We’re deviating from the typical ProductCamp format to bring you a mini-ProductCamp as part of TechWeek2011. On the evening of Monday, July 25th we’ll be having two expert speaker panels on the topics that generated the most PM buzz at the last event – Social and Mobile.

Social Media Panel: “I’ve got a Facebook page – now what?”
Moderator: Parissa Behnia, 678 Partners
Panelists: Tim McDonald, SMC Chicago
Adam Goldstein, Orbitz
Scot Wheeler, Intelitecht

Mobile Panel: “I thought this thing was for making phone calls! Integrating Smart Mobile into your Product Strategy”
Moderator: Dan Cummings, GPShopper
Panelists: Hugh Jedwill, Mobile Anthem
Martin Logan, Orbitz
J Schwan, Solstice Consulting

We’ve got some great industry experts ready to help you take your social and mobile strategies to the next level. They will be having a moderated discussion, followed by an open Q&A session. It’ll be entertaining, informative and, as always, a great place to network.  Hope to see you there!

Register here>>

Whether this is your first, third or tenth camping trip, you should ask yourself the same question – how do you prepare for a ProductCamp? Should you volunteer? Should you create a presentation? Will any of my colleagues be there?

I’d like to suggest something really crazy here. Let’s think about your attendance at ProductCamp like a new product launch — with the product being you.

Recent blogs have suggested that we don’t have a lot of places to go as Product Marketing and Product Management professionals. Places where we can develop, share and learn about our profession. When we do get out of the office professionally usually we are so far behind in office work when we get back to work, we forget much of what we have learned and we don’t keep in contact with our new professional network connections.

I propose you invest in yourself before you make the trip to a ProductCamp:

1. Revisit Networking Basics
   Networking is all about meeting new people and building relationships. Learn to ask each new contact who you else should you meet? Introduce someone you are speaking with to someone you just met. By connecting them, you become the trusted hub. Follow up after the event with your favorite choice of communication (email, twitter, linkedin, etc)
2. Appear Prepared
   Have a very brief opening line prepared to describe yourself in a positive light. Relate your introduction to your personal distinctive competence. Of course have business cards with you and a note pad. Ask for your new contact’s business card and continue the discussion until you have established a bit of repoire and some sort of future follow up action.
3. Set a Goal
   Walk in to the event having set a personal goal (ie. meet 5 new people in my industry or job function that I can turn to).

I met a product peer through the community on Twitter. She was planning to attend ProductCamp Seattle as was I. She saw a tweet about several of us out of towners gathering for dinner the night before PCamp, and we invited her. We met in person, established some common ground and found we had personal interests too. After the ProductCamp, she was on a business trip to where I was working, and we met for dinner. Periodically we share experiences and ask each other professional questions. Now, she is on the planning team for a ProductCamp in her hometown. I’m advising her on some Pcamp best practices, and we are talking about possibly co-presenting a session.  (And, she has become a social friend on Facebook.)

Just like we set metrics for our products and launches, we  needs to set goals with our Pcamp attendance. How do we know if we succeed at the event without the goals? Measure, don’t guess. – the goals could be 2 job leads, 4 peeps like me that I can form relationships with, 3 thought leaders I can turn to for advice and assistance. Whatever goals you choose, write them down. (Hey! Here’s an idea – use the comments section below to share yours.) If you go to a ProductCamp and come away not having met at least 3 people with whom you have formed a professional relationships, contact me I will be one of them for you.

And, remember the awesome movie, Pay It Forward. For everything that you take from a PCamp, pay it forward and give as much as you take.

Looking in from the outside, any product camp is only as good an experience as you prepare and make it.

– Originally posted at www.outsideinview.com

ProductCamps have been around several years now, and plenty of words have been written about the experience from all sorts of perspectives.  ProductCamp Austin founder Paul Young wrote a frequently-referenced description of ProductCamp, so I won’t re-invent the wheel here.

What I do want to touch on is the value ProductCamp provides to those attending and participating (preferably everyone there is both!).  We just held ProductCamp Atlanta 4 yesterday, and one tweet from presenter Jason Moss really summed everything up:

Just leaving Product Camp. This was one of the most amazing and educational days in my career. THANK YOU ALL! #pcampatl

This is why people volunteer to conduct ProductCamps, present content, and spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon inside a conference center sharing and learning about product management and marketing topics.  Product Managers usually only work with a small team of people that are like them — and work with a business-at-large that thinks quite differently (from Paul Young’s “X-factor” presentation–see slide 12).  A day devoted to topics related to our line of work, with our peers, is hard to come by.

