Project management conferences help you stay up to speed with the latest trends, learn new skills, and rekindle the passion for your work, all while networking with peers and, why not, having a bit of fun. For all these reasons, you might be thinking it’s worth investing the time to attend such events in 2020, but how do you choose the right ones?

To help you decide, we've put together a list of top 2020 PM conferences to have on your radar. You'll find them split into two major categories (North America and International), each accompanied by a visual timeline, so you can see them all at a glance and plan your time more easily.

Read our full post below or jump straight to the section you're interested in:

A) North America conferences	B) International conferences

So let's find out more about these events.

A) Project Management conferences in 2020 – North America

ProjectSummit Business Analyst World

Where and when: Orlando, FL, US, Apr 6 – Apr 9 | Washington, DC, US, May 4 – May 6 | Toronto, ON, Canada, May 25 – May 28 | Boston, MA, US, to be announced | Vancouver, BC, Canada, to be announced | Chicago, IL, US, to be announced
Why: ProjectSummit Business Analyst World is the largest series of training conferences for BAs and PMs in North America. The conference is accredited by PMI & IIMA and promises to arm you with new tools and techniques that can be instantly applied in the workplace.

Change Management Conference

Where and when: Anaheim, CA, US, May 3 - May 6
Why: Organized by the Association of Change Management Professional, this 3-day conference is recommended for any PM or Change Management practitioner seeking to discover innovative tools and learn about the latest trends in the industry. This year's opening keynote speaker will be bestselling author Jacob Morgan.

UMD Project Management Symposium

Where and when: College Park, MD, US, May 7 – May 8
Why: The annual UMD Project Management Symposium brings together scholars and PM practitioners to discuss the latest industry trends and technological and organizational achievements. Join them for the opportunity to learn from the best, sharpen your skills, and engage with like-minded people. Attendees can also earn up to 12 PDUs.

Global Scrum Gathering

Where and when: New York City, NY, US, May 11 – May 13
Why: Meet agile-minded people from all over the world and attend presentations, case studies, and hands-on sessions led by industry experts. Hosted by the Scrum Alliance, the 3-day conference provides tailored beginner, intermediate and advanced education tracks, as well as plenty of opportunities for networking.

Agile & Beyond

Where and when: Detroit, MI, US, May 19 – May 21
Why: Agile & Beyond is a volunteer-run event that's growing in popularity even beyond the project management community. With a large panel of speakers and topics, the conference will provide useful insights whether you're a PM, product owner, developer or executive.

Resource Planning Summit

Where and when: St. Louis, MO, US, Jun 1 – Jun 3
Why: The Resource Planning Summit seeks to promote best practices in resource management, capacity planning and demand management across various industries and business. Boasting an impressive speaker lineup (e.g. the 2019 edition had David Hayter from the X-Men franchise) and timeless insights and topics, the summit is not just about learning – it also offers fun special events such as live concerts and backstage tours.

Project Management in Practice (PMiP)

Where and when: Boston, MA, US, Jun 25 – Jun 26
Why: Organized by Boston University, the 2020 PMiP conference focuses on a more holistic, long-term view of projects and covers a wide range of topics aimed at academic and business professionals alike. Attending Project Management in Practice can earn you up to 16 PDUs.

Agile 2020

Where and when: Orlando, FL, US, Jul 20 – Jul 24
Why: The Agile2020 conference promises to push Agile knowledge deeper, discussing innovative ways to enhance business efficiency and make teams more sustainable. Join the conference to meet nearly 300 speakers from a variety of fields and connect with participants from over 40 countries.

PMI Global Conference

Where and when: Seattle, WA, US, Oct 17 – Oct 19
Why: The PMI Global Conference is one of the largest project management gatherings of the year and a must for the vast majority or PM professionals. It is seen as the ultimate event for learning, building your credentials, and networking.

Digital PM Summit

Where and when: Orlando, FL, US, Oct 18 – Oct 20
Why: The Digital PM Summit aims to provide project managers with insights on team engagement, project development, budgeting and more. The conference takes a hands-on learning approach, mixing lightning talks with programming workshops, interactive sessions, and breakouts, so you can immediately put information to practice and gain a deeper understanding of the topics discussed.

