I am certain you have attended countless conferences, seminars and presentations. They take up chunks of your precious time. Whether you do so of your own volition or are directed to attend, what is the outcome? What happens when you get back to your office?

I just finished a very long day delivering 4 of my presentations to a company in Hawaii. My voice is toast, but it was well worth it. It was one of the rare opportunities I have to provide more than one of my presentations in a single visit. Most companies look at my abstracts and allocate time for one, or two at the most. They have to choose between "Understanding the Power and Promise of IT Governance," or "Ensuring Enterprise Success with PPM" (my favorite of governance processes), or my "Critical Components of a PMO presentations. On the rarest of occasions they choose the less sexy but monumentally important "Successful Process Management" or "Meaningful Metrics" presentations. And I have recently added a Cloud Computing presentation and business case for PPM presentation which makes their selection even more difficult.

This company chose the ITG, PPM, PMO and Process presentations. It required them to commit an entire day but it would impart a great soup-to-nuts overview for the people chartered with project and program success in their Enterprise. During my PPM presentation, the SVP leading the EPMO stopped me and asked my permission to interrupt the proceedings. I had just covered a slide called the "P's in PPM." The purpose of the slide is to show the relationship between project, program, and portfolio management and to warn audiences of the varying definitions and the potential problems inconsistent interpretations could cause in an organization. I then urge them to adopt and institutionalize definitions based on their own specific business-driven objectives for each.

The SVP wanted me to pause so she could ask the folks in attendance to determine if they indeed had differing views of the terms. I replied I would gladly take a break and I was delighted the slide inspired her query. After about 10 minutes of conversation, those in attendance realized that in fact there were problematic differences of opinions and dissimilar perceptions in the group. The SVP established an action item to use the slide as a basis for continuing the discussion with other members of the organization. She then apologized to me for the interruption.

I profusely insisted her apology was completely unnecessary and I reiterated my joy that the content of my presentation instigated the dialogue. I then shared a story with the group about a CIO who brought me in to deliver my IT Governance presentation to the Business Leadership team at his company. He stopped me after almost every slide so he could share his perspectives with the group and invite their comments. I would talk, he would talk, they would talk - I would talk, he would talk, they would talk. It was great!

During our final break, before I was to conclude the day with my Process presentation, the same SVP shared some thoughts with me. She revealed her hopefulness that her colleagues in attendance would continue the conversations after I was gone. She said it would be a waste if they merely collected their PDUs and did nothing more.

In an instant I could feel myself go from dismay, to frustration to incredulity and I was lucky to hide each emotion. In another instant I composed myself and calmly responded that I would be very disheartened if that was the case. I explained that the one and only purpose of any of my presentations was to provoke people. I told her I wanted to rouse interest, to incite conversation, and to spur action.

Many folks mistakenly characterize what I do as "education." I don't think of myself as an educator. I'm not saying people don't learn anything when they listen to me, but how much can you "teach" someone in a single PowerPoint-driven session?, I would want a semester to teach IT Governance, or PPM, or Process Management. But I don't have the luxury of months, or weeks or days with my audiences. I have to work with the few minutes they grudgingly supply from their hectic schedules.

So what could I possibly do in such a short period of time? I'm optimistic. I believe I can get them started on their IT Governance journey. I believe I can point them in the right direction to master PPM. I believe I can get them to open their eyes to the potential value of a PMO. I believe I can get them to appreciate the essential need to establish process management competency. I also believe I can do these things without them necessarily agreeing with everything I present and I tell them as much.

Every company I visit has had fits and starts and failures with IT Governance, PPM, and PMOs. Every company I visit is all over the map when it comes to these essential business processes, and process management seldom even shows up on the map. There is incredible value in simply getting them on the same page. It may not be the right page, but it will be the same page. In most cases, it replaces a blank sheet of paper. I want my presentations to enable them to start from the same point of reference, take the baton, and run with it.

I want to stimulate my audience.  I want to inspire my audience. I want to enflame my audience. I want to provoke my audience into action. But I will only be successful if they are willing and able to take the next steps. They have to reflect on what I share. They have to read the references I recommend. They have to think and make decisions.

The prospect that some folks might attend my presentation simply to earn PDUs is devastating to me. I said as much to the SVP of the EPMO and I wanted to say it again in my blog. If you ever decide to attend one of my presentations for the sole purpose of earning some PDUs, or getting out of the office for a few hours, or receiving a nice meal, you'll soon find I expect far more from you. And you should expect far more from me.

The only reason we should ever attend a conference, a seminar or a mere presentation is because we expect it to provoke some future action. We can't just talk about it. We have to do something. I suggest anything less is a waste of our precious and irreplaceable time.

Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist