• 9:30 - 9:45 - David Mantica and Lara Hill - Welcome

• 9:45 - 10:15 - Loyd Thompson: "Creating PowerPoint Presentations with Generative AI"

Creating PowerPoint presentations using AI is not as simple as it sounds. Despite the hype, there’s much more to it than clicking a button. Generative AI tools require a solid understanding of strategy, design principles, and content flow—things you can’t afford to overlook. I’ve been there, and I’ll show you how to navigate these complexities. In this presentation, I’ll dispel the myths that AI makes everything easy and guide you step-by-step through the process of creating presentations that reflect your personal style and standards. Learn the tips, tricks, and potential pitfalls that come with using AI, so you can craft compelling, professional slides without stumbling through trial and error. By the end, you’ll be equipped with the know-how to create AI-powered PowerPoint presentations that follow your own rules, all while saving yourself the frustration I experienced along the way. Don’t miss out—leverage my hours of experience for faster success!

• 10:45 - 10:50 - BREAK / NETWORKING / OPEN FORUM

• 11:20 - 12:05 - George Churchwell: "Beyond the Hype: Navigating the Realities of Enterprise AI Adoption"
   
  Artificial Intelligence is often heralded as the game-changer for modern enterprises, but is it as intelligent as the hype suggests? Can you afford AI? What are the “Real Costs”?, What can AI do for your Business? Don’t deploy AI where it will fail, How to identify the winning solutions.  This talk will cut through the noise to reveal AI’s true nature as a powerful automation tool that requires thoughtful customization and management. Attendees will gain insights into why AI, including Large Language Models (LLMs) like CoPilot, isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. We’ll explore the challenges of broad-scale AI implementation, from the pitfalls of mass license rollouts to the critical need for employee experimentation. Learn how to tailor AI systems to your enterprise's unique needs, and understand why failing forward with AI requires a strategic approach to truly benefit from its generative potential. Don’t miss this opportunity to separate hype from reality and chart a successful course for AI adoption in your organization.

• 12:05 - 12:25 - Lunch Break

• 12:25 - 1:15 - Chris Knotts: "Applied Generative AI for Project Management"
   
  During this session, Chris Knotts takes a pragmatic look at the impact of generative AI on project management - both on the profession as a whole, and on how PMs do their daily work. Gartner has said that by 2030, AI is projected to automate up to 80% of traditional project management tasks. While Chris doesn't exactly agree with this, big impacts are indeed happening, and project managers must stay ahead of them to stay relevant. 
   
  Chris will explore how cognitive automation can be mapped throughout the project management lifecycle, from data collection to reporting and analysis. Attendees will gain insights into practical applications through live demos, including sentiment analysis, image generation, and workflow integration. The session also addresses the strategic implementation of private Large Language Models (LLMs) to comply with corporate policies while leveraging AI capabilities securely. Whether you are new to AI or looking to deepen your existing knowledge, this presentation will equip you with the understanding and tools to lead in the AI-enhanced project management landscape.

• 1:15 - 1:55 - Marc Balcer: "Inverting TDD - AI-Generated Tests as Specifications"
   
  TDD—Test-Driven Development (and its related methods BDD and ATDD) have been fundamental to software engineering for years. This talk proposes an innovative twist: use generative AI to invert the TDD process, employing AI-generated test cases to create and refine specifications.
   
  We examine how generative AI tools can create initial test cases from broad problem concepts. These AI-generated tests, after human expert review and refinement, become a powerful mechanism for clarifying and detailing specifications. This approach enables a novel reverse approach, using tests to uncover nuances and edge cases often missed in conventional specification methods.
   
  The presentation covers:
  1. Theoretical underpinnings of this inverted TDD approach
  2. Implementation strategies for AI-generated test cases in specification development
  3. Real-world applications across diverse industries
  4. Comparative analysis: traditional problem-solving vs. AI-enhanced methods
  5. Challenges and ethical considerations in adopting this methodology
  Attendees will gain insights into a novel problem-solving strategy that combines TDD's rigor with AI's creative potential. This method promises to improve the precision and thoroughness of specifications, potentially transforming approaches to complex challenges in software development and beyond.

• 1:55 - 2:00 - BREAK / NETWORKING / OPEN FORUM
• 2:00 - 2:45 - Om Hashmi: "Bridging Innovation and Execution: The Technical Program Manager's Role in Gen AI Projects"

• 2:45 - 3:15 - Jonathan Stephens: "Low code, no-code, AI...oh my! Product management in an evolving software development lifecycle"
   
  This beginner-friendly talk explores the evolving landscape of product management through low-code, no-code, and AI technologies. The presentation covers key concepts, popular tools, and how these approaches intersect with Generative AI. It examines the impact on the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), discussing how these technologies are making development more accessible and efficient.

• 3:15 - 3:30 - BREAK / NETWORKING / OPEN FORUM

• 3:30 - 4:00: TBD: More details coming soon!

• 4:00 - 4:50 Michael Schank: "Unleashing Digital Twins to Power Operational Excellence"
   
  Digital Twins are a powerful tool in driving operational excellence by leveraging AI-driven, real-time insights and simulations of business processes. A Digital Twin is a virtual model of the real-world environment, which, when combined with an AI-backed engine, can analyze multiple signals within your business to ensure consistent execution, optimal performance, and efficiency. While this solution has been primarily deployed in physical environments like manufacturing, for it to thrive in non-physical environments—such as financial services and back-office functions—a comprehensive model is required to connect the dots, uncover inefficiencies, redundancies, and hidden challenges. A robust Process Inventory is the key to building this model. In this talk, I will explain how process becomes the 'ground truth' for constructing Digital Twins, ultimately powering excellence across key operational measures like efficiency, customer experience, and regulatory compliance.

• 4:50 - 5:00 - Q and A with David Mantica and Lara Hill