PMO Symposium

Where and when: Orlando, FL, US, Nov 8 – Nov 11
Why: Organized by the PMI, the PMO Symposium is a great venue for PMO leaders and professionals who wish to sharpen their skills, build connections and get practical advice from their peers. The 4-day event gives you access to executive-level networking, workshops, interactive knowledge hubs, as well as traditional educational sessions.

B) Project Management conferences in 2020 – International

SPMI Regional Symposium (PMI Singapore Regional Symposium)

Where and when: Singapore, Feb 20 – Feb 21
Why: The SPMI Regional Symposium is Asia's most prestigious annual project management conference, bringing together over 600 professionals, scholars and industry experts. The 2020 edition focuses on Adaptive Mindset Leadership and will address topics such as innovative trends in project and program management, design thinking, management competences, new technology, and more.

Passion for Projects Congress

Where and when: Malmö, Sweden, Mar 9 – Mar 10
Why: Organized by the PMI Sweden chapter, the Passion for Projects Congress is Scandinavia’s largest gathering of project management professionals and thought leaders. With 25 seminars and 4 keynotes, the 2020 congress will cover topics like creating value through sustainable projects and strengthening teams to become more receptive to change and innovation.

APM Programme Management SIG Conference

Where and when: Birmingham, UK, Mar 12
Why: Titled “The Art and Science of Programme Management”, the 2020 PgM SIG Conference aims to promote thought leadership and share real-life experiences and best practices in program and project delivery. The sessions will focus on topics such as collaborative behaviors, stakeholder engagement, and managing the realization of benefits.

Deliver Conference

Where and when: Manchester, UK, Mar 13
Why: Join two days of workshops, talks, case studies and discussions promising to offer refreshing perspectives on project and product delivery. Connect with peers from the tech community and learn new skills and techniques for managing projects, products, people and relationships.

APM Power of Projects

Where and when: Edinburgh, UK, Mar 17 | London, UK, May 21 | Manchester, UK, Jun 24
Why: APM’s brand-new conference series, Power of Projects, aims to shed light on how PM professionals can deliver value in today’s constantly-fluctuating business world. The series aims to help you work smarter, adapt, and perform in a changing environment. Themes include investing in yourself, delivering project success, pride in projects, future thinkers, and more.

PM Welt

Where and when: München, Germany, Apr 21
Why: Organized by Projekt Magazin, PM Welt is the largest gathering of the German-speaking project management community. The 2020 will focus on collaboration as a main theme and promises a day filled with interesting lectures, exhibitions, discussions and workshops, all aiming to provide the framework, tools and inspiration to master the challenges of everyday project life.

New Trends in Project Management

Where and when: Gdansk, Poland, Apr 27 – Apr 28
Why: Held by the PMI Gdansk Branch, the New Trends in Project Management conference provides 2-days’ worth of lectures and workshops that will discuss the latest innovations and related to project management across various industries. Learn how to minimize risks in teams, face the challenges associated with large projects, and manage limited resources and uncertain conditions. On top of all these insights, you can also gain PDU points for attending.

PMI Australia Conference (PMIAC)

Where and when: to be announced
Why: Held for the first time in 2013, PMIAC is now Australia’s leading project management conference and showcases the latest ideas and breakthroughs in the PM world. Gain insights from scholars, industry leaders and influencers on areas that impact the project management profession and the ever-changing business landscape.

PMO 2020 Conference

Where and when: London, UK, Jun 2 – Jun 3
Why: Focused on project, program and portfolio offices, the PMO Conference provides a full program of PMO speakers, a dedicated exhibition, and opportunities to network. Join over 600 professionals, learn about new techniques, explore unique ideas, and discover the latest PMO research.

PMI EMEA Congress

Where and when: Czechia, Prague, Jun 14 – Jun 16
Why: The PMI EMEA Congress attracts hundreds of project, program and portfolio managers from over 70 countries to reinforce industry skills, predict future trends and discuss innovative ideas. Join the conference for the opportunity to gain the knowledge and connections needed to stay competitive in your industry.

PMI Africa Conference

Where and when: Lagos, Nigeria, Sep 6 – Sep 8
Why: Meet experts, influencers and practitioners from multinational organization to share experiences, enhance your skill set, and get real-world insights into today's evolving business and project challenges. The 2020 PMI Africa Conference is expected to attract more than 300 delegates from around the globe including PMs, entrepreneurs, scholars, politicians, industry experts and humanitarians – great opportunity to broaden your network!

