Event Date/Time: March 25, 2026-6:30-8:00pm ET (New start time)
Presentation Title: Spark Your Stakeholder Sessions: Interactive Collaborative Games
Presentation Abstract: Ready to transform your brainstorming sessions from mundane to memorable? Join the Raleigh IIBA Chapter for an energizing, hands-on session exploring dynamic collaborative games that will revolutionize how you generate ideas with stakeholders. In this interactive one-hour session, you'll do more than just learn about collaborative games – you'll actually experience them! Through live participation using online collaborative tools, you'll discover engaging techniques that can immediately enhance your stakeholder interactions and requirements elicitation processes. Whether you're new to business analysis or a seasoned professional, you'll walk away with actionable techniques to add to your BA toolkit. Come prepared to participate, share, and have fun while learning!
What you'll gain:
• Hands-on experience with proven collaborative games for idea generation
• Practical tools to make your stakeholder sessions more engaging and productive
• Techniques that work for both in-person and virtual meetings
• Methods to encourage participation from even your quietest stakeholders
• A fresh perspective on brainstorming that you can implement immediately
• Hands-on experience with proven collaborative games for idea generation
• Practical tools to make your stakeholder sessions more engaging and productive
• Techniques that work for both in-person and virtual meetings
• Methods to encourage participation from even your quietest stakeholders
• A fresh perspective on brainstorming that you can implement immediately
Speaker Name: Thea Soehren, CBAP, CSPO, ICP-APO, President of Tampa Bay IIBA
Thea Soehren currently works for Cincinnati Insurance Company and is a member of the Business Analysis Center of Excellence (BACoE) for IT Business Analysts. She has been a Business Analyst for several decades and has worked in the Information Technology field for much of that time. Her experience spans a variety of industries including nuclear, medical diagnostics, insurance, US Tax, software development, marketing, professional services and management consulting. Previously, she worked as an enterprise change consultant for KPMG. She has extensive experience working in both Waterfall and Agile projects, simultaneously serving a variety of roles, such as Business Analyst, Scrum Master, Product Owner, Agile Coach, Program Manager, Project Manager, Problem Solver and Head Cheerleader. A lifelong learner, Thea has been coaching and teaching for 15 years. Since 2013, she has been involved in leading IIBA® Chapters in Kansas City, Topeka, and Tampa Bay, Florida. Thea is currently the President of the Tampa Bay, Florida USA Chapter and frequently speaks and leads multi-week study groups for other IIBA Chapters and various organizations worldwide. She was on the core team that wrote the BABOK® Guide v 3.0. Thea is very active on LinkedIn and strives to assist every person she can.Speaker Name: Aaron Whittenberger, CBAP, AAC, CPOA, A-CSPO, Bluegrass IIBA Chapter
Aaron Whittenberger is currently a Senior Agile Business Analyst at Cincinnati Insurance Company with over 35 years of Business and Information Technology experience, including 19 years of business analysis and 15 years as a consultant. He currently works with other business analysis leaders in a Business Analyst Center of Excellence (BACoE) on creating standards of practice, a BA Blog, and a BA Knowledge Center. Aaron earned his Certified Business Analysis Professional TM (CBAP ® ) certification in 2008, his Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO ® ) in 2018, his IIBA ® Agile Analysis Certification (IIBA ® - AAC) in 2019, his Certificate in Product Ownership Analysis (IIBA ® -CPOA) in 2021, his ICAgile Certified Professional - Agile Product Owner (ICP-APO) in 2022, his Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO ® ) from Scrum Alliance in April 2024, and his AI for Product Owners Microcredential from Scrum Alliance in June 2025. Aaron is the Founding President of Bluegrass IIBA Chapter, as well as has served the IIBA ® as Regional Director of the Americas Eastern Region and the Chairperson of the Role Delineation Committee, responsible for the relevancy and validity of the IIBA ® certification program. He is a 2016 Inductee into the Bluegrass Business Analysis Hall of Fame. Aaron lives in Independence, KY and has four children. Just a few years ago he participated in his first ever game of cricket with his co-workers. For himself, Aaron enjoys a good round of golf, we’ll see if he ever has one. You can connect with Aaron on LinkedIn.