GeCCo 2015 – GROWING INTEREST IN VIRTUAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Global eCollaboration Competition (GeCCo 2015) event organized by IPMA Young Crew broke the record of participants and active virtual teams.

Virtual project management is an area of PM which most young project managers want to develop in. This career aspiration has been proved in the last GeCCo edition (GeCCo 2015) that took place on November 7th and 8th, when the record number of young project managers and PM students participated -> 96 participants from 18 IPMA YC countries.

This year new IPMA YC countries entered the competition and this were Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Serbia. Virtual collaboration during competition really came to focus when taking into consideration that participants ranged from distant Russia on the east, across European countries and Nigeria, to Chile and Peru on the far west. The world is really becoming a global village. Through usage of social media platforms, East and West are getting closer.

How social media is important in online collaboration and in breaking-down cultural differences, shows the fact that GeCCo Facebook page fan number has increased by 45 (+9%) during the competition and GeCCo Youtube channel had 516 views of the keynote speakers and other live event videos.

During 24-hour online collaboration event and award ceremony the keynote speakers, distinguished PM professional, shared with all interested their experience on how to work in virtual environment and shape your team in order to become more effective, which tools to use to succeed in achieving this goal and ensure sustainability. The best performing team by the decision of the international Jury Committee was awarded with free IPMA Level D certification, while 2^nd and 3^rd winning teams could choose the PM literature from the assortment of Gower Publishing Company Ltd – the award partner of the GeCCo 2015.

Blab has been used as virtual socializing platform for both formal activities, such as Q&A and experience-sharing session, and the informal ones – midnight toast and after-party. Will this meeting-point tool initiate more networking opportunities for young PM professionals and enthusiasts than LinkedIn, professional network, used to? What are the web platforms that are getting obsolete and how can international associations use this information in order to get closer to them in knowledge and experience sharing? The concept of each platform here mentioned is different and serves different purposes, but it is worth exploring which one can serve as the appropriate and more efficient communication channel for international associations targeting specific interest groups.

GeCCo 2015 not only showed positive trend towards virtual project management that promises bright future for the whole discipline, but also opened the door in the insights of the modern-day project management shaped by multiculturalism and virtual collaboration.

Vlatka Večerin

Marketing  Manager of GeCCo 2015 IPMA Young Crew