IPMA Research Conference

Where and when: Berlin, Germany, Sep 10 – Sep 11
Why: Held by the IPMA together with the German Project Management Association, the 2020 Research Conference aims to bring together scholars, researchers and practitioners from the PM community to discuss ideas on the topic of self-organizing and work autonomy in projects. Learn about the practical applications of self-organization and discover the latest research achievements that will shape the future of Project Management.

32^nd IPMA World Congress

Where and when: St. Petersburg, Russia, Sep 22 – Sep 24
Why: The IPMA World Congress is an international event expected to bring together over 900 participants from more than 70 countries. The 2020 edition will feature 140 speakers approaching varied topics around the general theme "Project Leadership in the Digital Age." Discover methods, tools, and techniques relevant for modern organizations and discuss new challenges and approaches to project management and leadership in the age of digitalization.

APM Women in Project Management (WiPM)

Where and when: London, UK, to be announced
Why: The APM WiPM Conference features the potential and contributions of women in the world of project management. Attend sessions and talks that explore matters of equality and diversity, while approaching staple topics such as trends, methodologies, soft skills and tools relevant for project managers and leaders.

FuturePMO

Where and when: London, UK, Oct 1
Why: Organized by Wellingstone Project Management, FuturePMO is one of UK's most successful dedicated PMO conferences, promising to unveil technical innovations and groundbreaking advances for the PMO sector. Designed to be informative and fun, the event aims to empower you with tools and techniques tailored to the challenges you face every day in your work.

AIPM 2020 National Conference

Where and when: Gold Coast, Australia, Nov 22- Nov 24
Why: The AIPM National Conference may well be Australia's largest event dedicated to project management professionals. The 2020 edition (the 42nd one!) will feature over 70 local and international speakers and is expected to attract over 600 attendees. Join them to share and gain knowledge on topics that drive the leadership of projects, while connecting with peers and decision-makers across industries.

In conclusion

2020 certainly has a lot in store for you in terms of project management education and networking opportunities. With so many noteworthy PM events all around the globe, we hope our list will prove useful in helping you choose. As we find out more details and new event dates are announced, we'll do our best to update the list and the two complementary timelines.

The Project Management Conferences 2020 timelines were created with the Office Timeline Pro PowerPoint add-in and are free to copy, edit and share. Download them as editable PowerPoint slides – and use them to plan ahead your year.

When it comes to accomplishing your tasks with precision within a given deadline (regardless of the scope and complexity of your project), nothing helps better than a Gantt chart.

What is a Gantt chart and why is it important?

Created by Henry Gantt in the early 1900s, the Gantt chart is a type of visual that illustrates a project schedule and gives an overall view of what needs to be done. Providing a macro perspective of all the aspects of a project, a Gantt chart helps you plan, manage and execute all the important underlying activities.

What is a Gantt chart?

• A horizontal bar chart illustrating a timeline of a project;
• A visual representation of scheduled tasks that helps you to plan, coordinate and track specific activities in a project. As these tasks get completed, the team can get an overview of what work needs to get done, who’s doing it and when.

What should a Gantt chart include?

• Tasks and milestones – different types of work which should be done to reach the goal;
• Start and end date for each task;
• Task dependencies - the connection between different deliverables;
• Task duration and status – showing progress and completion percentage;
• Assigned resources.

Why use a Gantt chart?

Not limited to project management only, a Gantt chart proves useful in any situation where there’s a coordinated effort of any kind, as it outlines the starting point, progress, and intended destination.

Purposes of a Gantt chart

• In any working area that requires project management and scheduling tasks & resources, it’s used for visualizing a project plan (what work will happen, when and in what order);
• To organize complex projects and guide teams throughout the process, showing them each step in advance and giving a common direction;
• To coordinate multiple team members that work on different parts of a project at the same time and give them perspective of what’s going on;
• To estimate timelines and workloads so resources are allocated, and due dates scheduled accordingly;
• To set deadlines more accurately and take better decisions if something unexpected comes up and interferes with the initial schedule.

Benefits of a Gantt chart

• Visually representing the breakdown of tasks in a project, it makes scheduling, planning and execution easier – integral part of project management and planning;
• It gives a better understanding of how tasks are connected and thus ensures an optimal workflow;
• Provides an easy way to communicate the project schedule to the entire team, keeping everyone on the same page;
• It monitors progress and helps managers redistribute tasks to keep a balanced workload;
• Laying out the overall timeline of the project, it gives perspective and a more understandable method to maintain deliverables.

