I asked Parissa Behnia, Idea Chef from 678 Partners to recap her experience at ProductCamp Chicago. Chicago has always been a bit of weird product management market and I was really excited to see this get off the ground. (Denver???) I hope you enjoy her guest post…
PMs launch flawless ProductCamp Chicago
And live to tell about it! On June 19, members of Chicago’s Product Manager community came together at Illinois Technology Association’s TechNexus for a great day of sharing, discussing and networking! It was a great way to support and celebrate our vibrant PM talent as well as elevate our profile nationwide. We want to let our PM friends on both coasts know that we’re here and want to participate in the broader discussion!
Our day started off with an excellent keynote by Dr. Jim Anderson who graciously donated his time and wisdom to all of us. His positivity and energy, as well as his vision, set the tone for the rest of the day. He made us realize that it’s all well and good that we’re focused on the now, but if we truly want to do right by our customers, we have to think of how we get our products to future state to manage and exceed expectations.
His great keynote was matched by great roundtable discussions led by Coley Perry, Thierry Roullier, Pek Pongpaet, Robert Moll, Peter Morano, Tim Courtney, Michael Walkden and Tim Goodall. And discussions they truly were! The leaders were peppered with some really thoughtful questions by the attendees all the way through: a true sign of quality topics and engaged audiences.
Truly, seeing so many likeminded people in the room was a shot in the arm that our Chicago PMs needed. As someone said, if you’re having trouble breaking up the conversations so you can start your next session, it means that you’re doing a bang up job and fulfilling the mission. Not bad, eh?
Another sign of fulfilling the mission: there was a groundswell of positive feedback early on in the day and it’s only continued since then. Attendees also gave us some really good suggestions for improving on our successful model and we can’t wait to implement them. What’s more, many attendees have volunteered to be a part of the organizing team which is very exciting.
Plans are in the works for the next ProductCamp Chicago, which will be in October. We’re currently on the hunt for Chicago based Pharma and CPG PMs to join us in the lively art of PM conversation! If you know any, please spread the word!
Hats off to Dave Radzialowski for leading the charge and to Joshua Steffan, Roshan Shankar and Shawn Emery. It was a pleasure working with them on this successful launch and we look forward to more ProductCamp Chicago successes!
Thank you to our sponsors as well: 280 Group, Illinois Technology Association, Macon Raine, Pathfinder Development, Sears, Orbitz, Pragmatic Marketing, Product Development and Management Association, Zig Zag Marketing and Chicago Product Management Association.
For more information, please visit our site pcampchicago.org.
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