The fact that ProductCamp occurs on weekends demands a degree of self-selection — product managers who aren’t slightly maniacal about their careers and doing their job to the absolute maximum of their capability aren’t going to spend a Saturday in a conference center.  As a result, the caliber of people you find at a ProductCamp exceeds that of many other conferences — these aren’t people who are guilted into showing up because their company enrolled them.  These are people who made a conscious decision to spend the day advancing their skills and knowledge, and meeting people like them.

In the opening session, Jason Brett asked how many in the audience were at their first ProductCamp — and on this particular day, about 50% of the audience stood up.  So i was interested to see what these people thought of ProductCamp.  So here are a few other comments that validate the time and effort:

From Eric Martincek: ”Thanks to everyone who made ProductCamp ATL #pcampatl a great success. This was my first & plan on attending the next one.”

From Desiree Peeples:  ”Thanks so much for allowing me to be a part of such an amazing event… looking forward to next year!!!”

Also from Desiree: “#pcampatl ROCKED this year!!. If you weren’t there–you missed out!”

From Kellie Jones: “Great day. Awesome people. Good sessions. Sublime donuts and RiRa. #pcampatl”

How does ProductCamp get this kind of reaction?  Aside from the self-selection mentioned earlier, people attending ProductCamp vote on session topics — so the democratic process encourages topics that the vast majority of people want to see.  This time there were 32 proposals for only 16 slots — no room for sessions people were only marginally interested in.

So to sum up, if you haven’t paid much attention to ProductCamp Atlanta in the past, but you want to see what the fuss is about, check out pcampatl.com!

– Originally posted at johnpeltier.com

It’s easy to say the two minutes mean nothing.  But they do mean something.  How willing am I to comply with an exercise schedule that I’ve set for myself?  If I slack off on these last two minutes regularly, how much does that tendency to slack off affect the overall intensity of the workout?  Does the “good enough” attitude I sometimes have influence the decision to blow off exercising all together?  Does this lackadaisical view of exercise affect how much and what it is I eat?

When I slack off the pounds come back on.  And it’s hard to make them melt away again.  And I end up regretting every minute lost and calorie gained.  It’s like torture.

Similarly, what happens when we slack off professionally?  What happens if we don’t give our products and our customers our very best?  What happens if we’re not willing to be completely thorough in everything we do?  What’s the expense if I don’t give them my very best but instead say good enough?  What if I set a per unit cost in advance and don’t deviate from it when good, quality design costs more than my set per unit cost?

Thankfully, we don’t have to have a theoretical discussion about this.  Thanks to this lovely tidbit I found, we can get a true sizing of financial risk and cost when we’re not thorough in product development.  For every $1 spent making sure requirements are error free:

• You spend $1 making sure everyone has a clear understanding of said requirements; Or
• You could wait until development has begun and waste $10 if what’s been built in early stages doesn’t match requirements; Or
• Stay silent and wait to pay attention at QA phase – for that level of care, you’re spending $100; Or
• Just wait to see if anyone notices after it’s released for your customers.  That level of care is $1000 expense.

Rather expensive.  And it really gives one pause about our commitment to good design as well as thorough attention to detail in the beginning, middle and end of the development process.

Let’s talk about the Ford Pinto.  Developed during a time in which Ford was worried about Japanese automakers, it’s production mandate was that it couldn’t have a retail cost that exceeded $2000.  Trouble was that during design and production testing, it became clear that if you rear ended one of these cars at 30 miles an hour, chances were good that the gas tank would go up in flames and the percentage went up at 40 miles an hour.  Look at this federal crash test:

But they went ahead with production because, according to their cost benefit analysis math, it was cheaper to pay damages to victims than it was to go back to design mode and install a piece that would minimize the risk of catastrophe — $49.5MM (their payout to victims) versus $137MM (their cost to make the change).

Two famous cases marked the beginning of the end: a California case which awarded victims of a Pinto crash $125MM (later reduced to $3.5MM) and the Indiana case which tried Ford for homicide because documents showed that Ford was aware of defect (later acquitted). Ford recalled some 1.5MM cars but it went out of production after numerous other suits were filed.

