Session Topics proposed for inclusion into the April 30, 2011 ProductCamp DC event

Here are some of session topics delivered at the April 30, 2011 ProductCamp DC event.

- Pradheep Sampath

 The Product Manager Pathfinder: Accelerating Your Product Management and Marketing Career

By Hector Del Castillo

How can you position yourself to get hired or promoted over your competitors? What are your Unique Selling Propositions as a product manager or marketing manager? What can you do to accelerate your career in product management or product marketing? We will discuss key tips to differentiate yourself and accelerate you career. Learn how to convince a prospective employer why they should hire you or influence your current employer to promote you. We will identify how you can enhance your worth by increasing transferable skills. We will also discuss ways to identify your unique selling propositions so you can market yourself. Join me for a discussion regarding the importance of career planning and positioning.

Silence the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Create Growth Plans That Work

By Rick Norman

If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, when will you ever find the time to do it over? Traditional VOC methods are often used today to guide marketing and product development efforts but with shockingly low success rates. This session will address the root causes of those failure rates. Come learn how thinking about markets, strategy and innovation from a “jobs-to-be-done” perspective consistently results in the creation of winning growth strategies and breakthrough products and services. Industry examples will be presented to show how “getting the requirements right” can deliver consistently high success rates.

"Lean" Product Management

                    By Shardul Mehta

Can Product Management run "lean"? What does "lean" mean? Lean Startup practices are revolutionizing the way startups are being done. Startups are about innovation and new product development. So is Product Management! Lean Startup is about speed to market, testing a vision by measuring how customers behave, and engaging customers throughout the product development cycle. Most of all, it is about a methodology of learning through a systematic Build > Measure > Learn process. Can Lean Startup practices be applied to Product Management to increase the chances of market success for our products?

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By Jon Gatrell

With all the noise around social media and the opportunities it affords organizations it can be daunting to figure out where to start. This session will focus on how to practically leverage social media in developing products and growing market share. Participants will walk away with 3 key takeaways which you can put in practice tomorrow to improve your understanding of buyers, your customers and the problems waiting to be solved.

Transforming Innovation to Profit

By Hector Del Castillo

What can you do as a product manager or product marketing manager to encourage innovation? How do you harness the power of innovation to minimize risk and increase profit for your company? Why should you lead innovation within your company? We will share ideas and insights to help you create and implement a business and marketing strategy to drive innovation within your company. The speaker will identify key principles to help you increase creativity and collaboration and lead product development activities to turn product innovation to profit. He will identify the value of innovation, best business practices and proven methodologies. We will also ask questions, and open the floor for expansion and general discussion. Join me for a discussion regarding how to create an innovative environment within your company. I will identify concrete steps you can take to foster innovation.

 Social Insights: Use Social Media to Improve Your Product's Position in the Market