| As professionals, project managers know it is | | | | 4. Social Networking sites such as hubpages, squidoo, |
| important to network. It helps to keep up with the | | | | facebook, and many more |
| profession, to be aware of developments and new | | | | Social networking sites are places that people |
| opportunities, and to find chances for career growth. It | | | | congregate, and they tend to gravitate to those with |
| can also be very helpful to solve project management | | | | common interests. You can find and start your own |
| problems that other colleagues have already | | | | pages and groups. Go check these out and type in |
| encountered. In this era of social networking, here are | | | | keywords of interest and see what you find. |
| some top project management networks. | | | | 5. PMI chapters |
| All professionals know it is important to network. It | | | | These are an old standby, but still very effective. In my |
| helps to keep up with the profession, to be aware of | | | | experience, meetings are very well attended, and |
| developments and new opportunities, and chances for | | | | topics interesting and instructive. A benefit is that you |
| career growth. It can also be very helpful to solve | | | | can earn PDUs for attending, and that surely helps |
| problems that other colleagues have already | | | | keep attendance high. But there is nothing like meeting |
| encountered. So in this era of social networking, where | | | | local professionals in person, and giving it your full |
| can the best project management networks be | | | | presence and attention for a little while. |
| found? | | | | 6. Call groups |
| Here are some good places to start in finding | | | | Many groups have arisen the past few years that |
| like-minded professionals in the project management | | | | have periodic networking phone calls, combined with |
| field: | | | | an online presence. One such group is PM Lessons |
| 1. Project Management Meetup | | | | Learned. - |
| This is an interesting crossroads of online and | | | | 7. Gantthead |
| in-person. the idea is to start a local meetup online, and | | | | There are many sub-communities that have constant |
| organize a physical place to meet. The web site | | | | conversations on such topics related to project |
| provides a way for people to initially find one another, | | | | management in telecommunications, project portfolio |
| but primarily to facilitate face-to-face networking | | | | management, certification, tools, and much more. |
| among local professionals. The site gets lots of | | | | Average community size is in the hundreds. There are |
| interest. | | | | not only opportunities to network on common interests |
| 2. Google and Yahoo Groups | | | | and collaborate with others to solve some of your |
| There are many good and vibrant groups, but also | | | | problems, but also to build an online network by |
| many that are fairly inactive. Just go to Google or | | | | connecting with individuals, as with linked in below. |
| Yahoo, select groups, and type "project management". | | | | 8. Linked in |
| You will see plenty to choose from. Note that you will | | | | This has been around for a while, but seems to have |
| see many that are somewhat special interest within | | | | experienced a resurgence recently. While |
| the project management field, often based on location | | | | professionals have for some time been able to |
| or an organization such as a PMI chapter. The most | | | | connect and build a network online, the emergence of |
| popular groups are those supporting PMP exam prep, | | | | special interest groups, such as project management, |
| and many swear by the assistance they received on | | | | has facilitated broadening networks much faster than |
| these group sites working their way to PMP | | | | simply getting to know others through those who |
| certification. | | | | already know you. At this time, you cannot search for |
| 3. ITtoolbox | | | | groups, but can review the list of existing groups to |
| This is a vibrant community in the IT field, which is the | | | | see if any are of interest. |
| focus of the site. There is constant activity here on | | | | The interesting thing about all of this is that it is mostly |
| subjects such as PMP and CAPM certification and | | | | virtual! A few years ago, most PM networking would |
| earning PDUs. There are also interesting conversation | | | | surely be more oriented toward in-person events and |
| threads in areas such as program management, | | | | meetings. Today, however, the opportunity to develop |
| project portfolio management, business analysis | | | | strong and vibrant relationships across the web is a |
| certification, ITIL, project management career issues, | | | | very exciting and powerful development. |
| practical problems solving, soft skills, and more. | | | | |