Coming out of the pandemic, who doesn’t need a little inspiration? PMI has the perfect tonic: the new Make Reality virtual hub—a celebration of inspiring changemakers and their big ideas. Mike DePrisco shares the stories of three project teams that are making a new reality in their worlds.

What inspires you? 

For many people—myself included—it’s stories about changemakers who have overcome great obstacles or accomplished important work. These stories can be about well-known figures (an Elon Musk or Greta Thunberg) or unheralded visionaries working quietly behind the scenes. But the heroes of these stories all have one thing in common: they’ve come up with an innovative idea in response to a critical need and have developed a plan of action—a project, if you will—to carry it out. 

Whether they are project professionals or not, these people are changemakers, and we at PMI are committed to helping them turn their big ideas into reality. To that end, we recently launched Make Reality, a virtual hub designed to inspire and support changemakers and to celebrate their efforts to make the world a better place—especially coming out of the pandemic. 

The hub contains inspiring stories of changemakers who are making a difference in the world. In some cases, their projects were developed rapidly in response to a crisis or disaster. In other cases, they are long-term solutions to critical societal needs. To me, however, they are all inspiring. Here are three of my favorites:

Habitat of Hope

The horrific wildfires that swept Australia a few years ago weren’t just confined to the mainland. They also ravaged Kangaroo Island, a wildlife wonderland southwest of Adelaide. More than a third of the island is nature reserves, home to an incredible array of native wildlife—from sea lions and koalas to penguins and kangaroos. 

The fires, triggered by lightning, spread through half the island, destroying natural habitats, farms and homes. Tens of thousands of animals were killed and many that remained were badly burned and in desperate need of help. 

An ad hoc relief coalition quickly assembled—led by local ecologists, the South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management, the Australian army’s Joint Task Force, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Zoos SA and local veterinarians. This group quickly assessed the damage, identified animals that needed help and marshalled the resources necessary to keep them alive. 

Thanks to this team’s quick action, Kangaroo Island is now on a path to recovery. More important, it is better prepared to meet future challenges, preserving the island’s rich wildlife heritage for future generations. 

Community Rebuilding in Ecuador

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Ecuador in 2016 was the deadliest natural disaster in the country since 1949. It killed at least 676 people, injured more than 16,000, displaced thousands more, including some of the country’s most vulnerable, and destroyed 90 percent of the region’s infrastructure.

Santiago Cartagena of the PMI Ecuador Chapter knew the project management community had to help. The chapter quickly teamed with a local NGO, OVCI, which supports women living with economic challenges and physical disabilities. Santiago and the chapter provided project management training to the organization and directly to the women in the region. That training dealt not just with technical project management skills, but also with the power skills—empathy, understanding, compassion and leadership—that proved critical amid such loss. 

To date, the chapter has trained more than 300 residents and helped rebuild or start 60 self-sustaining businesses.

Fashion for All

I may not be a fashion expert, but even I can appreciate the deft project management skills that transformed Shanghai Fashion Week into the world’s first online fashion experience in the cloud.  

Fashion weeks, of course, are the ultimate in-person experience. But due to the COVID outbreak—which hit just when Fashion Week was set to take place—the organizers of Shanghai Fashion Week had just days to convert the biggest event of their season into a livestream runway experience.  

Technologists, designers, models and program managers came together to plan every detail of the event. They leveraged new technology to engage attendees viewing from home and used an app to allow fashion enthusiasts to comment and ask questions. There were even 3D tours of virtual concept stores where attendees could make purchases. 

In the end, the Shanghai Fashion Week brought in more than 452 million yuan—or 70 million USD in sales—and set the pace for organizers of fashion shows in London, Milan and Paris. More important, the online show democratized fashion, opening the event to 11 million viewers, 600 times more than usually attend in-person.

To learn more about these stories and find support and inspiration from changemakers across the globe, visit the Make Reality virtual hub at PMI.org/MakeReality.

