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Although sometimes it seems that projects take on a life of their own, the simple fact is that projects don’t manage themselves. It takes the energy and commitment of a number of people to take a project from the initial idea through inception. As more companies embrace the concept of self-directed work-teams that work on specific projects, project management, will become a more vital element of the workplace. The following checklist will help you create a successful project management office:

- Formulate and outline the project
- Break up the project into manageable tasks
- Keep the project on target and complete it on time

Getting Started
The best way to guarantee a project’s success is to start with a strong foundation. Among the questions you should ask when putting together a project kick start:

- Is this something we have done before? If so, what did we learn from the last project?
- Do we have the time and resources to do this project effectively?
- How many people will we need? What sort of expertise should they have?
- Will we need to use outside sources?
- Does top management support the project?
- How long will the project take?
- Once you’ve put together a workable project plan, you need to put an action plan together so:
- Decide how many people will be assigned to the project. Assign people on the basis of their experience and expertise.

Make sure you have a commitment from upper management regarding adequate resources (funding, staff, time, etc.). Make sure, too, that you know exactly what upper management expects in the way of a given project. Communicate your interpretation of their instructions to your supervisors, and make sure you clear up any questions or confusion before the project begins.

Set up a communication network to ensure that everyone is talking with one another; don’t allow people to work in a vacuum.

Create a schedule with specific dates by which different elements of the project will be completed. Build-in a few days to allow for unforeseen problems.

Assign someone the task of keeping records of ongoing progress during the project. This information should be shared with everyone who is working on the project.

If no one from your division has ever worked on this sort of project, consult with people from other departments, or even from other companies (when possible) to get an idea about what to expect.

The Course of the Project
Once the project is under way, there’s a strong tendency to put it on automatic pilot. This makes it harder to fend off potential difficulties, and it cuts off any creative ideas that could enhance the project. Here are some ways to keep things moving effectively through the project’s duration:

Hold regular meetings. These don’t have to be formal three-hour progress sessions – but they should give project members the opportunity to share ideas, voice concerns and ask questions of one another. Some of these meetings should include brainstorming sessions, which promote free flow of creative ideas.

Keep written records of meetings. These make people take the sessions more seriously, and they give anyone who’s unable to attend a point of reference from which to work.

Have individual workers provide you with progress reports. These should not be one-sided conversations. Share your ideas, and offer to address the individuals’ concerns and answer questions as well.

Make sure deadlines are being met. Make it clear that anyone who anticipates missing a deadline should let you know ASAP; this way, you can adjust schedules, or provide people with additional support staff or other resources.

Keep track of what is being spent on the project. Individuals should provide you with information on how much they spend. Let them know how much money they have to work with so they don’t go over budget.

If you’re working with outside contractors or people from other departments, make sure you keep them posted on the progress of the project. You should invite them to at least some of the meetings and brainstorming sessions, and be sure to solicit their opinions.

Solicit the opinions of people in the company who aren’t involved with the project. Sometimes a fresh perspective can provide the best ideas.

Keep upper management apprised of the progress you’re making. This way, you can be alerted to any potential red flags (no manager likes surprises).

The Difference Between Success and Failure
A key factor in the success of the team is its leader. The qualities of a successful project leader include:

- Conscientiousness
- Technical and organizational knowledge
- Honestly/trustworthiness
- Consistency/predictability
- Resourcefulness

When the Project Is Completed

As the project draws to a close, it’s important to remember that a completed project is not a project that is over. Here are some guidelines for dealing with the project’s completion:

Just before the project is complete, meet with the project team as a whole (and one-on-one) to make sure all the loose ends are tied before the project is submitted. Make sure everyone is given credit for contributions.

Remember you don’t have to have a glitzy presentation with video and fancy hand-outs – but your presentation should be professional. Make sure you provide neat, complete copies of your work to upper management, and make certain your presentation is well-planned and professional. A typed copy sent to the supervisor in an interoffice envelope is not enough.

Be sure to give proper recognition to team members when you present the completed project to upper management. It’s important to recognize workers in front of their peers, but they deserve recognition “upstairs” as well.

