ProductCamp Atlanta 2013

Join us for Lunch on May 21!

john — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:33:12 +0000

Announcing the ProductCamp Atlanta Networking Lunches! We’re getting together — in four different places — for lunch on May 21st, to just slow down and enjoy a casual lunch with your local product management colleagues! No presentations and no formal topics – just good food, networking, and plenty of product chatter.

Whether you want to debate what next year’s hottest innovation will be or commiserate with other product managers searching for their ground in an agile world, this lunch is for you. And if you don’t feel like talking shop, just go ahead and network. We don’t always get a lot of chances to swap stories with other product managers, so here’s your excuse!

We have four events planned, so more people will be able to participate at a convenient location. We’re simply getting a spot at a local restaurant and confirming the number of attendees from the corresponding Eventbrite shortly before lunch. For that reason, please do not sign up unless you know you can attend.

The individual lunch invitations are available here:

Please sign up for the lunch that works for you – and for those in attendance, we’ll be making an announcement about future ProductCamp events!

We look forward to sharing lunch with you on May 21st.

Best regards,

- The ProductCamp Atlanta Team

Content is King

john — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:57:50 +0000

Each year the session content at ProductCamp Atlanta gets better and better. The proposed session topics are relevant and intriguing, making it even more difficult to vote. Attendees have three votes and there were over 40 session proposals to choose from at this year’s past event. From entry to exec level, start-up company to corporate industry leader, product to career strategy, there was something in store for everyone.

Today, we’d like to highlight a number of interesting sessions, in particular those for which the session leaders have shared their slides. Slides, where available, are linked below the title of the session. Have a look at some of the great content that was delivered this year!

Selected Session Topics at ProductCamp Atlanta 6 – August 2012

Product

User Experience

Go To Market

Management and Career

Feedback from Closing Session of ProductCamp 2012

john — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 23:42:30 +0000

Thanks to everyone who helped make ProductCamp Atlanta 2012 a roaring success!

This post is intended to capture some of the items raised during closing session, for the benefit of those of us still there and for those who left earlier. If you have anything you’d like to add, please add it in the comments

Things that people liked:

Session variety
Quality of content
Quality of Session leaders
Voting process
Session Pitches
Airhorn during Session Pitches
Schedule

Opportunities for improvement:

Might be nice to have a sort of “Playtime” to break up the day
Didn’t do the stars this time for job seekers/holders
Portable solution for schedule: mobile device, or even on paper
Hard to tell which sessions are which by title alone
Use of a Street sign might help new attendees find the facility
Consider a formalized way to capture feedback about each speaker
Encourage 30 second video pitch online, prior to camp
Capture job openings that are mentioned in the opening session

As a result of this conversation, one immediate action item you’ll see this week is that we’re going to attempt to reassemble the list of job openings as best we can, and distribute that to everyone who was in attendance at ProductCamp. Therefore, it will not be posted on the blog – being fair to those who made the effort to attend.

Thanks to everyone for your input–and to add more items, please comment below!

Proposed Session: The 60 Second Business Case

john — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 02:42:01 +0000

Title:
The 60 Second Business Case

Session Leader:
Jason Brett

Format:
Presentation

Abstract:

You’ve only got about 300 ideas on your product backlog. That’s easy to manage, right?

So, how do you judge which features, enhancements and product options offer the greatest potential impact to your business? It ain’t easy, is it?

In this session, I’ll show you the tools that Silverpop Product Managers use to critically evaluate a feature or enhancement in as little as 60 seconds, and build a powerful, defensible case for or against an effort so that you don’t spend hours and days doing research for initiatives that just don’t represent the best choices.

Session Leader Bio:

Jason Brett is Senior Product Manager at Silverpop Systems, an Atlanta-based global marketing technology company. Additionally, Jason is the founder of ProductCamp Atlanta and continues to support the growth of the ProductCamp movement as a volunteer and subject matter expert.

Most importantly, Jason loves cookies.

Session proposal: Localising For China

john — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 02:38:10 +0000

Title:
Localising For China

Session Leader:
Diane Symcheck

Format:
Presentation

Abstract:

Did you know:
The “”tiny water village of Suzhou”" has twice the number of people as Chicago?
Chengdu is home to both the panda and the iPad.

Getting a website developed for the Chinese customer was a fantastic challenge for me last year.
I’ll share my insights, experiences and lessons learned as I went from “”We need a website for Greater China”" to “”We have a fully functioning website for Greater China”" in one year.

Session Leader Bio:

Diane is currently on IHG’s Localisation team as a product owner.

During her 14-year tenure with IHG in product management, she has bought to life a range of products from new brand sites to content and booking process enhancements to full site overhauls. Along the way, she has collaborated with every distribution channel and almost every department within IHG to facilitate moving the right customer through the right channel for the right purpose.

Session Proposal: What Steve Jobs & MLK, Jr. Have in Common – and Why You Should Care

john — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:41:29 +0000

Title:
Mobile UX Workshop: Prototyping & Storytelling

Session Leader:
Martha Legare

Format:
Workshop

Abstract:

Besides being dead, what do these two radically different people have in common? Both Jobs and King were visionaries who used similar tactics to engage others in the change process. In this interactive and practical workshop, we’ll explore 10 tactics they used to move people in the direction they wanted. Since YOU aren’t dead, you can immediately apply their techniques to get your customers, your manager, and your team to buy into your goals. We may even add to their 10 Tactic Arsenal of Change Management Tools. Come join us for a fun and intriguing brain workout.

