Title:
Sketching for Product Managers: Design Techniques for Creating Better Products

Presenter:
Terry Allen

Format:
Presentation

Abstract:
“New product creation is a major investment for companies and ensuring innovative, successful products is critical to the future of any business. This presentation details design approaches that help ensure better, creative solutions to new products. The session starts with a review of design processes and techniques for product managers, and then the hands-on sketching portion focuses on rapid idea capture and development. Finally the floor opens for discussion of audience techniques.

The session is geared for product managers that want to understand some of the thinking behind the design process and want to apply new methods to their own processes. The sketching portion focuses on software not 3D products, but the same principles can be applied. The ability to draw is not required for this session and will benefit non-designers most, but designers are welcome to come add to the discussion.”

Presenter bio:

Terry brings more than 15 years of experience in product design and marketing, focusing on the software products for Fortune 500 companies for the past decade. Currently the Director of Marketing at GeoFields, he leads all marketing activities and oversees the design and user experience across all enterprise applications. Terry holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Title:
Stop Competing With Your Fellow Product Managers & Marketers

Presenter:
John Mansour

Format:
Roundtable

Abstract:
The product enhancement beasts have an appetite that can never be satisfied.  The same goes for the satisfying the appetite of sales force when it comes to marketing collateral and programs.  Hats off to zealous product managers and marketers who continue to fight for resources to feed those beasts in an effort to meet product specific goals.  But as product teams take turns winning small resource battles at the product level, the organization may be losing the overall market war.  This roundtable discussion will feature a few outside-the-box perspectives that encourage product managers and marketers to collaborate instead of compete, to meet the organization’s goals and objectives with initiatives that have more staying power and do a better job of aligning all disciplines to a common agenda.

Presenter bio:

John Mansour, founder and Managing Partner of ZIGZAG Marketing is a 20-year veteran in high technology product management, marketing and sales.  John has experience directing large worldwide teams on domestic and international product and marketing initiatives as well as helping start-up companies establish market and brand awareness.

John’s areas of expertise include market assessment, company and product strategy, product management, product marketing, product launches, product demos and sales.

ProductCamp is a fit for anyone focused on product strategy, GTM plans, and product development. I have personally attend 2 of last 3 and plan on attending more. It is free, yet you leave feeling like you just attended an event worth thousands. The Monday when you return, it is only up to you and your team to execute. What we like most is when you attend, you decide what is most fitting for your current product launches and you focus in those areas. The other great benefit is that it is real results, presented from real practitioners. The presentations are not based on books smarts but rather real boot-strapping product success stories and the how-to that you can apply in your business.

I wish everyone the same success we have gained from attending and hope to see you at the next ProductCamp.

Lawrence Guillory
CEO
Racemi, Inc.
www.racemi.com

Each day this week, we’re going to post some information that you’ll need to get the most out of ProductCamp.

So, here we go!

The Schedule

ProductCamp registration and voting opens at 8:30 AM on Saturday August 21. Be sure and arrive early, because there is a lot to do when you arrive!

• If you are volunteering for registration, or to help set up on Saturday morning, you’ll want to show up at 7:30 AM. We’ll send you a separate email with details about that tomorrow.
• There will be a special session at 8:20 AM entitled “Intro to ProductCamp” led by Jennifer Doctor. This session is designed for first time ProductCampers to get a quick overview of the day and what to expect. I highly recommend checking this out if this is your first ProductCamp!
• If you’d like to join me for a brief prayer coffee at the Courtyard by Marriott next door to the conference center, we’ll be meeting in the cafe at 7 AM for fellowship before we start the day. I’d love you to join me. Just reply to this email if you plan to attend the prayer meeting!

At 9:15, voting will end and we will convene for opening remarks and introductions. Votes will be tallied and sessions will be scheduled into rooms.

At 10:00, you are off to your first session!

We’ll run sessions throughout the day until 4:00 PM when we will re-convene for wrap-up, awards, door prizes and a retrospective. Following this final session, we’ll clean up and head down the street to the official after party/happy hour.

The Voting

We’re doing voting a little differently this time, so if you’ve come before, prepare for a change. From the time you walk in, you can start voting. Sessions will be posted in the main hallway for your perusal. Session leaders will be on hand to discuss their proposals 1:1 or in groups.

We’ll give you three voting labels. You’ll simply place your three labels in any combination on the sessions you’d like to attend. At 9:15 sharp, voting will end! Our vote counters will pull the session ballots off the walls and start counting.

Sessions proposals will close at noon on Wednesday August 18. If you’d like to propose a session you MUST visit http://www.pcampatl.com/sessions before that time and follow the instructions to enter your proposal.

On Thursday, we’ll send out a list of all the proposals for everyone to review and discuss before arriving on Saturday. If you’d like a preview, visit http://pcampatl.com/sessions/proposed-sessions/ to see the session that have been proposed so far!

What to Bring

You don’t need to bring a lot to ProductCamp, since we’ll provide your food and drinks during the day. (You are on your own for happy hour though!)

