Deadline: October 28, 2024

Event Details

Dates: Thursday, May 1, 2025 and Friday, May 2, 2025
Format: The event will be offered both in-person and virtually. All sessions will be recorded and available to attendees to view for one year following the 2025 event.

Live and Pre-Recorded Speaker Sessions

For the 2025 Project Management Symposium, the University of Maryland plans to have two types of presentations:

1. In-person session speakers presenting live in 4 concurrent tracks (36 total sessions over the 2 days). Session is 45 minutes in length: 5 minute introduction, 30 minute speaker presentation, and 10 minutes for Q&A.
2. On-demand presentations that will be pre-recorded and posted to the Symposium website one week prior to the in-person event. Presentation is 30-45 minutes in length.

Submission Process

1) Submit Presentation Description + 2 Minute Video

Includes submittal of: presentation title, description, speaker bio and headshot plus a 1-2 minute video. The video is simply a recording of you telling us about your presentation and why Project Managers would be interested in your specific topic.

2) Review by UMD to select in-person and on-demand speakers. UMD will send out an email to all selected speakers.

3) Selected speakers attend a webinar to discuss the draft presentation submission and review process.

3) All selected speakers, submit draft presentation (in UMD developed PowerPoint template). If the speaker has never spoken at a previous symposium, then a recording of you delivering the presentation will be required (government employees are exempt from this requirement).

Submitted presentations fall into three categories:

a) Refine and submit an updated presentation for a final review (would submit a final version as well)
b) Refine and submit a final presentation for delivery in-person
c) Refine and submit a final PowerPoint presentation plus a recording of you delivering your presentation (on-demand speakers only).

Submit Your Information to be a Potential Speaker

Speaker Resources

Speaker Guidance
Presentation Template
Paper Format Guidelines
Sample slides from the 2024 event: Meah-Ali: Guiding the Future of PM and Richards: Guiding he PMs of the Future
Sample on-demand session from the 2024 PM Symposium: Alan Zucker: Agile is Everywhere

Speaker Timeline

Below are the important deadlines for speakers for the 2025 Symposium.

Sept 3, 2024	Call for speakers opens
Oct 28, 2024	Call for speakers ends
Dec 4, 2024	Notification of accepted speakers (via email)
Dec 18, 2024	Deadline for speaker acceptance
Jan 15, 2025	Program posted on website
Jan 16, 2025	Mandatory Speaker Webinar to discuss presentation submittal and review process, plus Day of Event logistics for in-person speakers
Jan 31, 2025	Registration deadline for all speakers
March 10, 2025	Draft Presentations Due (all session speakers)
March 24, 2025	Feedback from Session Moderators to On-demand Speakers
March 31, 2025	Feedback from Session Moderators to In-person Speakers
April 4, 2025	Recorded Sessions Completed and Submitted (on-demand sessions only)
April 9, 2025	Webinar to discuss final day of event logistics (Mandatory for In-Person Speakers)
April 11, 2025	Completed Papers Due (optional)
April 11, 2025	Final Presentations due (in-person speakers)
May 1-2, 2025	Project Management Symposium – delivered live

Submit Your Information to be a Potential Speaker

Potential Session Topics

Lean, Agile and Product
- DevOps
- Agile at Scale
- Hybrid Project Management
- Lean Process and Product Management
- Product Management
Federal Programs
- Agile Implementation on Large Scale Projects
- Acquisition Innovation in Federal Programs
- Artificial Intelligence in Federal Programs and Projects
- Cross-Agency Collaboration to Ensure Mission Success
- Improving Delivery Success
- Program and Project Management challenges and Success Stories from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
- Strategies for Cloud Migration
Project Management 4.0
- Artificial Intelligence
- Smart Contracts
- Open Innovation
- Project or Gig Economy
- Automated and Empowered Workforces
- Data Analytics & Digital Transformation
Strategic Project Management
- Leadership Development
- Organizational Change Management
- Integrated Project Management
- Performance Management
Project Management Focus Skills
- Stakeholder Engagement & Communications
- Change Management
- Risk Management & Resilience
- Project, Program and Portfolio Management
People in Projects
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Emotional Intelligence
- Mentoring – Building Future PMs
- Productivity and Performance Management
- Strengths Based Management