Session Leader Bio:

Martha Legare, MBA, PMP, CMP, is CEO of the Gantt Group, a consulting firm linking strategy, organizational change, and project management. She has helped clients establish Project Offices in multiple countries, and is published in 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know.

Martha created a proprietary PM methodology that was adopted when a €60 billion company acquired her client. She has coached leaders and teams, planning a national rollout of a collections system for a credit card provider, and helped facilitate the restructure of a $1.9 billion legal information provider. She has served on 3 of PMI’s Global Advisory Boards.

What to Expect at ProductCamp

john — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 12:56:09 +0000

ProductCamp Atlanta is tomorrow!

We’ve got 350 Product Managers, Marketers and other Product professionals registered to attend. You are going to be in great company this Saturday and we are looking forward to seeing you. Now we’d like to provide some basic information about what to expect tomorrow!

When to Arrive:

ProductCamp registration opens at 8:30 AM on Saturday August 18th. Be sure and arrive early, because there is a lot to do when you arrive!
If you are volunteering to help with Registration or Setup on Saturday morning, you’ll want to show up at 7:15 AM. More information for volunteers below.

The day’s timeline looks like this:

AT 9:00: Lots to do, so we’re starting on time! Session Leaders will pitch 30-second summaries of their sessions, and then we’ll vote!
9:30: we move out to the common area to quickly cast our votes.
9:45: we are back in the auditorium for information about our sponsors, to open the floor up for job opportunities, while our Sessions team lines up the first sessions
10:05: We will have the first sessions scheduled and posted.
10:20-11:00: Session 1
11:20-12:00: Session 2
12:00-1:00: Lunch
1:00-1:40: Session 3
2:00-2:40: Session 4

Click for a list of the proposed sessions.

At the end of the last session, you’ll vote again–this time for Best Session and Best Presenter, which will be revealed during the Closing Session.

What to Bring
You don’t need to bring a lot to ProductCamp, since we’ll provide your food and drinks during the day. Here are a few suggestions:

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!

Session Leaders:

We have an updated Slide Template which helps us recognize our sponsors. Please be sure to use this template.
If you have a Mac, please be sure to bring your own VGA/monitor adapter so that our attendees can see your slides!

See you tomorrow!

The ProductCamp Atlanta Team

Proposed Sessions for ProductCamp Atlanta 2012

john — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:03:42 +0000

Here’s the complete list of all sessions proposed for ProductCamp Atlanta 6, this Saturday August 18! (known absences excluded) Follow the links to the sessions that interest you so you’ll know what you’re voting on at 9am!

See you Saturday!

Proposed Session: The art of ad-libbing

john — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:30:29 +0000

Title:
The art of ad-libbing

Session Leader:
Vince Baskerville

Format:
Panel Discussion

Abstract:

Unfortunately, many of us are either forced or force other people to suffer from “Death by Powerpoint” — horrible cheesy clip-art visuals, tiny font with 8 paragraphs of text per slide, obscure charts.. etc. I’ll try to walk through a few simple tips and tools that everyone should know to help overcome those setbacks with hopes of dazzling your future audiences with your next presentation.

Session Leader Bio:

I’m a co-founder and VP of Product for TripLingo. I also maintain an industry blog at VincentJordan.com, and ran 8BitFeed.com. I’ve been constantly evolving as a Developer and Designer to Product owner for over a decade and I’m known for crafting highly intuitive/engaging digital products — in addition for being an adrenaline junkie! I’ve also had the opportunity to work for the military (I was enlisted in the US Navy and did various consulting work afterwards), educational institutions, creative agencies and startups. That said, currently much of my time is being focused on TripLingo, and being an awesome husband.

Proposed Session: Mobile UX Workshop: Prototyping & Storytelling

john — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:18:44 +0000

Title:
Mobile UX Workshop: Prototyping & Storytelling

Session Leader:
Vince Baskerville

Format:
Workshop

Abstract:

Communication is an integral part of the user experience design process, and as part of being a UXer, how well we communicate this is the real ground work needed to connect our design ideas and requirements to the people who are actually using the product.

This workshop will outline why prototyping is an essential part of the emerging world of tablets and mobile experience design, and how pairing it with effective storytelling will help you fight the struggle of communicating your wealth of information so everyone just ‘gets’ it.

You’ll learn underlying mobile design principles and design conventions that is emerging as these devices become commonplace. In addition, you’ll learn a wide variety of hands-on prototyping methods that can be applied to your design process. You’ll receive tactical, hands-on instruction to turn your ideas into interactive prototypes with speed and confidence.

Expect hands-on design explorations, group ideation and the opportunity to make the abstract future of user experience design a little more fun. This is a hands-on workshop, which means you’ll be working with scissors, markers and such. I shouldn’t have to tell you not to run with them. You won’t need a laptop, but you’re welcome to bring one.

Session Leader Bio: