Ways to Get Free PDU for PMP and PMI-ACP Certification

PMI requires PMP and PMI-ACP® Certification holders to obtain at least 60 PDU / 30 PDU respectively for each PMI / PMI-ACP® re-certification cycle (i.e. 60 PDU for PMP Certification in 3 years / 30 PDU for PMI-ACP® in 3 years). There are ways to earn PDU other than spending money on project management training courses in order to meet the PDU requirements for re-certification. Below listed the information of free / low-cost PDU opportunities.

Note: Once you have accumulated all the required PDUs, you will be allowed to renew your PMI Certification right away. Don’t worry, the new certification cycle will begin from the original expiry date of the current certification cycle (not from the date of renewal).

Upcoming / Ongoing FREE Online Project Management / Agile Training Seminars

1. [6 Free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU] PMI Scheduling Conference 2017
   
   • The PMI Scheduling Conference 2017 is going to be held on 29th, Mar 2017.
   • The PMI Scheduling Conference 2017 provides an invaluable opportunity for project managers and partitioners to learn:
     • Tips on working with Agile practices and dealing with hybrid (Agile, Waterfall) project challenges
     • Guidance on planning activities across geographic regions and technological systems
     • Insights into setting schedules for PMO success
   • Educational PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
   • Learn more about getting FREE PDU
2. [Limited Time Offer] 1 PMP PDU for US$1 at GreyCampus
   • Earn PDUs for PMP Re-certification with this special offer from GreyCampus (a PMI Authorized Training Partner — PDUs are pre-approved by PMI) by learning new knowledge in project management:
     • ITIL®-Foundation (25 PDUs)
     • Six Sigma Green Belt (35 PDUs)
     • Six Sigma Black Belt (45 PDUs)
     • Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (35 PDUs)
     • Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (45 PDUs)
     • PRINCE2® Foundation (35 PDUs)
     • PRINCE2® Practitioner (45 PDUs)
     • Minitab (10 PDUs)
     • Six Sigma Yellow Belt (10 PDUs)
     • Operational Challenges with Data in Excel (5 PDUs)
   • Learn more about US$1 PMP PDU
3. [Ongoing] Earn PDUs at Projectmanagement.com
   • Watch live/recorded webinars at projectmanagement.com to earn educational PDUs for free [PMI members only]
   • You can search for PDUs according to the PMI Talent Triangle (i.e. Technical, Leadership and Strategic)
   • PDUs can be earned anywhere anytime
   • Learn more about earning PDUs at projectmanagement.com

Past Free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU Opportunities

• [6 Free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU] PMI Business Analysis Virtual Conference 2016
  
  1. PMI Business Analysis Virtual Conference 2016 was held on 2nd, Nov 2016.
  2. PMI Business Analysis Virtual Conference 2016 is an all-day virtual event for business analysts and project managers in all industries for FREE. The topics of the PMI Business Analysis Virtual Conference 2016 include a mix of Business Analysis and Agile Business Analysis knowledge.
  3. Category A PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
  4. Learn more about getting FREE PDU
• [6 Free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU] PMI Organizational Agility Conference 2016
  
  • PMI Organizational Agility Conference 2016 was held on 14th, Sep 2016.
  • PMI Organizational Agility Conference 2016 was an all-day event for project managers to learn more about practising agile project management within organizational constraints (existing rules, structures and processes):
    • Understanding and managing complex organizational and team dynamics
    • Counteracting organizational patterns
    • Implementing conceptual frameworks of agile – what to do when they go wrong
  • Category A PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
  • Learn more about getting FREE PDU
• [6 Free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU] PMI Scheduling Conference 2016
  
  • The PMI Scheduling Conference 2016 is going to be held on 30th, Mar 2016.
  • The PMI Scheduling Conference 2016 provides an invaluable opportunity for project managers and partitioners to learn:
    • How to turn failed projects into successes
    • The best scheduling tools to build collaboration
    • Why it’s important (in project scheduling) to understand each project team member’s role, and more.
  • Category A PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
  • Learn more about getting FREE PDU
• [6 Free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU] PMI Business Analysis Virtual Conference 2015
  