After the project is over and handed in, gather everyone who worked on it and conduct a postmortem: What were the best aspects of the project? The worst? What mistakes were made, and how can you learn from them? Did you budget, enough time and resources? Too much? Not enough? Do you need more of less outside help for the next project? Who has demonstrated expertise that had previously been ignored? How can the entire process be streamlined? Include your outside contractors and consultants in the postmortem and be sure to get their insights.

Canadian Management Centre has earned the reputation as a trusted partner in worldwide professional development and management education.

http://www.cmctraining.org/projectmanagement.asp

Goals: A goal is a pre-determined result. Something you intend to achieve over the long term.

Priorities: A priority is a ranking. 1-2-3 and A-B-C, etc. of your daily tasks so the tasks related to your most important goals become your top priorities.

Our goals provide our direction. Until we have established our goals much of our activity is pointless. Without goals, we have no reason to organize, ourselves and our time because we are not going anywhere in particular. It then makes no difference how long anything takes. Every activity is of equal value.

But once we have identified our goals, we are able to judge the effectiveness of or time choices. Did our choices make real progress toward our goals, or were they distractions?

Goals and time are your keys to success. You achieve success as defined in your goals, through the medium of time. Nothing approaches the motivating power of setting demanding goals and then systematically measuring progress toward achieving them.

If you do not manage your time, you will never achieve your goals. But if you do not have goals, you do not need time, because you are not going anywhere. Top goal achievers are always top time managers.

Goals.Goal setting is a common denominator of effective individuals and organizations. Weekly goal setting will help ensure that you devote time to your first things, your important things.

Weekly goals contribute to the achievement of your personal mission. To help you identify your weekly goals, ask yourself: What is the most important thing I could do in each role this week to have the greatest positive impact?

Weekly goals are not typical to dos or daily action items, but represent activities such as relationship building, planning, preparation, personal development, and personal renewal. They are important, but not necessarily urgent.

Goethe is quoted as saying: Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least!

Characteristics of Effective Goals. Effective goals share the following seven characteristics:

I. Owned by those affected
Goals which are defined by those who are effective are much more likely to be carried out with enthusiasm and commitment. People have a better understanding of a goal when they have participated in its development. They are also far more motivated to carry it out.

When people in organizations together develop goals consistent with their mutual success, they have taken the first step toward highly effective time management. They have created a standard for evaluating whether or not their is activities make sense in whether or not their use of time makes sense.

II. Demanding
Goals that are not demanding are barely goals at all. Nothing is more motivating than setting demanding goals that reflect your values and then figuring out how to achieve them systematically.

III. Achievable
Goals must be feasible enough for you to achieve them. If you set goals that are so unrealistic you have no hope of attaining them, you set yourself up for frustration and failure. However, if you have an impossible dream that you really want, do not abandon it. Break it up into smaller, more realistic, attainable goals and begin achieving them, one at a time.

IV. Measurable

Your goals must be measurable so you can judge your progress so you know when you have succeeded. Measuring progress is also an excellent motivator and enables you to correct your course when necessary.

V. Given Deadlines
Goals need deadlines. Otherwise, they will be shifted aside to whatever seems pressing at the moment.

VI. Written
Goals should be written so they are not be forgotten. One person said Out of sight, out of mind. Another reminded us that The palest ink is better than the best memory.

VII. Flexible
Goals must be flexible enough to accommodate changing conditions.

Pj Germain

http://foundation.mybiz-successu.com/

http://powerbox.mybiz-successu.com/

http://onlinedegree.portal-resources.com/

The IRS recently threw down the gauntlet and placed pressure on private companies to get their valuations right at no matter what stage of development they are. The Service has backed up this gesture by exposing private companies to substantial tax liabilities and penalties if they do not.

