Project Summit Business Analyst World 2026 - Orlando Day 1

Project Summit Business Analyst World 2026 - Orlando Day 1 Here is a summary of the conference day 1! How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

• 0:15Speaker 00

  Hey everyone, it's Lee Henson here for Madgele Dad. I just wanted to give you an update. So I apologize that the episode that was supposed to publish today of the podcast did not hit in time and I was shocked when I saw that. But then I realized that there was an error when I left home with uploading episodes and this is actually going to work out to our advantage. So let me explain what's going on. So I want to do a review. So I'm out at the PMBA conference in Orlando. So I'm at Project Summit Business Analyst World in Orlando and I have some exciting news for you. This was day one, April 27th of the conference and I just had the time of my life. So I wanted to make sure I gave you a preview or not a preview, but just an update of which sessions I

• 0:58Speaker 00

  attended, what we got out of them and kind of give you some cool updates. So this is a summary of day one of my journey. So here we go. So the first thing that we went to was our keynote session. It was called Puppies and Chickens and Diapers Oh My: Making Life Better by Using AI. And this was put together by Phil Barth. Now Phil and I have been friends for some time. Phil is a phenomenal presenter. He's a great keynote speaker and he has actually been on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the game show, and he's written a couple of books. Absolutely just a fantastic human being. And his session talks about from puppies to rubber chickens to one forgettable diaper story. Phil Barth takes you on a hilarious heartfelt journey through the chaos of life and how AI can help you tame it. You'll laugh, learn and discover how technology

• 1:43Speaker 00

  and empathy together can make both work and life run a little more smooth and cleaner. What I can tell you is this session was absolutely amazing. We had rubber chickens, we had fun, there was a lot of dancing and cheering and clapping and games. It was absolutely amazing. Phil just really hit a home run. It was a great way to kick off the session. Extremely high energy and Phil just always knocks it out of the park. He did a fantastic job. So that was our morning keynote and let me tell you, it was absolutely brilliant, absolutely worth it. For the next session in the morning, I had trouble choosing. We had some good, some really good sessions that we could choose from. I did wind up going to one for my dear friend Leslie Hughes. It's called Stop Collecting Contacts and Start Creating Connections.

• 2:27Speaker 00

  Powerful networking secrets that don't feel cringey. And let me tell you, I have heard Leslie speak a few times before, but today she was on fire. It might have been one of the best presentations I've seen her give. She was, she was just really doing well. And it, it talks a lot about networking and it starts off with it's not just about collecting contacts and business cards. It's about building authentic visibility before you need it. And she was talking about the importance of building your reputation on social media before you are out of a job or before you need to lean on other people. So I just thought it was so, it was so cool the way she did it. And she showed some practical scripts and some exercises that you can do to help you really build your network and grow your network in a meaningful way.

• 3:10Speaker 00

  Not in a way that was, uh, you know, just sketchy. She, she made sure that everyone understood that if you use this the way that she anticipated, that you're just going to have an absolutely amazing time. Okay. The next session before lunch happened to be, uh, building intelligent ecosystems, tech leadership for conversation or for conservation impact. And this was by Mandy Irish, and let me tell you, Mandy's just absolutely amazing anyway. But what hap- what happens when agile design thinking and, uh, in framework, what happens when, let's try this again. What happens when the same delivery frameworks used in boardrooms are pro- for project management and business analysis are applied in environments where failure means more than just missing deadlines?

• 3:56Speaker 00

  I thought that was pretty cool. She talked about, uh, you know, her experiences across technology, product strategy and wildlife conservation to explore how modern tech leadership can and must extend beyond traditional enterprise settings and into the field of sciences. Let me tell you something. Mandy is always a pleasure. She's an absolute dear and her session was top notch. It was absolutely 100% incredible. She did a fantastic job with it and it was a great way to take us into our lunch break. So in the morning we had three really powerful sessions. We had a keynote, we had a couple of powerful sessions and then we hit after lunch. Now, after lunch was a little bit of a speed bump, but overall, it was still a very, very

• 4:38Speaker 00

  good session. So I wanted to go and visit Hans and Vince when they did their session. But I wound up going with a friend to a session from Christie Smith on leading across the divide. How senior PMs drive cross-functional influence and strategic alignment? And I felt like this session was hyper-focused, if that's a good word for it. It was for a very specific target audience and it was good. It was a great presentation. It just felt like it was very driven towards specific senior management approach. And not that that's a bad thing. It just, I was hoping it would be a little more open. Overall, she did a fantastic job. She got you through the materials and taught you some things.

