HOTEL
Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown St. Paul
Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown St. Paul
Reservations Available (Group Rate): 5/5/26-5/7/26 Nights
Reservation Cut-Off: 4/14/26
Professional Development Days
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If you have any questions, please email info@msp.iiba.org.
Scroll down to see session descriptions (subject to change)
PRIVACY AGREEMENT
Note: By registering for this event you agree that we may collect your personal information to manage this registration and to keep a record of attendees and you consent to the use of your personal data for these purposes.
RECORDING PERMISSION
You also agree to have your photograph included in photos or videos of the event, unless you notify us otherwise, prior to the event at events@msp.iiba.org
EDUCATION DAY TRACK DESCRIPTIONS
MORNING:
The Strategic Playground: Building a Strategic Mindset
Speaker: Mary Rapaport
Description: In today's dynamic business landscape, strategic thinking has emerged as a crucial skill for leaders and teams to thrive. This thought-provoking presentation by Mary Rapaport, Chief Xceleration Officer, Strategist, and Strategy Coach at Xcelerate, will equip leaders with the tools and insights to create powerful development plans to build strategic thinking muscle within their organization.
Mary will guide you through the essence of a strategic mindset, exploring its significance and why it has become a critical aspect of modern business success. We will delve into the historical backdrop of the decline in strategic thinking, examining the economic, social, and other factors that have contributed to the de-prioritization of strategic thinking in the workplace.
Participants will learn practical and actionable approaches for developing the strategic capabilities of leaders and their teams. You will gain insights and ideas that can help you and your team build, think, and operate more strategically.
Mary will guide you through the essence of a strategic mindset, exploring its significance and why it has become a critical aspect of modern business success. We will delve into the historical backdrop of the decline in strategic thinking, examining the economic, social, and other factors that have contributed to the de-prioritization of strategic thinking in the workplace.
Participants will learn practical and actionable approaches for developing the strategic capabilities of leaders and their teams. You will gain insights and ideas that can help you and your team build, think, and operate more strategically.
Chameleons & Peacocks: How to Stand Out at Work
Speaker: Barb Monson
Description: Influence and opportunity require visibility, but being visible at work isn't about becoming louder or more polished. It's about knowing when to blend in, when to stand out, and how to communicate your unique value in both moments. This session addresses a common challenge for professionals whose work often goes unnoticed when everything runs smoothly: how to gain visibility without feeling "showy."
The audience walks away with a practical framework to create a workplace visibility strategy that leads to real influence and opportunity.
Learning objectives:
1. Learn when to blend in vs. when to stand out, and how to adapt each one to your style
2. Learn how to position yourself for opportunity based on your value
3. Learn how to navigate the connections that drive advancement
Thinking SMART™: Illuminating Strategic Thinking for Business Analysts
Speaker: Trent Leopold
Description: The human brain is made for strategic thinking; however current neuroscience research demonstrates that most of us (and as importantly our stakeholders) typically frequently and unintentionally significantly disengage the brain’s strategic thought processes. As a result, undesirable outcomes are often more prevalent than desired. Neuroscience research indicates that society worldwide is experiencing a brain health crisis resulting in a human experience that’s other than flourishing. This workshop equips attendees with proven tools and techniques for changing the brain and the narrative!
This workshop teaches practical, worthwhile brain-healthy interventions and strategies founded in current neuroscience research for thinking strategically, enhancing resilience and brain health leading to better process and project outcomes. Attendees will receive training in proven Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Tactics (SMART™) founded in neuroscience for intentionally engaging strategic thought. Among other things, this training is proven to enhance attention, innovation, and integrated reasoning.
Additionally, principles associated with the emerging field of Brainomics® are examined. Research results pertaining to this emerging field of Brainomics® indicate that the principles and techniques taught in this workshop are a “secret sauce” for organizational successes. The fun and educational workshop includes active interaction and participation, and at least one valuable giveaway in addition to the invaluable takeaways to equip every attendee with a variety of SMART™ techniques and tools for lighting the way to more desirable outcomes for everyone.
Embrace Your Power, Ditch the Drama, Thrive
Speaker: Felicia Joyner
Description: You weren’t born to blend in—you were built to lead. This session is your blueprint for career domination in a world where boldness and clarity win. Too many smart, talented professionals still play small, doubting their worth and shrinking in rooms they were born to lead. Get ready to ditch the drama, make boss moves, and thrive like the powerhouse you are.