Originally written by hand, Gantt charts were expected to be as accurate as possible since every change would have required for the graphic to be redrawn from scratch. This limited their usefulness in an ever-changing area that project management is. Consequently, more and more Gantt chart apps have been developed to help PM professionals easily update their project schedules whenever requirements change.

What are the best Gantt chart creators for you?

There are plenty of Gantt chart apps on the market that are worth exploring. Ready to find the right fit for your needs? Here’s our top 10 Gantt chart maker list that we’ve put together so you can make an informed decision:

How to choose the best Gantt chart generator

Below you will find an elaborate review of each of these Gantt chart tools which have been ranked based on the following criteria:

1. User Interface (UI): Does it offer intuitive navigation and well-designed displays?
2. Usability: Is the tool easy to learn? Does the company offer good technical support and training materials?
3. Integrations: Does the software offer any pre-built integrations or connect with other tools?
4. Value for money: Is the price appropriate for its capabilities?
5. Features and functionalities: how many of the essential time management chart functions does it offer? Among the key features you should look for:
• Collaboration & Sharing: ability to assign tasks to team members, set roles and share & export to popular formats like .png, .xls, and PDF.
• Drag & Drop: easily arrange tasks and adjust their size (extend or shorten), as well as add attributes by simply clicking and dragging.
• Notifications & Alerts: receive notifications about upcoming tasks, edits and mentions, along with at-risk items so you can effectively reprioritize activities accordingly.
• Auto-scheduling: also known as dependency tracking, this functionality allows the automatic adjustment and recalculation of all downstream activities based on their dependencies when previous tasks undergo changes.

Your ultimate Gantt chart software list

1. MindView

A dynamic Gantt chart maker that is available as a desktop tool for both Mac and Windows OS, as well as a cloud-based app; it includes modules for project timelines, project reporting and work breakdown structures.

• Allows the gradual and easy creation of Gantt charts in a few steps: in the mind map view, you add schedule information that will be automatically turned into an overall sketch of your project plan; to refine and customize the plan, you switch to the built-in Gantt view where you can allocate resources and manage scope changes;
• Its capabilities range from simple features such as dependencies and baselines to advanced management functions like project calendars, effort drive tasks and resources/rates, as well as project reporting, all of which can enhance collaboration for portfolio management;
• Adopting the latest Microsoft Office interface and providing built-in video tutorials, the software is familiar and easy to learn and use;
• Imports and exports to the entire MS Office Suite (Excel, MS Project, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook); other formats you can export your Gantt charts to include PDF, HTML, XML and picture;
• A MindView license for a single user starts at $379, but users benefit from a fully functional 30-day free trial and free webinars to get started.

UI: 10/10
Usability: 10/10
Integrations: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Features & Capabilities: 10/10
Overall Score: 10/10

2. Office Timeline

With a web-based version (Office Timeline Online) and a desktop add-in (Office Timeline; compatible with Windows OS), it is the only project management tool that allows users to build native PowerPoint Gantt chart and timeline slides.

• Seamlessly built-in into PowerPoint, the on-premise add-in is familiar and simple to use, enabling you to make presentation-ready Gantt charts, project timelines and roadmaps right inside the popular slide-maker platform; with the online app, you get the simplicity of the web to quickly make and share your Gantt charts as PowerPoint slides from anywhere;
• Its intuitive drag & drop interface and smart layout engine help you automatically turn complex project data into simple visuals that can be updated and styled on the fly; a rich gallery of pre-designed templates to choose from and the ability to import files get you set up faster;
• Easy data management and customization through a diverse range of task and milestone functionalities (shapes, colors, date formats, duration, status indicators, percentage complete, grouping on the same row or in swimlanes);
• Integrates with MS Project, Excel, Wrike and Smartsheet, and lets you export your visuals as PowerPoint slides (.pptx format), image (.png format) or .xls files (Excel format);
• The web tool features a Share & Collaboration function which enables multi-party editing of the same visual without having to register for an account;
• Boasts a continuous state of development with regular product updates and addition of new features (task dependencies announced for future releases);
• Both versions offer a fully-functional freemium model (the desktop add-in’s free users being limited to 10 rows of data; the online app’s free users having their visuals watermarked if the limit of 10 items is exceeded); the OTO paid plan costs $59/year, while the OTL add-in comes in two flavors (14-day free trial available for each): the Office Timeline Plus edition for $59/year and the Office Timeline Pro edition for $99/year (here is a comprehensive comparison between the two).

