One of my favorite events on the St. Louis calendar is ProductCamp St. Louis. I think my first year attending was 2014, and I've managed to make it most years since (pandemic shutdown notwithstanding). And one of my favorite things about ProductCamp is that it is an "unconference."
Sessions are proposed by attendees, the proposals are then voted on by the attendees, and the top voted sessions are added into the schedule and assigned a room. Part of the fun of being an attendee is not knowing exactly what you're going to get to participate in during the day.
On the other hand, part of the "fun" of being a potential presenter is not knowing if you are actually going to get to present your session. You submit your proposal, you prepare your session, you promote it before the event and that morning, try to convince people to vote for your session. And then if (when!) your session is selected, you hope that people actually decide to come to your room when the time comes.
Last year was a bit of anomaly. As it turned out, there were exactly as many sessions proposed as there were session slots, so everyone who proposed a session got to present it. Including me, with my session "Journey Management and the Innovator's Dilemma". If I'm honest, as much as I enjoyed presenting the session, and was glad that I was able to, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to find out if people thought it would be good enough to vote for.
On the plus side, when my session time came I had a full room of participants. Granted, it was on the smaller side of the available rooms (40-50 people, maybe?), but it was some validation that people thought the session worth participating. And participate they did, with plenty of questions, comments, and insights that improved on what I had come prepared with.
ProductCamp St. Louis 2024 is coming up in a couple of weeks (March 9) and session proposal submissions are now being accepted. If you are planning to attend, I encourage you to submit a session proposal about something you are passionate about, something you've been successful with, or just an idea that you'd like to explore.
About gBRETT miller
Hey, there! I'm gBRETT (the "g" is silent). Captured here are some daily musings and observations, an ounce of perception and a pound of obscure. Subscribe below if you’d like to get a daily email, or just stop back every now and then if that's your preference. Either way, thanks for stopping by, and thanks for reading.