Drawing from Felicia’s book Tekkie Visions: Crafting Your Future and years of real-world experience, this session will show you how to lead from where you are, no fancy title required. We’ll break down the power of strategic thinking, authentic relationships, and fearless negotiation. Because thriving at work isn’t about doing more, it’s about moving smarter. It’s about clear communication and boss-level decisions.
You’ll leave with a mindset shift and practical tools, including three bold strategies you can try immediately to boost your performance, elevate your projects, and own your space. If you’ve ever felt overlooked, undervalued, or tired of holding back, this is your wake-up call. Come ready to think big, speak up, and lead like a boss.
In Your FACE: Facilitation, Analysis, Collaboration, & Elicitation Techniques
Speaker: Jennifer Battan
Description: It's the next step in the Badass Business Analysis series! Were you looking for a way to take your requirements game up another notch? Well, look no further because we are going to get into your FACE (Facilitation, Analysis, Collaboration, & Elicitation) techniques. Don't worry, it's not as confrontational as it sounds!
This interactive, highly hands on workshop not only teaches how to use modern collaborative and interactive techniques for Facilitation, Analysis, Collaboration, and Elicitation (FACE), but we'll also talk hybrid facilitation, agile vs plan-driven applications, and so much more. These tools will help improve the quality of your products and help you elicit requirements more effectively. You'll have everyone talking about how great YOU are as a Business Analyst leader...and quite the Badass Business Analyst!
- Learn & practice proven techniques for Facilitation, Analysis, Collaboration, and Elicitation
- Identify ways to modify your approaches whether you're working in plan-driven, agile, or some method in between
- Identify tools & approaches for virtual and hybrid scenarios
AFTERNOON:
The Human Side of Influence: How to Communicate, Connect, and CONVERT Without Authority
Speaker: Stefani Havel
Description: This interactive workshop helps Business Analysts and project professionals strengthen their ability to influence outcomes without authority. Participants will explore emotional intelligence, DiSC communication styles, and Stefani’s 7-step CONVERT Framework to build trust, communicate clearly, and create collaboration across teams.
Key Concepts:
- Applying EQ and DiSC to communicate with clarity and confidence.
- The 7-step CONVERT framework to guide influence and decision-making.
- Using 4MAT communication to reach analytical and intuitive thinkers.
- Building credibility through empathy, validation, and logical structure.
How to Create a Concept Model
Speaker: Fabricio Laguna
Description: The lack of clear definitions is the Achilles’ heel of data quality. The unequivocal understanding of information received from another party depends on the establishment of a common language, with terms and meanings shared in consensus. Concept Modeling is the right technique to create this shared vocabulary.
A concept model identifies the correct choice of terms to use in communications. It is especially important when precise and fine distinctions are needed.
A concept model starts with a glossary, which usually focuses on the main noun concepts in a domain and goes on to define the verbs that relate these nouns. Concept models value high-quality definitions, independent of design, and are free from data modeling or implementation bias. They serve as the basis for mutual understanding and provide the foundation for the application of other business analysis, requirements modeling, and business rules techniques.
Project Management 101 for BA's
Speaker: Tamara Copple
Description: Your project manager has just gone on extended leave, and your boss asked you to manage it in their absence. Do you have the skills to step in and smoothly keep the project on track?
This workshop introduces a practical, shared approach to project fundamentals, focused on clarity, consistency, and follow-through rather than method. Participants will learn how to articulate project scope and success criteria clearly, translate goals into right-sized plans, and use common language and lightweight templates to communicate progress, manage risk, and handle scope change. We emphasize defining decision authority, clarifying ambiguity, and preventing or mitigating common breakdowns that occur between planning and execution.
This session is designed for professionals who contribute to or lead project work as part of their role and who want practical tools they can immediately apply.
Tell Your Story, Get Buy-In: Storytelling Essentials for Communication
Speaker: David Otey
Description: Everyone loves a good story. But not everyone knows how to tell a good story. And not every speaker knows how to use a story effectively to connect with an audience while driving home a point.
Participants in this workshop will go beyond the basics of storytelling. They will learn how to:
- “Airdrop” the audience into the story at just the right point.
- Use dialogue for engagement, emotional connection, and more efficient storytelling.
- Carry the story through to the all-important change that the audience will want for themselves.
- Raise the stakes so the point becomes more important.
- Help the listener make the point of the story their own by finding the universal in the specifics.