UI: 10/10
Usability: 10/10
Integrations: 10/10
Value for money: 9/10
Features & Capabilities: 9/10
Overall Score: 9.6/10

3. Celoxis

Used by global brands like Adobe, The World Bank, HBO and Tesla, it is an enterprise-class web-based project management tool that is suitable for managing dynamic projects with clear Gantt charts.

• Packs a variety of functionalities ranging from dashboards, project requests and financials to resource management, collaboration, workflow and reporting functions;
• Its interactive interface mimics the Microsoft Project model, enabling seamless sync and adoption of the latter’s overall organizational framework;
• Supports features such as drag & drop, inter-project dependencies, multiple tasks and subtasks which can be customized by colors, critical path and baselining, assigning multiple resources per task, as well as manual and automatic scheduling;
• Allows export to PDF, HTML and .png formats;
• Direct integration with MS Project, Excel, Salesforce, Google Drive, QuickBooks, Outlook and Zapier to ensure extensive interoperability with many other different apps;
• Users can enjoy a ‘preview’ of the software with its 30-day free trial; the cloud full version costs $25/user/month, whereas the on-premise version comes at $450/user but it is billed only once.

UI: 10/10
Usability: 9/10
Integrations: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Features & Capabilities: 10/10
Overall Score: 9.4/10

4. Backlog

A web-based project management tool specialized for developers and the teams they work with.

• Provides a variety of collaboration features such as milestone and task management (with subtasks, custom fields and checklists), Gantt and burn down charts, wikis and file management; collaboration on the-go is possible via their mobile app on both iOS and Android;
• Also includes a bug tracker and version control system;
• Allows collaboration on code through SVN and Git repositories, a differences viewer, pull and merge requests, as well as inline comments;
• Enables quick project assessment through Git, Gantt and burn down charts;
• Ensures transparency and accountability across teams with functions that let you assign, track and release work;
• It integrates with Nulab’s apps and provides import functions from Redmine and Jira;
• Suitable for a range of team sizes, Backlog comes in 4 flavors (Free plan - for up to 10 users but with feature limitations; Starter - $35/month for up to 30 users; Standard - $100/month for unlimited users on 100 projects and 30 GB of storage; Premium - $175/month – for unlimited users and projects and 100 GB of storage).

UI: 10/10
Usability: 10/10
Integrations: 8/10
Value for money: 9/10
Features & Capabilities: 8/10
Overall Score: 9/10

5. Gantter

A rich Gantt chart-based online PM tool available in the Google Chrome web store; designed to ensure a smooth Google Drive Editor-like experience for project management, it combines the functionalities you get in MS Project with the advantages of the cloud.

• Suitable for project scheduling and planning, risk management, data visualization and baselining, the tool comes with a menu in 23 languages;
• Some of its most attractive and useful features include task tracking and hierarchical linking; cost/workload tracking, risk tracking and management, along with automatic work breakdown structure;
• Multi-party editing in real time and Google Hangout integration allow advanced collaboration across teams;
• It comes with an innovative AI Recommendation Engine that automatically suggests tasks, resources and risks for your project, based on data taken from other projects similar to yours; users can also benefit from community-contributed project templates that they can use and share;
• Provides built-in analytics and reporting that yields real-time analysis on costs, risks and resources;
• Integrating with Google, Gantter allows single sign-on, storing files on Google Drive, and bi-directional task synching between its schedules and your Google calendar; it also lets you view and save Microsoft Project (.mpp) files and integrates with Smartapp.com for planning infrastructure projects;
• With a 30-day trial available, Gantter charges $5/month per user, which is a very good price for such a fully-featured product.

UI: 9/10
Usability: 9/10
Integrations: 7.5/10
Value for money: 10/10
Features & Capabilities: 9/10
Overall Score: 8.9/10

6. ProjectManager.com

An award-winning software used by big names such as NASA and Volvo, ProjectManager.com offers cloud-based interactive solutions to plan, schedule and update in real time.

