Just trying to wrap up some final thoughts here on the Boston Product Camp, before I leave the subject.
First, as committed, for those who were interested in my Persona 101 presentation, the slides are available on the Boston PCamp Brainshark portal site, or via Slideshare. (Feel free to reach out of you have any questions.)
Second, I cannot thank the organizers enough for the superb job they did. To put it simply, it was organized chaos. But, it worked. No one was left behind in the day, there were no glitches in the event seen by the attendees.
Third, the learning was amazing. The sessions were presented by peers in the field who knew the material. The ones I attended were informative, entertaining, and left me wanting to know more. Just what you want when you are there to learn.
If you are interested, I wrote up a report on the event to share with the PCampMN organizing committee. I have that report available here.
Finally, if you are a product management and/or a product marketing professional, and you have not attended one of these events – GO TO ONE NOW! (The MN Product Camp is a good option, and the date is set for Sat. Jan. 30, 2010 at the Mall of America.) This event offers our profession some unique elements, not available anywhere else:
1) It’s free. Your time is the only cost. This means no expensive seminar to plan for in a budget, or justification forms to complete. Many of these camps are located within easy commute, just go. And, if you do have to travel to one – take advantage of the trip by scheduling a market or customer visit beforehand. (Novel concept here – getting out of the office to talk to real people.)
2) It is all about you, and us. These events are for product management and/or a product marketing professionals. Yes, there are some related professionals who join, but the focus is on what we do, and the challenges we face.
3) The networking is amazing! Seriously, even if you have a local product management association, there will be 100-150 people who share your common issues, and are great resources for relationships long after the day event is over.
4) It’s fun. Really. I know, a Saturday in a conference can’t be fun, can it? Yes. Being with others like you is energizing, even for the most introverted professionals who walk in our midst.
From the outside looking in, Boston is a model for how good Product Camps should be managed. Now, back to my real life. And, on to getting the MN PCamp together.
[...] is inspiring, and it’s all free. You can read about my impressions of the Boston Product camp here; or, better yet, plan to join me at the MN Product Camp in January and have this experience for [...]
Thanks for the outside perspective! I am part of the team organizing ProductCamp SoCal, which will be February 27 in Irvine, CA. We are excited about ProductCamps and are starting to talk to people who have organized and attended past ProductCamps so we can implement best practices and learn from any previous mistakes. We hope to send a representative to Minnesota in January and we hope to see leaders of other ProductCamps at ProductCamp SoCal.