Since the enactment of Section 409(A), non-public companies have struggled with how they should establish that the exercise price of a stock option or a stock appreciation right (SAR) was determined reasonably to be fair market value. Up to this point, most private companies did not worry about valuing their stock very often, if at all. Private company valuations were needed usually for an imminent transaction, for an ESOP, or for estate and gift tax purposes. One could also throw in serious IPO candidates who obtain a valuation to avoid a “cheap stock” issue with the SEC.

Many private companies do not qualify for any of these scenarios; therefore they have not needed valuations in the past. As a result, companies and management that issue stock options could be somewhat unenthusiastic about this development. However, although a valuation in this situation can appear fairly cumbersome and superfluous, it’s not all bad – just ask auditors.

Auditors have expressed a desire for this to be done for years. They are cognizant of this development because valuing stock options is a financial reporting issue under FAS 123 and they want to know how a private company established the strike price of its options. There is some liability risk attributed to auditors when they sign off on this standard, and a professional valuation provides them with a level of reasonableness and reassurance that they desire. Considering this, there is a potential for tax and financial reporting synergy here.

With a good valuation report on hand, both issues could be satisfied simultaneously – two birds with one stone if you will. First, let’s examine the code and regulations driving this change.

Say Hello to the Culprits: IRC Section 409A requires private companies which award stock options that have exercise prices below fair market value to withhold income taxes on these grants. Significant penalties on non-complying option grants have placed private or closely held companies under increased pressure to be able to support and defend the fair market value determinations.

FASB 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation, provides alternative methods of transition for a voluntary change to the fair value method of accounting for stock-based employee compensation. FASB 15X (Working Draft – issued October 21, 2005), Fair Value Measurements, established a framework for measuring fair value under a wide variety of accounting pronouncements that require fair value measurements.

In developing FASB 15X, the Financial Accounting Standards Board considered the need for increased consistency and comparability in estimates of fair value and enhanced disclosures about the estimates.

In most cases, when company management determines value and option pricing using an informal, internally generated valuation, the tax burden will be on the company to prove to the IRS that the fair market value of the equity is reasonable. In light of the recent regulatory changes announced over the past year, many private companies are proactively adopting one of the “presumptive” stock valuation methods set forth in the proposed regulations.

Procuring a qualified independent appraisal will cause the burden of proof to shift to the IRS and may only be rebutted by the IRS if the application of the method is found to be grossly unreasonable.

Neil Lemons represents Dallas-based Erickson Partners, LLC, http://www.ericksonpartnersllc.com, who have provided independent, accurate, defensible opinions, business valuations & appraisals for over 30 years.

We realize that with a title like that, you’re probably reading this article for salacious tidbits, perhaps about some celebrity or another behaving scandalously in public. In reality, it’s not quite what you think. Exhibitionism is also the art and science of getting the most out of your display at an exhibition or convention and while conventions can involve celebrities, most of the scandal comes from how poorly most exhibitors misuse their resources in an exhibit hall.

First, if you’re planning to attend a trade show or exhibit as a vendor, think back to the last few experiences you had as a consumer walking the show. You likely saw traffic patterns that moved in clumps around popular booths and saw a number of booths and displays, most of which you ignored.

Most of the logistics behind being a vendor at an exhibition is handled by the event management company if you’re thinking about hosting an exhibition by your firm or for your industry, seriously look into having professionals do it they can get venues at cheaper rates, talent, entertainment and, often, catering at discount rates because they book these facilities more often or buy in bulk, which always reduces their price. Plus, it will take less of your time chasing down the forty-one clipboards of checklists, making sure everything is done in the right order. These folks are pros for a reason and they’re worth every penny in terms of your sanity and time.

Now, as a vendor at an exhibition, your job is two fold: The first is getting people to stop by your booth and the second is getting them to stay there long enough to get information about your products and services. If your exhibition allows direct sales to consumers, you’ll want to arrange for a point of sale system.

