“Franck is an enthusiastic instructor and consultant with an expert training technique and unique ability to create tailor made training material for any type of business. Franck’s easy going yet professional personality results in an ability to deliver complex material in a clear and concise manner. Having sat through many training courses throughout my career, I can say with confidence that I've received the most expertise, job application and value added from Franck's courses.” (Back to top)

Patrick Flaherty|Director of Business Development|Kullman Buildings Corp.

Open Enrollment Classes Conducted at Burlington County College under the Continuing Education Department

 

“Franck Gérard taught our Project Management course for McGraw-Hill's IT organization training program, and the experience was simply wonderful. He returned to help our leadership team rev up our critical and creative thinking as the featured instructor in our recent workshop. Not only did we learn immediately relevant and applicable project management skills, but Franck challenged our thinking, our business acumen and our people skills so that we all moved our game up several notches. Franck's ability to energize a class and get the best out of his students is superb.” (Back to top)

Jennifer Zaborowski, PhD.|Lead, Process Control & Service Delivery|The McGraw Hill Companies

Leadership Retreat Conducted for the IT Leadership of The McGraw-Hill Companies at an Offsite Facility in Princeton

 

“Franck is a talented and motivated instructor as well as a career mentor. His in-depth expertise and experience in the project management discipline is invaluable to any person seeking PMI PMP or CAPM certification.” (Back to top)

Todd Senno|Sr. Software Quality Specialist|The Nielsen Co.

ABC’s Blended Learning & One-on-One Coaching conducted for a PMP® Certification Preparation Program

 

“I took Franck’s project management courses at Mercer Country College. He was an engaging and influential instructor who inspired me to rethink my career direction. Franck’s knowledge of the subject extended far beyond the project deliverables and well into the human element.” (Back to top)

Patricia Csuha|Sr. Project Manager|The McGraw-Hill Companies

Project Management and Leadership Track at The McGraw-Hill Institute at Mercer County Community College

 

“I've taken two Project Management courses under Franck's direction; courses which proved invaluable to my passing the PMP exam. I can state unequivocally state that Franck is the finest adult educator I have encountered in 20+ years of post-grad studies and certification coursework.” (Back to top)

Don Jennings|Business Owner|Jennings EDGe Group

Open Enrollment Classes Conducted at Mercer County Community Coll. under the Continuing Education Department

 

“Franck is a true expert in adult education and instructional design who has developed complete learning programs for our Western Union agents in the areas of instructional design and delivery, customer service, sales and project management. I strongly recommend Franck for the quality of his work, his creativity and his people skills.” (Back to top)

Miguel Varela|Quality and Training Director|Western Union International

Instructional Design & Delivery and Train-the-Trainer Programs conducted for Western Union Agent Network

 

“The tools and techniques presented in the workshop were easily applied the next day I returned to work; and they truly make a difference. The content of the workshop is thorough; yet, it is easy to understand the concepts and theories. Recently, I have been assigned a failed project that has been reactivated. Back to Square One is the first thing I referred to launch the recovery process.” (Back to top)

Marygrace Brignola, Client Services Project Manager, Management Support Services NFI Industries

 

“The Project Management training that ABC delivered to my team equipped us with a valuable set of tools for us to leverage right away in doing a better job managing our projects and optimizing the use of all our resources. Different from other project management workshops, the instructor kept the audience fully engaged through the entire training by using a variety of exercises and activities that made it easy for the participants to understand the concepts and apply them to challenged and/or complex projects.” (Back to top)

Miguel Varela, Director Retail Service Excellence Western Union

 

“Back to Square One is a critical business course. By attending it, I learned a great deal of information. After the course, I felt more confident in my in my ability to make decisions. The tools and techniques presented in the workshop were taught in a practical way and everyone benefited regardless of their background and experience. Throughout my career, I have been challenged in managing ‘scope creep’, ‘Back to Square One’ gave me the edge by placing attention on the project’s critical tasks while balancing resources. This workshop is a difference- maker!” (Back to top)

Ricardo Ramos, Associate Director, Project Operations Opinion Research Corporation

 

“I was pleased to hear the positive feedback of my client for the three workshops. The methodology and the instructor’s personal touch made a complex and thorough subject easy to grasp and follow. I would not hesitate to recommend this workshop strongly should any requirement arise on other potential projects.”(Back to top)

Brian Brahim, Program Manager (SAP implementation in North America) Intl. Consulting Group, LLC.