• Comes with a varied series of Gantt chart features ranging from creation, task assignment and progress tracking to reporting, timesheet, expenses and workload management;
• Collaboration is enabled through in-app communication features (e.g. comments on tasks);
• Flexible interface that lets you easily switch between views – from Gantt chart to task list or Kanban board view;
• Its real-time dashboard gives an overview of current project status and allows you to create and customize reports across multiple projects from their pre-set templates or from scratch;
• It natively integrates with GoogleApps (Drive, Gmail, Calendar), Microsoft Project and Microsoft Office and through Zapier with other tools.
• Offers a 30-day free trial (although a credit card is still required to sign up); and the pricing for the paid version starts at $15/user/month (with a minimum of 5 users required for their basic Personal plan).

UI: 9/10
Usability: 9/10
Integrations: 9/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Features & Capabilities: 8.8/10
Overall Score: 10/10

7. GanttPRO

An interactive cloud-based Gantt chart software that is a household name for PMs in companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Sony.

• With a wide range of Gantt chart-specific features such as chart building, task management (with subtasks and milestones) and integrated dependencies, progress tracking, ready-made Gantt chart templates categorized by industries and collaboration functions (tagging, assigning and cloud storage for multi-party access), GanttPRO is quite well-suited for related needs;
• On the other hand, it is quite bare in its integration offerings, integrating only with Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel, which is a major disadvantage;
• Supporting team training sessions, project role settings for members and real-time notifications, it is a great pick for team work;
• Allows customizable export to PNG, PDF and XL format;
• Offers a 14-day free trial and the full license costs from $15/user/month, but onboarding 5+ users will land you a discount on the monthly subscription price.

UI: 10/10
Usability: 10/10
Integrations: 6/10
Value for money: 8.5/10
Features & Capabilities: 9.5/10
Overall Score: 8.7/10

8. MindGenius

Available as on-premise software for both Mac and Windows OS, as well as an online app, MindGenius provides diverse visual mapping tools that give you several ways to structure your project data depending on your needs/preferences.

• Boasts a solid range of Gantt chart-related functions such as the ability to assign resources, dependencies and durations to your Gantt chart, review progress and revise your schedule in a flexible way; there is a Snapshot feature to graphically highlight exactly when and where the execution differs from the project plan;
• Its simplicity and intuitiveness makes it a good choice for small or tech-adverse teams;
• Features a gallery of ready-made templates and guides you can use to get started more easily;
• Integrates with Outlook, MS Project, One Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, MS Visio and MS Office;
• Users of the mobile application will encounter limitations when trying to export their Gantt charts, and the software in general is designed to handle small to medium-sized projects rather than overly complex ones (it doesn’t provide any budgeting or expense-related features);
• They offer a 14-day free trial and the paid version starts from $16/month.

UI: 9/10
Usability: 10/10
Integrations: 8.5/10
Value for money: 9/10
Features & Capabilities: 7/10
Overall Score: 8.7/10

9. Monday.com

An online work management platform with calendars, timelines, Gantt charts, Kanban boards and other project management tools to enable efficient project planning and resource tracking.

• Lets you see overviews of your project timeline, upcoming deadlines and progress of different tasks;
• Its intuitive and appealing UX coupled with its user-friendly design makes it a great choice for people who are new to digital project planning tools or tech-phobic;
• Integrates with Dropbox, Excel, Google Calendar, Slack, Trello;
• Could use minor improvements in terms of scheduling recurring tasks (currently you need an outside integration to do so), as well as having a general chat board with the ability to assign comments to specific team members;
• Has a free 2-week trial and 4 paid plans: Basic, Standard, Pro and Enterprise; the price for the paid version starts at $17/month for two users and goes up to $2,399.

UI: 9/10
Usability: 10/10
Integrations: 6/10
Value for money: 10/10
Features & Capabilities: 8/10
Overall Score: 8.6/10

10. Microsoft Project Online

Delivered through Office 365, it uses familiar interface and ensures an intuitive way of visualizing various aspects of your projects.

• Offering plenty of pre-designed Gantt chart templates and familiar scheduling functionalities like selecting items for phase indicators, setting start and end dates and adding RAG risk status for easy prioritization, the tool makes it easy to launch and navigate assignments;
• Integrates with the entire MS Office suite, OneNote, Skype and OneDrive, but the fact that it doesn’t expand into non-MS services is the reason for the lower score in our integrations evaluation criteria;
• Changing schedule dates is not very seamless and the project file cannot be accessed by multiple users at the same time, which makes the tool more geared towards large-scale projects rather than smaller workflows;
• A 30-day free trial is available; and the paid suite of features starts at $7/user/month.

