet struggle to achieve the business outcomes those products and services we have created.

The challenge is not simply to manage projects better. The challenge is to continuously make better decisions about which initiatives to pursue, when to pursue them, how to allocate limited resources, and how to ensure that intended value is actually realized.

In this thought-provoking session, Gregor Androjna introduces the IMPACT Driver Mindset, challenging traditional project-centric thinking and exploring where the greatest opportunities for improvement exist across the entire strategy-to-value lifecycle.

Participants will discover why sustainable success requires shifting from a project management perspective toward a broader lifecycle and value-driven approach, more closely aligned with modern asset management thinking, where the focus is not on delivering projects, but on maximizing long-term organizational value.

They will leave with a fresh perspective on how organizations can build an adaptable, iterative, and sustainable mechanism for continuously identifying, prioritizing, delivering, and realizing the changes that matter most, while evolving alongside increasingly dynamic world/markets and business environments.

And for those ready to move from understanding why these challenges exist and where the greatest opportunities lie, the accompanying workshop explores how to design and implement such a mechanism in practice.

Your Project Won’t Sell Itself: How to Win Buy-In Before You Lose Support -  Vedran Sorić

A project can be well-planned, efficiently managed, and technically sound—yet still fail to achieve its intended outcome. This happens not because the project plan was flawed, but because key stakeholders never truly bought into the idea, the priority, or the change the project entailed.
Project managers are constantly selling, even if they rarely call it that. They sell the project’s importance to management, priorities to the team, the need for extra resources to functional departments, change to end-users, and confidence to all the stakeholders who can either accelerate or hinder delivery. Problems arise when we rely solely on facts, deadlines, and presentations while ignoring the true drivers of decision-making: perceptions of value, risk, trust, and personal interest.
In this direct and practical talk, Vedran Sorić will demonstrate why a solid project isn't enough if no one can translate it into the language of the decision-makers. Participants will learn how to identify what stakeholders are actually buying into, why resistance is often valuable information rather than a problem, and how to move beyond standard presentations to foster a conversation that leads to genuine buy-in.
After all, a project doesn't fail only when it misses a deadline or exceeds its budget. Often, the failure begins much earlier—the moment key stakeholders say 'yes' but act as though they said 'no'.

AI agents for project managers: who does the work while you lead the project? - Katarina Zubatović i Dragan Petric

AI is no longer just a chatbot that answers questions. A new generation of AI agents independently tracks deadlines, updates statuses, writes meeting minutes, identifies risks, and alerts you when something goes wrong. For project managers, this represents the biggest shift in working methods since projects moved to digital tools.
In this session, we will explain what an AI agent is and how it differs from a standard chatbot. We will showcase concrete examples of agents that are already handling routine project tasks—from status tracking and sponsor reporting to risk and team workload management. We will also demonstrate some of these examples live within monday.com.
We will also address topics less frequently discussed: where agents make mistakes, what tasks should not be delegated to them, and how to maintain control over a project when AI handles part of the workload.

Key takeaways from the session:
• A clear distinction between an AI assistant, automation, and an agent
• Five tasks an agent can take over as early as next week
• Guidelines for human oversight: what the agent proposes versus what the PM decides
• The first step toward introducing agents to your team without a major investment

This session is designed for project managers, PMO leads, and anyone managing teams, regardless of their prior experience with AI.

Mental Toughness and Growth Mindset: How to Stay Calm, Motivated, and Productive on Demanding Projects - Mirta Fraisman Čobanov

Project success doesn't rest on methodologies, tools, and plans alone — it also rests on the people leading them. Of the many challenges demanding projects present, three stand out: staying calm under pressure, sustaining motivation through long project cycles, and recognizing opportunity in change and adversity. Each of these capabilities can be developed in its own right — and together, they form the inner strength that enables project managers to lead with stability, consistency, and productivity.

In this session, Mirta Fraisman Čobanov shares insights into how mental toughness and the Growth Mindset combine to form the inner foundation of successful project leadership — from self-awareness and managing stress and emotions, to a way of thinking that sees possibility and opportunity in change, risk, and setbacks.

Participants will walk away with practical takeaways they can use immediately, both at work and in everyday life.