• 5:22Speaker 00

  But I was just hoping it would have a little more broader appeal. But overall, I think there were a lot of people in the audience who got a lot of benefit from it. So once again, another great session. And then finally, we had the 2:30 to 3:30 session. And this one was the one where we really had trouble choosing. So Jennifer gave her talk on it's a user story, it's a requirement, no, it's super BA. Be a superhero managing requirements. Mayday, mayday, co-pilot is, my co-pilot is co-pilot. What smart PMs do in co-pilot is not the option from Phil Barth. And then your ultimate team building playbook with Eric Coats. You couldn't go wrong with any of those three. Those are all good presenters and I'm sure they all did a fantastic job. In this case, I saw Jennifer's room getting full, so I went and hung with Phil.

• 6:08Speaker 00

  And what I can tell you is it was interesting because I learned some things that I could add to my arsenal of what co-pilot can't do. So absolutely amazing. Once again, a great session. And I'll have access to a lot of these sessions, so I'll share a little more detail with you about each one later. But this one talks about project managers are often told to use AI when being limited to a single security-approved tool, co-pilot. Meanwhile, the cool kids are doing amazing things with Law, Gemini and ChatGPT. So what's a poor PM to do? I think you can see where this is going. It was absolutely a fantastic session and I expect nothing less from Phil. Phil's just always, always, always on point. And let me tell you about the highlight of the day. Now. I have seen Jeff Harry present before, but he was the closing keynote.

• 6:51Speaker 00

  And when I say the energy, oh my goodness, the energy was phenomenal. It was fantastic. He did one called Ted Lasso Leadership. Now, confession, I'm not a huge Ted Lasso fan. In fact, I don't think I've ever watched the show, but after this session, he made me want to watch the show. He talked about how 85% of employees are disengaged at work and staff leave because they don't feel seen, heard, or appreciated. Who knew the answer to this could all lie in a TV show called Ted Lasso? And he had us do some super interactive exercises, at least five or six, super interactive exercises. And there were a lot of people were like, oh, what a way to end the day. But let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised by his energy.

• 7:33Speaker 00

  I was pleasantly surprised by his presentation and I was super surprised by the content. Out of all the presentations of the day, quite honestly, I think Jeff nailed the content better than anyone. It was, it was true to form. It met exactly what was expected and really yielded some fantastic, fantastic takeaways. I think everyone there had a good time and it was just one of the best sessions of the entire conference so far. Tomorrow morning, we get to hear from Tyler Norman. That'll be exciting. He's picking up the keynote. And then I have a session tomorrow from 10 to 11 called Waggle Exploring Hybrid Project Management Methodologies, which is going to be wildly popular from what I understand. And then I have another session later in the afternoon, which is even more incredible. I ended up picking up a second session.

• 8:18Speaker 00

  This one is beyond delivery, how project leaders create value that actually lasts. Both of these are going to be brand spanking new sessions for me. So you'll have to come check it out and see exactly what we can do to make these really hit home for future engagements. I'm so excited about these. And then finally on Wednesday, I have my workshop, but I'll give you a full summary of the one track that I do attend. That, or I guess two tracks that I attend that are my own. And I'll also give you an update on the keynotes for the opening and closing tomorrow. But this will be a good opportunity for me to kind of get you up to speed, tell you what's going on at the conference. And I really energize you. So this is going to be my review of Monday at the conference. And what I can tell you is they do a fantastic. Fantastic job putting on this conference. My compliments to Amy Riddell and the whole team.

• 9:01Speaker 00

  Who gets together and puts this on. There's a lot of exciting things happening. And I wish you all could be here. Well, that's going to do it for today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you have a topic you want us to discuss, learn more at agiledad.com. We would love to hear from you. And as always, we encourage you to stay healthy, stay well, and stay agile, my friends. Until next time, do take care. Bye now.