 

The program provided many tools and techniques that are applicable to any size project. I felt that there was a tremendous amount of content in this program and I only wish we had more time and more people attending it. Again, the tools and techniques provided in this course are very applicable to every phase of the project management lifecycle. The key ‘lesson learned’ in the workshop is the more time one invests in the beginning (planning) of the project, the more likely the project will be successful. The course design was incredibly intuitive. The three stages and their color coding made the learning easy and intuitive, as well as future referencing of the materials.(Back to top)

Mike Maksymow, Director of Information Services & Telecommunications Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in Hamilton

 

This letter is my professional and personal recommendation for ABC Consulting Group’s Project Management Practices – ‘Back to Square One! The course proved to be beneficial in several ways. The content was thorough and provided my colleagues and me with applicable project management tools and techniques. And the instructor was able to help all of us through the collision of project management and company culture where many project management courses leave you abandoned. The content covered everything from the “What and Why” to the “What now” of project management. It helped me acknowledge when I have a project and when I am going to be a wasted resource unable to measure my success several months later. This in itself was worth the cost of the course. Now I can push back and ask for a Project Charter. I not only learned the importance of a Project Charter but was taught how to identify key items within a Project Charter. I had an opportunity in class to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) which made it much easier to apply once I returned to work. The same held true with the nine steps; we had an opportunity in class to experience each of them.

 

I expected to return to work with more project management knowledge after attending Project Management Practices – ‘Back to Square One!. But I returned to work with tools and techniques that I started applying right away. With each project I am tasked I reference my 32 Project Management Process and get started. They have become my checklist to a successful project. I have found that even though a project may not go as planned as long as I have completed each and every step it was a success because I can measure it.

 

Although the content and the tools were enough to state that attending Project Management Practices – ‘Back to Square One!. was money well spent, it was the confidence that I left with that made the course priceless. It was the confidence that the knowledge, tools, classroom exercises, and instructor built that allowed my colleagues and me to implement the 32 Project Management Process in a company culture such as ours; a culture where a Project Charter was a joke and a WBS a waste of time. It was the confidence in knowing the importance of the “What and Why” and the “What now” that has molded all nineteen or so of us.

 

Shortly after I completed the course I was tasked with a project - Planning the 2nd Annual I.T. Department Meeting for 78 employees to include the CEO, President, and Vice Chairman. Four months had passed and the project had been completed. I received a card from my boss, CIO, which stated “Thanks for all you help! You really did go above and beyond on planning the meeting. I was impressed with how you coordinated the committee and managed them.” I never would have received this recognition without the content, tools, and confidence that ABC transferred to me while attending Project Management Practices – ‘Back to Square One!. Thanks ABC Consulting! We look forward to working with you again soon. (Back to top)

Jamie Barton, Administrator, I.T. Department National Freight Industries, Inc.

 

I attended ABC’s Project Management Course under the auspices of The McGraw-Hill Institute. From fellow employees who attended the course before me I knew that it would be interesting, challenging, and immediately useful. But what I could not know until I attended the course was it would actually develop my and my classmate's latent leadership talents. Consequently we came away enthused and appreciative that our company had made this investment in us. In regards to the course's practical benefits I would note that I am currently managing the operations section of a quite large database and operating system upgrade. This upgrade impinges directly on our data production and is thus quite sensitive. I am confident that this project will stay on track. However, if it does not, I now have available to me various techniques to clarify and push things forward again. The course structure, which combined student's own real world cases with a block-by-block building of our general project management knowledge, kept the proper pace and offered many opportunities to revisit new concepts and practices. Moreover, every student was quite engaged, a rather rare achievement in any form of corporate training.(Back to top)

W. Kenneth Cooper, Senior Systems Engineer The McGraw-Hill Companies

 