UI: 8/10
Usability: 8/10
Integrations: 5/10
Value for money: 8/10
Features & Capabilities: 9/10
Overall Score: 7.6/10

Conclusion

Picking the ideal Gantt chart maker for you primarily relies on how any given software meets your requirements. We hope that the options outlined in this article will help you narrow down your choices more easily.

The Best Gantt Chart Creator Overview

Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year for all generations of our family to come together in celebration and share the things we’re grateful for. Boomers, millennials or gen-Z, we all put their differences aside for a brief, shining moment to pass the gravy of kindness and carve the turkey of tolerance.

Naturally, the catalyst here is the lovely Thanksgiving dinner we’re gathered around. So, how can you make sure everything runs smoother than the 15-year-old brandy you're waiting to share with your uncle in the study, later that evening?

We all know how stressful the planning of this event can get and how important it is that every little detail is absolutely perfect, from the roasted turkey right down to the heirloom silverware. As such, let us come to your aid with two Thanksgiving preparation timelines. We guarantee that your guests will get up from the dinner table feeling like a stuffed turkey and will have ‘pumpkin’ to talk about for months! Feast mode, activate!

Start early to get a (turkey) leg up on the competition!

Last-minute Thanksgiving preparations will leave you spread thinner than the pumpkin pie dough. Don’t wait until the stores are jam-packed with revelers battling over the last frozen turkey. There’s plenty you can do ahead of time, and you’ll be glad you checked them off the list down the road. Have a look at this Thanksgiving preparation timeline and start planning like a pro:

The ‘baste’ day of the year!

Come Thanksgiving morning, you’re probably scrambling to get everything ready in the most efficient manner possible. The trick here is to make the best use of what would normally be downtime, waiting for your dishes to bake or roast. While the key to a successful Thanksgiving dinner is the tur-key, there’s no reason to gobble aimlessly while it’s in the oven. Check out our Thanksgiving dinner timeline and don’t be afraid to delegate some responsibilities, so you can be there for the traditional snapping of the wishbone instead of still slaving away over the hot stove!

The Thanksgiving preparation timelines were created using Office Timeline, a simple yet powerful project management solution that allows you to generate attractive visual representations of data within minutes.

Give the free version a try here or check out the Pro version, which comes with additional features that are better suited for more complex roadmap applications. You can download the Thanksgiving preparation timelines as a PowerPoint file and you can even tailor a new schedule, based on your own favorite dishes! Happy Thanksgiving!

If you work in a business environment, you must have heard (or lived) quite a few office horror stories over the years. Whether it’s a typo that turned your email into a not-safe-for-work proposition, a computer crashing in the middle of a video conference, a false step while holding a full cup of hot coffee - we’ve all had our share of office blunders that keep us up all night shivering and staring wide-eyed into the dark while mumbling “oh… my… god…”.

What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, as the philosopher said. This Halloween we’ve decided to face our demons head-on, so we’ve created a spooky timeline template to help you startle your audience and give that otherwise boring project review meeting a quick scare.

The Halloween timeline template was built using the Office Timeline add-in for PowerPoint, the only timeline and Gantt chart maker that turns complicated project data into clear, simple graphics with just a few clicks. Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com. Party vector created by Freepik.

Download the Halloween PPT template and start making a presentation to die for!

Your turn now. What’s the scariest office horror story you’ve ever heard? Unearth it and share it in the comments.

Reporting in the business world has the primary role of keeping your stakeholders well informed about the ongoing operations. By tracking the critical key performance indicators (KPIs), you can evaluate the effectiveness of current strategies and take course-correcting decisions to mitigate the negative impact before it’s too late. But what if you don't have a centralized format for reporting project status? Read on to find out how a retail solutions provider solved this problem and drastically reduced the time spent in project review meetings.

Challenges of reporting in the absence of centralization

Reports come with several intrinsic problems that are in direct correlation with the size of the company and the complexity of the work. For instance, in non-centralized reporting environments, the organization relies heavily on a handful of star employees, rather than leveraging the full potential of the entire team; centralization lowers this dependency.