Coming out of the pandemic, who doesn’t need a little inspiration? PMI has the perfect tonic: the new Make Reality virtual hub—a celebration of inspiring changemakers and their big ideas. Mike DePrisco shares the stories of three project teams that are making a new reality in their worlds.

What inspires you? 

For many people—myself included—it’s stories about changemakers who have overcome great obstacles or accomplished important work. These stories can be about well-known figures (an Elon Musk or Greta Thunberg) or unheralded visionaries working quietly behind the scenes. But the heroes of these stories all have one thing in common: they’ve come up with an innovative idea in response to a critical need and have developed a plan of action—a project, if you will—to carry it out. 

Whether they are project professionals or not, these people are changemakers, and we at PMI are committed to helping them turn their big ideas into reality. To that end, we recently launched Make Reality, a virtual hub designed to inspire and support changemakers and to celebrate their efforts to make the world a better place—especially coming out of the pandemic. 

The hub contains inspiring stories of changemakers who are making a difference in the world. In some cases, their projects were developed rapidly in response to a crisis or disaster. In other cases, they are long-term solutions to critical societal needs. To me, however, they are all inspiring. Here are three of my favorites:

Habitat of Hope

The horrific wildfires that swept Australia a few years ago weren’t just confined to the mainland. They also ravaged Kangaroo Island, a wildlife wonderland southwest of Adelaide. More than a third of the island is nature reserves, home to an incredible array of native wildlife—from sea lions and koalas to penguins and kangaroos. 

The fires, triggered by lightning, spread through half the island, destroying natural habitats, farms and homes. Tens of thousands of animals were killed and many that remained were badly burned and in desperate need of help. 

An ad hoc relief coalition quickly assembled—led by local ecologists, the South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management, the Australian army’s Joint Task Force, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Zoos SA and local veterinarians. This group quickly assessed the damage, identified animals that needed help and marshalled the resources necessary to keep them alive. 

Thanks to this team’s quick action, Kangaroo Island is now on a path to recovery. More important, it is better prepared to meet future challenges, preserving the island’s rich wildlife heritage for future generations. 

Community Rebuilding in Ecuador

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Ecuador in 2016 was the deadliest natural disaster in the country since 1949. It killed at least 676 people, injured more than 16,000, displaced thousands more, including some of the country’s most vulnerable, and destroyed 90 percent of the region’s infrastructure.

Santiago Cartagena of the PMI Ecuador Chapter knew the project management community had to help. The chapter quickly teamed with a local NGO, OVCI, which supports women living with economic challenges and physical disabilities. Santiago and the chapter provided project management training to the organization and directly to the women in the region. That training dealt not just with technical project management skills, but also with the power skills—empathy, understanding, compassion and leadership—that proved critical amid such loss. 

To date, the chapter has trained more than 300 residents and helped rebuild or start 60 self-sustaining businesses.

Fashion for All

I may not be a fashion expert, but even I can appreciate the deft project management skills that transformed Shanghai Fashion Week into the world’s first online fashion experience in the cloud.  

Fashion weeks, of course, are the ultimate in-person experience. But due to the COVID outbreak—which hit just when Fashion Week was set to take place—the organizers of Shanghai Fashion Week had just days to convert the biggest event of their season into a livestream runway experience.  

Technologists, designers, models and program managers came together to plan every detail of the event. They leveraged new technology to engage attendees viewing from home and used an app to allow fashion enthusiasts to comment and ask questions. There were even 3D tours of virtual concept stores where attendees could make purchases. 

In the end, the Shanghai Fashion Week brought in more than 452 million yuan—or 70 million USD in sales—and set the pace for organizers of fashion shows in London, Milan and Paris. More important, the online show democratized fashion, opening the event to 11 million viewers, 600 times more than usually attend in-person.

To learn more about these stories and find support and inspiration from changemakers across the globe, visit the Make Reality virtual hub at PMI.org/MakeReality.