12 September 2013 | Panel Discussion event
Negotiation for Project Leaders: Knowing when to hold 'em, fold 'em, walk away and run
SPMI organized a panel discussion event “Negotiation for Project Leaders: Knowing when to hold 'em, fold 'em, walk away and run” on 12th Sep, 2013 at SMU. The panel comprised of leading industry experts Balaji Bhakthavatchalam, Paul Southern and Regina Chua - and the room was packed with more than 70 enthusiastic and knowledge-hungry SPMI members and other professionals. The event started with a short exercise for the participants where they discussed among themselves on some of the key negotiation challenges in their everyday work and personal lives. Then the panellist shared their experiences and insights on the topic with the help of short presentations.
Balaji presented his views on various skills required for negotiations, negotiating skills as an art and as science and practical negotiation strategies according to information sharing and trust between the parties.
Paul shared his 10“Tipservations” (plus 3 bonus tips) with the participants. Paul’s tips covered wide range of ideas from developing right skills, picking right timings to finding the right people while negotiating.
Regina presented her LOUDEST formula for successful negotiations. She illustrated the various elements in her formula with very practical and effective examples.
Finally there was a lively Q&A session where participants seek panellists’ views on the negotiation related challenges and development areas. Most of the questions were related to situations where project managers require resources and/or support from other key project stakeholders. It was a highly energetic atmosphere where all benefited from active participation and the open exchange of views between the panellists and the participants. In their short closing views, the panellist shared few vital and practical tips on negotiations in the project environments. At the end of the event, the panellist presented the luck draw prizes to the three successful participants.
The post-event feedback from the participant was overwhelmingly positive where most appreciated the topic selection, the panellists and the quality of the knowledge shared.
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Date: 12 September 2013, Thursday Time: 7pm to 9pm, Registration and Buffet Dinner (Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Halal) starts from 6.30pm Location: SMU | 60 Stamford Road | School of Accountancy | Level 2 | Seminar Room 2.2 SPMI Members: SGD 40.00 PDU: 2 |
About the Panelists
Balaji Bhakthavatchalam
Client Services Director
CSC Computer Sciences Corporation
Balaji is currently the Client Services Director for CSC Computer Sciences Corporation. He possesses around 23 years of IT industry experience, in various leading organisations such as ITC Information Systems and CSC Computer Sciences Corporation. Of the total experience 20 years in CSC based in Singapore on a regional role deputed to Malaysia, Thailand, India to setup the delivery practice.
His experience spans over Business Development Support, P&L Responsibility for a geography, Responsible for utilization , Project/ Program Management, Services Management, Customer services, Service Level Management, IT budgeting. Instrumental in PMO office set-up for project delivery in South Asia giving sales support, Team building in South Asia, offshore team setup and management in India for Asia, Account management of IT projects which includes development of relationships and program management of various projects across geographies. He played a major role in selling professional services and building the consultancy business for CSC in South Asia.
He holds a Masters in Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology and completed a Executive Leadership Diploma from Cornell University.
Paul Southern
Paul Southern has over 25 years' experience in sales, development, professional services and general management in IT, telco, media in large MNCs and startups in mature and emerging markets on 6 continents. His current startups include cloud-based enterprise appstores, CDN (content delivery networks) and immersive digital experiences. Southern has managed projects and programs for many years and in both traditional and agile and he has led or teamed in contract negotiations for heads of terms, performance bonds, consultancy, lead integrator, constituent supplier, outsourcer and offshorer.
Regina Chua
Managing Consultant
DD Consulting (Singapore)
Regina Chua is the managing consultant of DD Consulting (Singapore). Established since 2003, DDC has been recognized in the local daily, The Straits Times, as the top player in the niche training consulting services in 2009.
At the age of 29, Regina became the youngest regional director to join the Asia Pacific senior management team with Schlumberger in Beijing. Managing commercialization of new innovation in North and South Asia, her teams creatively leverage the lifestyle media in North Asia to launch new mobile innovations in 1999. And such creativity let to the launch of world's first mobile solutions in the world, such as mobile banking and gaming in Hong Kong. Her ability to work closely with partners also saw shared successes in India with the Mumbai Stock Exchange and the Philippines Stock Exchange during their tenure at Verisign.
Today, the consultancy DDC (www.ddynamics.net) is an established business transformation consultant with an impressive list of global brands include Philips, Bosch, Siemens, Samsung, SMC, Alliance Insurance, AIG, Singapore National Printers ( Excel, Guangzhou), Singapore Telecommunications and Singapore Technologies Electronics as well as government sector clients like the Economic Development Board, Workforce Development Authority, Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore Tourism Board and the Building and Construction Authority.