  • The PMI Business Analysis Virtual Conference 2015 was held on 4th, Nov 2015 and is available on demand till 31st, Mar 2016
  • The Business Analysis Virtual Conference 2015 provides an invaluable opportunity to learn:
    • Visual Models in Agile Projects
    • The Dynamic Duo: How to Exploit Use Cases and Wireframes Like a Superhero
    • The Hollywood Syndrome: It’s Not About You
    • Requirements Management Best Practices
    • Agile Requirements and Business Analysis: Myths and Realities
    • I Finished My Project with Incomplete Requirements! A Success Story
  • Category A PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
  • Learn more about getting FREE PDU
• [6 Free PMP PDU] PMI Talent Management Conference 2015
  
  • The PMI Information Systems Technology Symposium 2015 is available on demand till 4th, Mar 2016.
  • The Talent Management Conference provides an invaluable opportunity to learn:
    • Building and maintaining high performance teams
    • Staying on track, even as teams change
    • Branding yourself to meet organizational needs
    • Positioning yourself to get hired for your big role
  • Category A PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
  • For PMI members only
  • Learn more about getting FREE PDU
• [6 Free PMP / 4 Free PMI-ACP® PDU] PMI Information Systems Technology Symposium 2015
  
  • The PMI Information Systems Technology Symposium 2015 was held on 30th, Sep 2015 but you can still watch recorded webinars to get FREE PDU.
  • The Technology Symposium provides an invaluable opportunity to learn:
    • Evaluate and plan for good user experiences
    • Boost your DevOps skills to accomplish business goals
    • Drive implementation based upon both customer needs and organizational goals
    • Better manage big data, security risk and more
    • The most impactful and effective ways to integrate technologies in your project management and increase your success
  • Gain insights, intelligence and confidence, plus practical tools and techniques for:
    • Managing and responding to the “Why aren’t we doing this?” email
    • Understanding how emerging technologies fit into your projects
    • Integrating new tech into your existing projects and organization
    • Driving implementation based on customer needs andorganizational goals
    • Maintaining your organization’s position as a savvy, effective adopter of new technologies
  • Category A PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
  • For PMI members only
  • Learn more about getting FREE PDU
• [6.25 Free PMP PDU] PMXPO 2015
  • On 30th, Apr 2015, ProjectManagement.com is going to host the annual virtual conference and exhibition PMXPO 2015 (the eighth PMXPO).
  • The PMXPO 2015 provided an opportunity to learn, network, earn PDUs and gain valuable knowledge through a computer. Topics include:
    • From Leading a High Performance Team to Landing on Mars (Adam Steltzner)
    • Why You Need to Consider Redefining the PMO (Mark Price Perry, Andy Jordan & Dave Prior)
    • PMI’s Annual Pulse of the Profession: An In-Depth Look at Requirements Management (Tricia Cabrey)
    • PPM Process Management and the Role of the PPM Process Owner (Steve Romero)
    • 10 Ways to Market Your Project (Elizabeth Harrin)
    • Do or Die Agile Leadership Practices for Today’s eXtreme Projects (Doug DeCarlo)
  • Category A PDUs can be earned through watching the live presentation (real-time) or the recorded webinars (at a later date).
  • Certificates and PDU instructions would be sent to participants around one month after the event.
  • Register here to get free PMP PDU from PMXPO 2015 (note: you can login with your PMI account for instant registration)
• [6 Free PDU for PMP/PMI-ACP®] PMI Organizational Agility Conference: Project Management Success – A View from the Future
  • Date: 30 Sep, 2014 (8:00am – 5:00pm EDT)
  • Topics:
    • Keynote Address: Embracing the Future
    • Effective Project Leadership in a VUCA World
    • Unlocking the Value of Project Management – A Path Forward
    • Enabling the Adaptive Enterprise – The Case for Enterprise Architecture
    • Project Management Futures: Scenarios for 2020
    • Driving Change with Kanban’s Values
  • The conference will include an update on PMI-ACP®
  • [closed] Register here to get the free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU
• [PMP PDU] PMXPO 2014
  • In Apr 2014, ProjectManagement.com hosted the annual virtual conference and exhibition PMXPO 2014 (the seventh PMXPO).
  • The PMXPO 2014 provided an opportunity to learn, network, earn PDUs and gain valuable knowledge through a computer.
  • A maximum of 7.5 Category A PDU can be earned through watching the webinars.
  • Certificates and PDU instructions would be sent to participants around one month after the event.
  • [closed] Register here to get free PMP PDU
• [2 Free PDU for PMP/PMI-ACP®] VersionOne offers free AgileLIVE™ Webinar Series for PMP and PMI-ACP® to earn PDU while watching the webinars.
  • Date: 10 Sep, 2014 and 17 Sep, 2014
  • In Sep 2014, VersionOne will host the “Continuous Product Learning: Story Maps, Customer Journeys and Tools for Validated Learning” webinar which would earn you 2 PDU for the 2 session:
    • Part 1 – September 10, noon-1 p.m. EDT
    • Part 2 – September 17, noon-1 p.m. EDT
  • Since the topic of the webinar is about Agile project management, the PDU earned can be applied to both PMI-ACP® as well as PMP.
  • Once registered, you can access the live webinars at the scheduled time or receive the links to the recording of the webinars.
  • [closed] Register here to get the free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU
• [6 Free PDU for PMP] 2014 PMI Information Systems Virtual Professional Development Symposium
  • Date: 12 Sep, 2014 (8:00am – 5:00pm EDT)
  • Organized by the The PMI Information Systems Community of Practice, this virtual seminar carries the theme of “Enabling Organizational Change through Strategic Initiatives, Challenges, Best practices and Current trends”
  • A free, virtual and exclusive event is for PMI members only
  • You can get a maximum of 6 Category A PDU for PMP re-certification
  • [closed] Register here to get the free PMP PDU

