ProductCamp Seattle 2009 was the first ProductCamp in Seattle, and on October 23rd, 2010 it will be bigger and better! 

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ProductCamp: A collaborative unconference about Product Management and Marketing

What is ProductCamp?

ProductCamp is a collaborative, user organized unconference, focused on Product Management and Marketing topics. At ProductCamp everyone participates: by presenting, leading a roundtable discussion, helping with logistics, securing sponsorship, or volunteering. ProductCamp is a great opportunity for you to learn from, teach to, and network with professionals involved in the Product Management, Marketing, and Development process from the Seattle area! This will be the second ProductCamp in Seattle, so by participating, you’ll also be a pioneer. Previous ProductCamps held in Seatle and other cities have had very positive reviews, some even achieving 100% attendee approval ratings in post-event surveys.

ProductCamp is a bunch of smart, passionate people coming together to discuss, debate, and collaborate on the issues they face every day. Everyone with interest in getting better at conceiving, building, managing and marketing products is welcome. Everyone brings different experiences and leveraging that collective knowledge is what makes ProductCamp special - and something you can't get from any other kind of meeting.

What ProductCamp Seattle is:

• Organized by the grassroots, not corporations
• Reliant on full participation by all attendees – there is no passive audience at an unconference
• About increasing each individual’s skills and knowledge through highly engaged, creative exchange
• About building and strengthening professional relationships
• About gaining more professional recognition by sharing and teaching
• About having a whole lot of fun in the process

What ProductCamp Seattle isn’t:

• A pre-determined set of speakers and topics.
• About participants paying polite attention to sessions
• About presenters being solely responsible for session outcomes
• About networking only at formal icebreakers and scheduled breaks

ProductCamp Seattle is FREE.

Spread the word! Talk about ProductCamp Seattle, link to this page, tag your online posts with "ProductCampSeattle", and on Twitter, remember to use the hashtag #pcs10.

Interested in details from previous ProductCamps? Read about the ProductCamp Austin experience.

How to participate

• ProductCamps are "unconferences" (inspired by Barcamps), so have very different structure, processes and approaches than the traditional conferences you may be familiar with. In particular:
• There is little top-down authority. While a small group of volunteers was primarily responsible for getting the event arranged, all participants can suggest sessions, and all decide what specific sessions will be held on the day of the event by voting.
• NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS Attendees must give a demo, a session, or help with one, or otherwise volunteer / contribute in some way to support the event. All presentations are scheduled the day they happen. Prepare in advance, but come early to get a slot. The people present at the event will select the demos or presentations they want to see. Presenters are responsible for making sure that notes/slides/audio/video of their presentations are published on the web for the benefit of all and those who can’t be present.
• The event community: An important aspect to any ProductCamp is how networking is augmented by the online community, which is driven by profiles and conversations on the event site, as well as on other sites, blogs and Twitter. The more active each participant is online, the richer the in-person experience will be as well. The offline and online experiences enrich each other, so be sure to fill-out your event site profile as completely as possible, and contribute to online conversations, blog posts and Twitter (using hashtag #pcs10)
• Badges: This ProductCamp is using special badges that convey more than your name: they are color-coded on the job category you've selected in your profile, making it easy to spot someone's profession from across a room. They also include names of other participants that have been found to match you by the tags you include as part of your profile. 

How the day is organized

• 9:00am -- Doors open for registration and badge pick-up. Participants are routed to the lunch room for breakfast and to the main room to put their presentation cards on the wall and browse what’s already there.
• 9:45am -- MCs kick-off the event and officially open voting at 10:00. Voting stops at 10:15. Organizing committee volunteers move fifteen most popular presentations into the presentation rooms grid and next fifteen popular into the round table grid (main room).
• 10:30am -- First session starts. Sessions are 45min long with 15min break in between. Main room will actually have 4 round tables set-up, with one “free-for-all” table available on the first come, first served basis. Anyone can grab their presentation card off the wall and have a round table discussion with interested participants there. Participants looking to continue discussions after their session are over and those having ad-hoc conversations will be encouraged to stay in the lobby and lunch room area to keep noise levels down around presentation and round table rooms.
• 4:15pm – Un-Keynote Address. MCs wrap up the event.
• 5:00pm – Everyone heads off to the after-party (within walking distance).

Unconference etiquette

• Unconference etiquette is different than for traditional conferences. In particular:
• There are no "keynote" speakers or VIPs. All participants have equal opportunity and equal status; no one is deferred to.
• Participants vote with their feet, and at any time: there is no requirement to stay in a session you're not getting enough out of. Find the one that sparks the your interest most.

Entertainment and socializing

• Friday night: For anyone, but especially for out-of-town participants who arrive the day before the event, we are planning a party on Friday night. More details soon.
• Saturday night: Immediately after the event, we invite anyone who isn't leaving right away, to join us for a happy hour starting an hour after the last session ends. More details soon.