Being able to track and report the progress of an operation accelerates the integration of junior staff members within ongoing projects and makes optimal use of available resources. Other challenges that can be overcome by switching to a unified reporting model might include:

• Lack of understanding regarding the current project status
• Inconsistent interdepartmental communication
• Limited awareness about key performance metrics and their impact
• Very few means to accurately benchmark performance
• Inability to determine and reproduce the most effective solutions
• A lot of time spent collating and interpreting the data

Another caveat, according to a study made by EY Global, is that well over two-thirds of CFOs consider the growing volume of data collected nowadays has a negative effect on the relevancy of the insight obtained. In other words, being bombarded with a flood of unstructured information can, in fact, be counterproductive for decision making. As such, the requirement for a centralized reporting strategy is crucial to the success of your business.

Case study: how Aptos standardized their project reviews

To better understand the impact, let’s examine how report standardization helped Aptos, a company specialized in the development and integration of cloud-based solutions for the retail world. A quick look over their client list reveals major players from various industries, including but not limited to J.C. Penney’s, CVS and Bed Bath & Beyond, but also niche brands like Michael Kors, Movado and Tommy Bahama.

Peter Taylor, the Head of Global PMO for the company, was on the lookout for a centralized reporting tool, one that could build standardized Gantt chart-like reports in a consistent and easy to update format. His main concern was to eliminate from the equation reports that were clunky and difficult to read, by providing Project Managers with a one-size-fits-all solution.

The answer came from one of their project admins, who discovered Office Timeline, a PowerPoint add-in that creates professional-looking project visuals in seconds. Because it’s such a straightforward application, implementing it in her daily reporting process was a breeze. Soon, other employees in that branch started using it as well, and news reached the head office.

Rolling out Office Timeline as a standardized reporting solution was seamless, and it wasn’t long before the benefits became noticeable. In short, the company reported that project reviewing time was effectively sliced by half and the reporting procedures were simplified a great deal.

To put that into perspective, prior to integrating Office Timeline, there were four weekly calls (1.5 hours each) just for reviewing project progress with the PMs. After the implementation, everything is handled in just two meetings. The PMs are now free to put more time into working closely with the clients and developing better solutions to answer to their needs.

Read the full case study

5 tips & tricks to help you address your reporting challenges

Selecting a suitable reporting tool is just the first step towards optimizing the process of reporting, albeit a critical one. In order to really make the most of it, we’ve selected a couple of tips to help you get started:

1. Setting strategic goals

Diana Scharf-Hunt, the author of several best sellers on time management techniques, once noted that "Goals are dreams with a deadline", and deadlines are an excellent reminder to always keep the endgame in mind. Defining what a successfully-achieved objective looks like allows you to reverse engineer the KPIs and divide it into 3-4 subordinate goals, as well as splitting the tasks accordingly.

2. Selecting the correct KPIs to track (according to the audience)

Don’t put all your KPIs in one basket, conventional wisdom teaches us. To capture the attention of your viewers, a good place to start is to ask yourself who the audience is. For instance, a Marketing manager will be interested in a completely different set of data than the team leader of the Sales department. Filter the KPIs in your report accordingly and deliver each bit of information to the correct recipient.

3. Transforming data into a storyline

According to modern adult learning theories, the human mind can absorb data much easier when it is structured in the form of a linear story. Hard data featuring numbers and percentages must, therefore, be outlined in the context of a narrative. One way to achieve this is by creating timelines that display historical progress. Bonus: Place the KPIs on the roadmap and contrast them against past values to create trend predictions.

4. Creating clear and visually appealing graphical representations

Still on the subject of how our brain processes and interprets data, there’s a limit to how much information you can feed the audience before they feel overwhelmed. As a result, this translates into decision fatigue, the inability to make high-quality choices. In reporting, the rule of thumb should always be ‘’less is more”, especially in terms of selecting the KPIs to present. When you’re creating graphs, place the emphasis on an average of 3 major KPIs. If others must be included, make sure they don't share the same spotlight.

5. Shifting from paper to digital

Paperback reports may have been all the rage in the past, but the advent of technology allows us to move past the outdated model and towards the digital age. Significantly easier to compile and update, reporting software can help you create clear, simple, professional-looking charts and graphs. At the same time, some solutions integrate collaborative features. These allow other teams to offer their input, based on which management can reach accurate conclusions and take grade-A business decisions.

Conclusions

In the words of Henry Ford, "Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them". Improving the way reporting is conducted in your organization will have a major impact on how resources (time, funds, employees, etc.) are allocated and, in turn, productivity will grow. Centralized reports guarantee that all stakeholders have access to the information they need when they need it, and all business decisions are made based on real data.