There are numerous other bad product design/development examples: Ford Explorer and Bridgetstone tires, Toyota Camry brake failures, etc. I wonder when we will realize that it’s cheaper to start from the beginning than to “take our chances” in production.

Empty pockets never held anyone back only empty heads and empty hearts can do that -Norman Vincent Peale

So rife with meaning generally but apropos to what’s been on my mind lately. Like many of you, I spend a good deal of time networking and sharing what I know. Lately, at the end of every meeting, I am hearing this question, “Why are you helping me?” My answer is typically some or all of the following:

• Because I can.
• Because I care.
• Because I’m interested in the topic.
• Because I like helping.
• Because I like helping you.
• Because I like paying it forward.
• Because I’m learning something in the process.
• Because it’s the right thing to do.
• Because it helps the community.

It occurs to me that my answer is not unlike the vibe at ProductCamps that are held all over the world. It’s not unlike the vibe at ProductCamp Chicago. If you’ve not been to a ProductCamp, then I strongly suggest you give it a try. If you attend, you drive your destiny. No sponsor is telling you what to buy and no person sets an agenda for you. If you present, it’s your chance to show your might to others and get some great live feedback from your peers.

Unconferences like ProductCamp embody the essence of that Norman Vincent Peale quote. None of the participants pay to attend and the only thing that prevents someone from getting the most possible out of it is his or her own mind and heart regardless if you are a presenter or attendee. The success truly depends on how much you’re willing to get out of your own way.

See, it’s not only the mind that drives the success of an unconference. Actually, I’d say that the mind is a very small part of what makes unconferences worth the time. What makes them successful goes beyond the thought leadership. It’s actually the sense of community, fraternity, generosity, humility, friendliness, etc., that helps it elevate itself beyond a glorified show and tell.

Unconferences are relationship and community incubators. They help us step outside our small circles and become acquainted with the broader community. They help us learn and grow by making us consider things in wholly new dimensions: inside out, upside down, reverse color, etc. They encourage our contribution to the greater good either through the sharing of our ideas or the acceptance of others’ feedback. They encourage us to be better product managers, marketers, developers, leaders, architects, etc.

Some cynical ones may say that I’m waxing too romantic about ProductCamp. My answer is that, to borrow from Norman Vincent Peale, it’s an empty heart that thinks so. And here’s a great video from last year’s ProductCamp Chicago to back me up.

Dr. Jim Anderson is the “Billion Dollar Product Manager” because the products that he’s managed have produced over US$1B in revenue.

In reaching this goal, he has truly been there / done that. He has been a product manager for individual products at small start-ups as well as entire products lines for some of the world’s largest IT shops.  The same successful product management techniques can be made to work in both environments. In over 20 years of managing IT products and solutions, Dr. Anderson has implemented best practices for managing products at some of the world’s largest IT firms: Boeing, Siemens, Alcatel, and Verizon.

Coupled with his practical, real-world experience he’s created a proven strategy for streamlining the development of IT products. Dr. Anderson realizes that for a product’s sales to be successful, it takes an entire company working together, not different departments working separately. Making this happen is the real challenge that Product Managers face.

Dr Anderson helms Blue Elephant Consulting which is a boutique firm that specializes in helping IT Professionals improve how they communicate both inside and outside of the company. Just knowing something isn’t enough anymore. Product managers need to be able to share that knowledge with others in order to maximize value for their companies.  Blue Elephant Consulting helps develop communications skills in two different areas: internal (communicating with departments and communicating with teams) and external (communicating with groups, communicating with vendors, and communicating with customers).

His blog, “The Accidental Product Manager“, is where he shares the product management secrets that he’s discovered along the way. He is dedicated to providing product managers everywhere with access to an ongoing discussion about the information and the skills that they can use need in order to become the best product mangers in the world.

Welcome to Chicago, Dr. Anderson!  And, thank you!

Here is the agenda – we have sold out and we are expecting an excellent event!

8:00 am – Check In and Networking
9:00 am – Kickoff and Welcoming Remarks
9:30 am – Keynote speaker
10:15 am – Break
10:30am – Round Table 1
11:15 am – Break
11:30 am – Round Table 2
12:15 pm – Lunch
1:30 pm – Round Table 3
2:15 pm – Break
2:45 pm – Round Table 4
3:30 pm – Closing Remarks

As you can see here we are having 4 Round Table sessions – each of which will have 3 different speakers in separate rooms.  The morning round table speakers will be selected by the voting on the ProductCamp Chicago website, so make sure that you vote for your favorites!  The afternoon round table speakers are going to be selected by voting on-site, so if your idea didn’t get selected for a morning session or you develop an idea during the day, you still have a chance to present.