Very informative! Materials that can be used immediately and successfully... This workbook/workshop helped me realize what mistakes could have been avoided in past projects. (Back to top)

Judeline D., Project Manager

 

Extremely helpful! Something that helps you grow professionally and personally...(Back to top)

Ankit D., Project Management Director

 

Attending these workshops helped me to expand my professional boundaries in terms of learning several new things about project management as well as gave ideas that I can further expand on in implementing the PMO.(Back to top)

Atif Z., Project Management Office Director

 

Great use of real world examples... Enlightening and enjoyable! The activities performed in class helped to consolidate the theory. (Back to top)

Jennifer W., IT Project Manager

 

There’s no way to overstate the value of this PMP Exam Preparation course in preparing to pass the PMP exam. I initially toyed with the idea of buying a couple of study guides and studying for it alone, but I am so glad that I ultimately opted to take the course. The instructor’s engaging teaching style, coupled with his extensive knowledge of project management, brought the material to life; making the process of preparing for and passing the PMP examination not only easier, but enjoyable.(Back to top)

Don Jennings, PMP, Project Office Engagement Manager

 

The skill set addressed in this workshop has greatly increased my confidence level!(Back to top)

Pamela S., Project Management Specialist

 

This topic as presented in this course will drastically improve the way one leads in life and at work! (Back to top)

Dennis C., Director of Design Engineer

 

Attending this workshop has empowered me not only to talk about strategic thinking but it has also equipped me with the tools to plan in a more effective manner. Shortly after attending the class, I was promoted and received a pay increase; I believe that this class had something to do with it! (Back to top)

Barbara I., Regional Recruiting Manager, NJ

 

Of all of the training opportunities I’ve researched for my team, regardless of the subject matter, this workshop was truly one of the best. The program was put together very well. It made the learning easy and intuitive, as well as future referencing of the materials. Our instructor was an awesome facilitator and created an immediate and great rapport with my team which was extremely conducive to their learning. I highly recommend this program.

 

As a graduate of the Back to Square One project management course, I have already benefited from the materials, tools and techniques presented. For example, agility methodology was presented in such a way that I was able to rescue a troubled project as soon as I returned to the office, simply by applying what I had learned days before. After implementing the techniques I had learned, the team was able to deliver, we were happier and we were no longer behind schedule and demoralized.

 

What is especially helpful in the Back to Square One course is the level of detail. Content is presented concisely, with visual aids in the form of clear diagrams documenting even very complex processes so that they are easy to follow and carry out. My manager has asked me, for example, to roll out Earned Value - and I am using the procedure that I learned in Back to Square One. As I work in IT, our projects typically fall behind when we lose resources to fire-fighting, or when our technical experts encounter challenges balancing workload due to high demands. By deploying the resource management and team management tactics taught in the course, I have been able to prevent this kind of derailing a number of times already, and rescue two projects that were in danger of severe slippage. Why does it work? First of all, the materials and the classroom exercises make the complex subject matter easy to digest. Secondly, the instructor's skill is unequalled - he was enthusiastic, passionate and very gifted at creating a learning environment. The students were all engaged from the first day. I continue to use my course materials as references because their simplicity and thoroughness makes them excellent tools for sharing what I have learned with my team and keeping the content fresh in my mind as well.

 

This is precisely what differentiates ABC and Square One from other PM courses. ABC has found the balance between engaging busy professionals so that they learn, and providing enough content to make the tools and techniques both easy and practical to implement. I am confident that any project manager who puts these valuable lessons into practice will see an immediate, tangible and very real improvement in his or her projects. Square One methodology delivers results, while ensuring PMs can balance resources, schedule and budgetary demands with agility, flexibility and integrity. I can enthusiastically recommend ABC to any project manager who wants to be successful, and to find their passion in quality project management.

 

I am delighted to grant permission for ABC Consulting to use any or all of the above in marketing materials - and please, please do contact me if I can recommend ABC again!! (Back to top)

Jennifer Zaborowski, PhD., Technical Project Specialist Global Operations & Infrastructure The McGraw-Hill Companies