Impossible Is Possible -  Mirna Radošević

In a world of constant change and uncertainty, success is no longer defined solely by knowledge or expertise, but by mindset, resilience, and the ability to act with clarity. This lecture explores how seemingly impossible goals become achievable through openness, personal accountability, consistent action, and a focus on the journey rather than just the destination.
Participants will discover how our beliefs shape reality, why attitude impacts performance more than circumstances do, and how acting from a state of inner neutrality enables better decision-making, greater resilience, and sustainable success. Drawing inspiration from human potential principles and the laws of physics, the lecture encourages the audience to shift their perspective: instead of asking 'Is it possible?', they are invited to ask ' What would make it possible?'.
This motivational lecture serves as a powerful call to embrace change, stay focused on what truly matters, enjoy the process of growth, and unlock the extraordinary potential residing within every individual and team.

workshop All AI Secrets for Project Managers; Katarina Zubatović and Dragan Petric - hall Zemlja

In recent months, AI has evolved from a tool that simply answers questions into one that actively executes tasks. For project managers, this means spending less time on status updates, meeting minutes, and spreadsheet maintenance, and more time focusing on people, decision-making, and risk management.

In this workshop, you will learn how to leverage AI throughout the entire project lifecycle—from initiation and planning to reporting and closure. You will work on your own projects and leave with ready-to-use AI agents and at least one automated workflow.

What you will learn:
• The implications of the latest generations of ChatGPT and Claude for project management
• How to generate a project charter, WBS, RACI matrix, and risk register in minutes
• How to automatically generate meeting minutes and action items from meetings
• How to create status reports tailored to the team, sponsor, and client
• Five ready-made monday.com workflows for PMs: project intake, status reporting, risk management, team workload, and meeting-based tasks
• Guidelines on what data can and cannot be shared with AI, and how to maintain quality control

Who should attend:
Project managers, PMO leads, and project team members—regardless of their prior experience with AI. No prior knowledge is required, but please bring a laptop.

We recommend that all participants create a Claude account and download the Claude desktop application prior to the workshop.

workshop The Most Expensive Risk On a Project: What the Team Doesn't Tell You (Psychological Safety as a Prerequisite for Successful Projects); Ines Bezjak Kožnjak - hall Vatra

Many project failures stem not from a lack of knowledge, resources, or methodology, but from the fact that people fail to voice what they see, think, or feel in a timely manner. Risks remain unspoken, disagreements go unvoiced, and problems surface only when they have grown large enough to jeopardize the project. Through a brief theoretical introduction and a series of experiential exercises, participants will explore how to create an environment where team members have the courage to openly share ideas, concerns, mistakes, and differing opinions. The workshop will focus on the concept of psychological safety—the absence of fear regarding negative consequences for asking questions, expressing disagreement, or pointing out potential issues. Participants will gain practical tools and techniques to apply in their day-to-day project management, fostering radical candor, timely risk identification, better decision-making, and increased team member engagement.

workshop Personal Branding: From expertise to professional visibility that opens up opportunities; Tanja Džido - hall Zrak

Expertise, experience and results are the basis of professional credibility. But in a business environment where the way we present our value increasingly affects the opportunities that open up to us, it's not enough to just be good at what we do - it's important that our expertise is recognized.

The lecture brings a strategic view of personal branding as a tool for professional positioning and visibility. We will talk about how to clearly communicate your expertise and value, build recognition and professional reputation, and take a clearer place in your profession and business environment.

When we know how to show what we know, can and bring, we create more space for new projects, greater responsibilities and opportunities that accompany our experience, potential and professional ambitions.

workshop Communication Skills and Public Relations; Krešimir Sočković - hall Zrak

Project managers know how much time goes into plans, deadlines, budgets, and risks. Yet, a project can stall because of a sentence left unsaid, a decision interpreted differently by everyone, or a meeting that leaves five people with five different versions of the agreement.
In this three-hour workshop for PMI, we will address two aspects of project communication: how to clearly communicate the project to decision-makers and stakeholders, and how to foster team dialogue that surfaces problems early and turns agreements into action.
Through examples and short exercises, participants will learn how to:
- explain a complex project in one minute—without jargon or a 40-slide presentation
- tailor the same message for management, clients, partners, and team members
- discuss delays, scope changes, or bad news without evasion or blame games
- lead meetings where decisions, responsibilities, and deadlines are crystal clear
- provide feedback and address disagreements before they escalate into conflicts
- recognize when the team needs an honest conversation rather than another status report.
During the workshop, participants will work with their own real-world examples: crafting a concise project message, practicing a challenging conversation, and assessing how clearly their standard meetings are understood by the attendees.

Duration: three hours
Format: interactive workshop featuring exercises, discussion, and practical examples

Project communication is about more than just reporting what has happened; it ensures the right things get done on time.