On Thursday evening, the PMI Space Coast FL Chapter closed out the year in style at our Annual Awards Dinner Gala, held at the beautiful Nyami Nyami River Lodge at the Brevard Zoo. Members came dressed to impress in their holiday best, filling the room with color, energy, and great conversation. Dinner was delicious, and the cash bar featured a couple of festive holiday cocktails that kept the networking flowing all night long.

Our Chapter President, Allison Aluli-Imberman, shared exciting news during her remarks: this year, our chapter not only reached, but exceeded our goals to increase membership, improve retention, and strengthen partnerships across the Space Coast community. 🎯

 

 

We also took time to celebrate the standout contributors in our community. Our VP of Professional Development, Traci Hildreth,  announced this year’s award winners, recognizing the volunteers and leaders who went above and beyond to support our programs, our chapter, and the broader PM community. Congratulations to all who were recognized—you set the bar for excellence and service! 🏆

 

 

Our guest speaker, Katya Hughes, delivered an energetic and highly practical talk on recovering troubled projects. She walked us through how to recognize when a project is truly in trouble—when it’s significantly off-track on scope, schedule, budget, or quality—and what it really looks like to step into “recovery mode” as a project leader. Key takeaways included:

• The PM’s role in recovery is to restore confidence and morale, align the team, remove barriers quickly, and shield the doers from unnecessary noise so they can focus on delivery.
  
• Use the tools we already know—done well and without shortcuts: rapid assessment of scope/schedule/budget, realistic (re)baselining, and getting to true root cause with techniques like Gemba walks, 5 Whys, and fishbone diagrams instead of jumping to the “obvious” solution.
  
• Recovery succeeds when we create clarity and cadence: well-structured action logs, clear roles and responsibilities, and consistent communication with stakeholders to keep everyone aligned and accountable.
  

Katya left us with a powerful reminder: there’s no silver bullet for turning around a troubled project—but with disciplined fundamentals, clear communication, and the courage to reset expectations, you can absolutely bring a project back from the brink.

 

 

By the end of the night, we hope everyone walked away with a fresh insight to apply on their next project, a well-earned PDU, a full belly, and a fun goodie bag to remember the evening.

📸 Check out these moments from the event!

 

 

Thank you to our members, volunteers, leadership team, and guests for making this such a memorable night. Here’s to another year of learning, leading, and leveling up together with PMI Space Coast FL! 🌟