Make sure that you add this event to your LinkedIn Calendar to help promote it -  http://events.linkedin.com/ProductCamp-Chicago/pub/336497

It took longer than we wanted, but we’re thrilled with the result. We set the bar pretty high – hoping to find a facility that offers:

• Large conference rooms for sessions
• Gathering areas to facilitate voting and networking
• Free wireless internet
• Audio / video presentation facilities
• Central location – preferably within easy access of public transportation
• Strong ties to the technology community

Not only does TechNexus meet all of our criteria, the ITA has generously donated the space for use by ProductCamp. For those of you not familiar with the ITA, it’s a regional industry trade association headquartered in Chicago that serves all of Illinois and is committed to developing an environment in which technology companies can flourish in an increasingly competitive marketplace. With more than 550 members, the ITA connects technology organizations that focus on a range of disciplines, including travel, data management, telecommunications, navigation, and sales enablement.

The space is located at 200 S Wacker Dr, 15th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606, not far from Union and Ogilvie train stations. Here’s an overview of the accommodations:

	Reception / Check-in Participants will need to check in at security on the first floor to gain access to the 15th floor. We’ll provide a list of attendees to security beforehand, so it’s important that you register before showing up. After exiting the elevator, there’s plenty of space for a check-in station where you can pickup your name badge and t-shirt.
	Lounge There is a good deal of lounge area and hallway space for networking and voting on sessions.
	Conference Room A We have a lot of flexibility with the room configurations. Rather than setting up the room with an open-ended table (as seen here), we’ll probably have theater seating to accommodate ~60 people.
	Conference Room B & C All the rooms are separated by sound-proof collapsible walls. We’ll probably combine these two rooms and configure for theater seating to accommodate another 60 or so participants. This will allow for us to have two session tracks.
	Kitchen Food! Yes, we’ll be providing lunch thanks to the generous support of our sponsors. Although there’s not enough room for everyone to dine here, it will work perfectly for distributing box lunches.
	Breakout Rooms We’ll also have access to a number of breakout rooms and hotelling cubes so you can have ad hoc meetings and sessions aside from the main tracks.

We’re looking forward to having a great event at ITA TechNexus and hope that you can be a part of it. If you’ve been hesitating to sign up until we had the specifics ironed out, now you can check your calender and register!

As you know, the presentations for the PCamp round tables are all generated by the un-conference attendees.  That means you!  This is your chance to show off what you know, impress your colleagues and establish yourself as a thought leader.  It’s also a chance for you to learn because Product Camp is completely and totally based on participation.  There is no audience – only fellow participators!

In the spirit of ProductCamp, there are no hard and fast rules for round table discussions.  You can simply walk into the room, introduce yourself, state your topic and see what happens.  However, most people prepare a 20-25 minutes presentation and leave 20 minutes for open discussion.

You can post your topic and a brief write up of your thoughts on the topic on the ProductCamp Chicago wiki.  You can even include your presentation (if you have it prepared ahead of time) with the link to SlideShare.

As we get closer to the event, we’ll post the rules for voting on presentations, so you can decide on what you want to see.  As always, if you have questions on any part of the un-conference, please send them along to any of the organizers.  We’re always happy to help!

Thank you!

Your interest and enthusiasm has helped keep us motivated to sort out everything that needs to happen behind the scenes to make ProductCamp a reality. As you might imagine, we can’t nail down a whole lot of specifics until the venue is secured. We’re looking for a space that has:

• capacity for ~200 participants,
• breakout rooms,
• wireless internet,
• easy access from all parts of the region
• and is free!

A bit more on the free part… Good meeting space can be pretty expensive and since there’s no registration fee to attend ProductCamp, we’re relying on our sponsors to cover costs. You see, if we’re able to cut down (or eliminate) the cost of the venue we can redirect those dollars to support more participants and better equip sessions.

We’ve been reaching out to our top choices (think Chicago universities) and are working to finalize arrangements by mid April –  although this may be a bit of a stretch. If you’d like to recommend a place to have ProductCamp Chicago or would like to volunteer yours, please contact me at josh@pcampchicago.org or better yet leave a comment!