- Deliver a story as a seamless part of a cohesive presentation.
- Make a story—and the point it supports—memorable.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will go through several exercises to help craft and hone their stories. Engagement techniques will include real-time, one-to-one coaching in front of the class, which will benefit both those receiving coaching and those observing. All will come away with a higher level of skill and understanding of how the best speakers use this most important of tools to illuminate their points and gain buy-in from stakeholders.
Filters Not Buckets: A Prioritization Workshop
Speaker: Kent McDonald
Description: Prioritization, or more specifically deciding what you will and will not build, is a key decision teams and organizations make on a regular basis.
You could even say that it is the most important activity that product people, including business analysts, do. Yet many organizations use ineffective approaches to prioritization that adds more confusion than clarity, and leaves teams focusing on who screams loudest. Additionally, prioritization approaches vary widely depending on your context. You take a different approach to deciding what you do when you manage an excruciatingly long backlog than when you’re building software to support a new process.
Come to this workshop to learn some key prioritization principles, experience some simple, yet powerful prioritization techniques, and engage with others to figure out the proper prioritization techniques for your context.
You could even say that it is the most important activity that product people, including business analysts, do. Yet many organizations use ineffective approaches to prioritization that adds more confusion than clarity, and leaves teams focusing on who screams loudest. Additionally, prioritization approaches vary widely depending on your context. You take a different approach to deciding what you do when you manage an excruciatingly long backlog than when you’re building software to support a new process.
Come to this workshop to learn some key prioritization principles, experience some simple, yet powerful prioritization techniques, and engage with others to figure out the proper prioritization techniques for your context.
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PDD FAQs
Welcome to the IIBA Minneapolis St. Paul Professional Development Days (PDD) Event! PDD is scheduled on Wednesday, May 6 - Thursday, May 7, 2026 from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm (Central Time) each day at St. Paul RiverCentre.
Welcome to the IIBA Minneapolis St. Paul Professional Development Days (PDD) Event! PDD is scheduled on Wednesday, May 6 - Thursday, May 7, 2026 from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm (Central Time) each day at St. Paul RiverCentre.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Do I earn CDUs by attending PDD?
A: Yes. Wednesday (May 6) sessions are 3.5 hours each so a total of 7 CDUs for the full day. Thursday (May 7) sessions are one hour, plus 75 minutes each for the keynote and endnote, so a total of 6.5 CDU hours. If you attend both days, you would earn 13.5 CDUs!
Q: Do I earn CDUs by attending PDD?
A: Yes. Wednesday (May 6) sessions are 3.5 hours each so a total of 7 CDUs for the full day. Thursday (May 7) sessions are one hour, plus 75 minutes each for the keynote and endnote, so a total of 6.5 CDU hours. If you attend both days, you would earn 13.5 CDUs!
Q: Do you honor cancellation requests?
A: Full refunds, less a $50 cancellation fee, will be given for written requests received on or before April 17, 2026. Registrations are transferable. There are no refunds for cancellations made after April 17, 2026.
A: Full refunds, less a $50 cancellation fee, will be given for written requests received on or before April 17, 2026. Registrations are transferable. There are no refunds for cancellations made after April 17, 2026.
Q: What time does the event start?
A: The doors will open, and we will begin registering attendees at 7:15 am.
A: The doors will open, and we will begin registering attendees at 7:15 am.
Q: Who do I notify if I have dietary restrictions or food allergies?
A: The registration form included questions about dietary restrictions and food allergies, but please let us know as soon as possible if you have any additional concerns to add. Events@msp.iiba.org
A: The registration form included questions about dietary restrictions and food allergies, but please let us know as soon as possible if you have any additional concerns to add. Events@msp.iiba.org
Q: Are there hotel deals available?
A: Yes. Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown St. Paul is offering a group rate for stays on the nights of May 5 – 7. The last day to book with the discount is April 14, 2026.
A: Yes. Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown St. Paul is offering a group rate for stays on the nights of May 5 – 7. The last day to book with the discount is April 14, 2026.
Q: Where should I park for PDD, and what is the cost for parking?
A: Parking will be paid for each day by IIBA-MSP if you park in the RiverCentre parking ramp across Kellogg Avenue. You will be given a code to enter into the validation machine.
A: Parking will be paid for each day by IIBA-MSP if you park in the RiverCentre parking ramp across Kellogg Avenue. You will be given a code to enter into the validation machine.