Need PDU for Re-certification In a Hurry?

These free PMP / PMI-ACP® PDU opportunities will give you at most several PDU at a time (usual 1-5 PDU). If the re-certification deadline is drawing near and you need quite a few PDU or if you are just too busy to accumulate one PDU at a time, the following are ways to get a lot of PDU at a time with reasonable costs in a short time (note that the following PDU are categorized as Category A PDU which has no limits):

• [PMP PDU] The PDU PodCast  – for US$249.99 you will get around 20 Category A PDU (you will get immediate download of 21 podcast sessions and the certificates after listening to them). If you still have time, do go for the yearly subscription model to save money (US$199.99 Exclusive: US$169.99 with the gift-certificate code: GetMyPDUs)
• [PMP PDU] The Agile PrepCast™ – you will get 37 Category A PDU plus the 21 contact hours to fulfill the education requirements for the PMI-ACP® certification
• [PMP PDU] The ITIL® 4 Foundation Exam Prep – you will getEducation PDUs as well as the ITIL® 4 Foundation Certification (if you pass the exam)

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Learn More About PDU Categories

PDU (Professional Development Units) are awards based on the efforts (amount of time) spent on continuous education / service. Usually, 1 PMP PDU equals 1 hour of participation in the PDU activity and PDU can be reported in the multiple of 0.25 PDU. There are 6 categories of PDU in which the education (e.g. courses offered by PMI’s R.E.P.s, chapters and communities) is the most readily accepted PDU category as PDU offered by such education programmes have been pre-approved by PMI.

It should be noted that PDU for PMI-ACP® is also applicable to PMP Certification holders while the reverse is not often true. PMI-ACP® needs to take project management education related to Agile in order to claim the PDU while PMP just needs general or Agile project management education. It is therefore advisable to get PDU eligible for PMI-ACP® first if you are both PMP and PMI-ACP® certified.

Read here for a more in-depth discussion of PDU for PMP Certification and PMI-ACP® Certification.