Here are a few suggestions though:

• A laptop, netbook, iPad or the like. We will have free Wi-Fi, but depending on traffic volume it may or may not be reliable
• An old fashioned notebook and pens
• A digital camera (PLEASE take lots of pictures and post them online!)
• Plenty of business cards
• Your best ideas, questions and a big open mind!

That’s it for today! Tomorrow, we’ll give you more information on volunteering opportunities and a few more tips for how you can get the most out of ProductCamp.

I’m really looking forward to seeing you this Saturday!

ProductCamp Atlanta 3 is being held this Saturday, August 21 at the GTRI Conference Center. All the details are available at http://www.pcampatl.com.

As of this writing, we have 301 product managers, product marketers and other professionals registered to attend from all over Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and from as far away as California!

I hope your registration will add one more to that total, but you must hurry. Registrations will close at Noon on August 18 (this Wednesday) and are capped at 350. If we achieve our target of 350 registrations, we will be unable to accept walkup participants!

To register now, click over to http://pcampatl3.eventbrite.com. Remember ProductCamp is Free to attend. We ask only that you participate in the discussions that make the event a success!

Come join 300 of your fellow product managers, brand managers, product marketers and product developers on August 21 from 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM at the GTRI Conference Center in Midtown Atlanta and see why ProductCamp Atlanta keeps growing!

And, thanks to our generous sponsors, ProductCamp Atlanta is completely FREE to you!

Pre-register for ProductCamp Atlanta at http://pcampatl3.eventbrite.com!

Even though you don’t have a ticket, you may still register as a “walk up” when you arrive!

Important Details for Walk Up Registrants

• Breakfast and Lunch are being provided for pre-registered attendees. However we can’t provide those meals for walk-up registrants. Since it’s a long day, you might want to pack a lunch. There’s also a tasty little diner called the Silver Skillet next door.
• Do help yourself to free coffee, tea and water throughout the day.
• T-shirts will be issued to pre-registered attendees first. Check in with me near the end of the day and we’ll be glad to get one to you if there are any remainders. (There should be!)
• Offer a session! We’re still looking for great session ideas, so think about pitching a session or hosting a roundtable discussion when you arrive! (You can still sign up at http://pcampatl.uservoice.com).

That’s it! I hope to see you there!

I truly hope you are as excited as I am! We’ve got 35 pre-submitted sessions (5 more than last year) and I suspect a few of you will have a last minute flash of brilliance for a roundtable discussion, or book discussion or something else. And that’s great!

Here are a few reminders and details you’ll need to know:

• Check-in begins at 8:30 AM
• Events start at 9:00 AM
• ProductCamp is being held at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center at:

250 West 14th Street
Atlanta, GA 30318
Directions via Google Maps

• The Conference Center shares a driveway with Georgia Public Broadcasting, and there is ample free, covered parking.

And two more things:

• I’ll be hosting a brief Christian prayer breakfast at Bobby & June’s Country Kitchen at 7 AM prior to ProductCamp. I’d love it if you join me. If you plan to come to the breakfast, would you please drop me a line at jason@pcampatl.com so I can tell them how many to expect? The address is:

375 14th Street Northwest
Atlanta, GA  30318
Directions via Google Maps

• There will be an after party at Ri Ra Irish Pub, starting at about 5:30 PM. I hope to see you there!

1080 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA  30309
Directions via Google Maps

So, that’s it. I’ll see you in the morning. It’s time to learn something from each other!

In this post, I’ll give you some information, including:

1. How to preview and influence the sessions that will be offered on Saturday
2. The schedule for the day
3. What to bring with you
4. Ways to participate and help make ProductCamp an even greater success
5. Dress Code

1. Sessions

Session  leaders  have  already started posting their sessions over at http://pcampatl.uservoice.com. You can go over there right now and take a look at the proposed topics, comment on them and vote for your favorites. It’s also not too late to offer your own session! Just post your idea and see what the crowd thinks! You can also see some interviews with some of the session leaders right here on the ProductCamp blog.

The voting here does not impact the sessions on Saturday, but it does give the session leaders an idea of how their session is going to be received. Your comments help them prepare for your best questions and further hone their topics to give you the greatest value.

2. Schedule

8:30 AM Registration opens. Continental breakfast, coffee and networking
9:00 AM Welcome and Introductions, Session voting and scheduling
10:00 AM Morning Sessions start
12:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM Afternoon Sessions
4:00 PM Wrap-up and closing remarks. Cleanup, load up and go to the…
5:30 PM After Party at Ri Ra Irish Pub!

3. What to Bring

Bring note-taking supplies for yourself. Whatever that is for you. Notepad, pens, recording devices, laptop, pda. WiFi will be available.

And bring business cards. Lots of business cards.

4. Ways to Help

• Do you have a video camera or a digital camera?
• Take video of sessions and post it online!
• Take pictures and post them on Flickr!
• Take notes and write a blog post or send notes out to your friends and colleagues.
• Volunteer to help a session leader by taking notes for him or her, or by keeping an eye on the time.
• Live-blog or live-tweet the day.
• The possibilities are endless!

5. Dress Code

Casual. Just dress comfortably.

I hope this information is helpful to you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me.

So go take a look at those sessions and we’ll see you on Saturday!