Three months ago I started a new product position in Dallas after leaving a position that took me to Minnesota from Dallas most weeks. The frequent travel made networking in my field a bit challenging. Now back in the DFW area, I am looking to connect locally with other product professionals on a regular basis.
If you are in product management or marketing and reading this post, you may be just like me – lacking a network of support and understanding for the challenges in this field. Like me, you want more than the once a month gathering. You want a local, concentrated, and free event where you not only network, but also share and learn on relevant topics in the area of product management and marketing.
My search for such an event introduced me to ProductCamps (“PCamps”) or “un-conferences” where attendees (“campers”) are expected to participate in some way – present, speak on a panel, show off a project, or ask a lot of questions – but never give a sales pitch. I found PCamps scheduled in Austin, Toronto, SoCal, and yes, even Minnesota. Figures, I am finally back in Dallas and there is no ProductCamp Dallas!
Why does such a large market not already have a ProductCamp on the calendar? Dallas is home to many types of businesses and industries and is one of the largest markets in the US. So I began tweeting. Graham Joyce from Pragmatic Marketing referred me to Joyce Schofield, founder of DFW ProductGroup and fellow PM professional. We linked up and I learned she was already brainstorming ideas on how to bring this to Dallas – soon.
Joyce attended the very large and energetic PCamp Austin earlier this year (over 500 campers in the 3rd year!), but I am still a newbie. And since I am not one to blindly help coordinate something I had no experience with, I set out to attend one myself – ProductCamp Seattle. My objectives were to participate, learn, and get ideas for PCamp Dallas. But along the way I noted some helpful tips for other newbies.