Getting people to stop by your booth means you need to stand out from the crowd, without being annoying. Most convention halls have terrible acoustics. Having a large, looping audio visual display usually adds to the noise pollution, gets ignored by most attendees going by and will drive your booth staff barking mad before the first day is over. Plus, if it’s truly loud, you’ll offend your neighbors at the hall and might have trouble getting a good placement in next year’s show. Better ways are pop up displays and having someone knowledgeable about the product with good interpersonal skills smile and greet people as they wander by. When doing the meet and greet routine, have something funny to say, if possible, and be amiable, accepting that most people will smile back, take your flyer and shove it into their bag to look at later. Convention goers are usually scouting the hall’s early in the show.

Getting the most out of your display space means you need to know who your audience is there are roll up and pop up displays that serve as excellent backdrops for products and make good visual sight lines for customers walking the floor to see them. There are spring tension displays that are meant to stand out near the aisle to get someone’s attention. If your show has small children attending, be aware that their eye height is lower than an adult’s and put something they’ll want to see at their level, so they can drag their parents to your booth.

For a lower key display, you’ll also want to look at racks for storing merchandise or literature for customers to take with them. Most of these display stands are modular, letting you grow them as your exhibition presence changes over the years.

Before you go to a convention, draw out on graph paper what your booth layout will be like. Set it up in your garage with some tables and look at it critically ask yourself if it’s conveying the most information in the clearest fashion and have someone who isn’t associated with your company look it over as well.

Converting an interested party into a buyer requires reading body language for cues that you’ve bored them. Not everyone can be excited about each product, tailor what you’re saying to the person sitting in front of you and focus on how this product or service meets their needs. In fact, ask them up front what sorts of products or services they need, either for themselves or for their retail establishment and use that to your advantage in what you tell them about your products.

With a bit of practice, you can make a person sitting at your booth to rest their feet do the bulk of the thinking needed to sell them a product or service.

At http://www.odysseyexhibitions.co.uk we offer exhibition modular panels, hanging banners, shell scheme graphics, pop-up stands or a showroom with exterior signage is right first time, on time and within the exhibit budget.

There are a growing number of companies who are now paying more keen attention in creating and maintaining a strong corporate brand. They are decidedly taking a leaf out of the experts books, from big conglomerates that have valiantly stayed at the top position through the year amid the stiff competition ensued by other key players in the industry. In the marketing world, the newest ingredient for success is by developing a brand platform, which is said to be the ultimate springboard for every branding decision.

The companys brand platform is basically the very essence of what the product brands stand for. It is a strategically an innovative approach to corporate branding based on a set of statements that will encompass the identity of your company, what it is all about, its products and services, and its mission and goals. Although there are varying approaches to formulating a branding platform depending on the type of business, it vitally has these common elements:

Mission

The primary effective approach to corporate branding is to be able to come up with a set of driving philosophy of your business. It should be succinct and clear in expressing the companys purpose, the products features and benefits, your target market and the advantages that would back you up in view of the tough competition. Make sure that your mission statement will be brief but written in a very compelling way.

Identity Attributes

These are the list of the core attributes of your brand, the key words or phrases that you want your clients to associate with your company, products or services you offer. These features should stand out from the rest of the competitors and should resonate the specific preferences of your target market. A great example of this is the word safety, which most consumers would readily associate with FedEx. The company basically owns the word.

Value Proposition

Another efficient approach to corporate branding is by coming up with a set of your companys competitive advantages over and above other adversaries in the industry. The value proposition will mainly inform your consumers of the main benefits if they choose you product brand from the rest of other competing brands.

Brand Story

It is important to be able to record the humble history of the organization, and chronicle the grueling way on how you were able to survive in the industry through the years. This unconventional approach to corporate branding will help you build a powerful reputation, backed up with valuable years of experience. Everybody loves a good story, and your companys public relations will certainly benefit by sharing your own unique success story.

You have spent a great deal of your resources time, energy and money to develop your business offerings and ensure quality and customer satisfaction. There is growth in your business and to further this growth, your brand needs to be strong and sound. You need a unified branding strategy that will include all your business operations, communications and dealings. This is where corporate banding consulting firms can help.

T J Madigan has been established in online business since 1998 and is director of a number of successful online projects one of which is http://www.articles.net.au your best source for FREE and private label articles.