ProductCamp SoCal

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What is ProductCamp?

ProductCamp is a FREE collaborative, user organized unconference, focused on Product Development, Management, and Marketing topics. At ProductCamp everyone participates: by presenting, leading roundtable discussions, helping with logistics, securing sponsorships, or volunteering. ProductCamp is a great opportunity to learn from, teach to, and network with professionals involved in the Product Management, Marketing, and Development processes in Southern California! While this is the first ProductCamp in SoCal, we are joining an amazing group of energetic professionals around the world. Previous camps have been held in Silicon Valley, Austin, Toronto, Boston, Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta, New York, Seattle, & Amsterdam.

ProductCamp is a bunch of smart, passionate people coming together to discuss, debate, and collaborate on issues they face every day. Everyone interested in improving their ability to conceive, build, manage, and market 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 gathering.

ProductCampSoCal is:

• Grassroots organization - Your participation will make or break the event!
• Highly engaged & creative exchange increasing each individual’s skills & knowledge.
• Building and strengthening professional relationships.
• Having a whole lot of fun.

ProductCampSoCal isn’t:

• A pre-determined set of speakers and topics.
• Polite attention & passivity in sessions.
• Sole responsibility resting with presenters for successful sessions.
• Networking only at formal icebreakers and scheduled breaks.

Spread the word! Talk about ProductCampSoCal, link to this page, follow us on , use #pcSC in tweets, and tag online posts with "ProdCampSoCal".

Where is it?

ProductCampSoCal's venue is TBD. However, it will be in Orange County to facilitate participation from all of SoCal (LA to San Diego).

When is ProductCamp?

The event will be on Saturday, February 20, 2010. (NOTE: The date might change.)

Suggested Schedule

• Friday night: For anyone, especially out-of-town participants who arrive the day before the event, we are planning a party on Friday night. More details soon.
• Saturday
  • 8:30 AM -- Volunteers arrive.
  • 9:00 AM -- Doors open for registration. Participants head in for breakfast, put their presentation cards on the wall, and browse what’s already there.
  • 9:45 AM -- MCs kick-off the event & officially open voting at 10:00. Voting stops at 10:15. Volunteers move fifteen most popular presentations into the presentation rooms grid and next fifteen popular into the round table grid (main room).
  • 10:30 AM -- 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.
  • 4:15 PM – Un-Keynote Address. MCs wrap up the event.
  • 5:00 PM – Everyone heads to the after-party. Location is TBD.

How to participate

• ProductCamps are "unconferences" (inspired by Barcamps). They have very different structures, processes, and approaches compared to traditional conferences. In particular:
  • There is little top-down authority. While a small group of volunteers is responsible for getting the event arranged, all participants can suggest sessions, and, on the day of the event, everyone votes for which sessions will be held.
  • 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 at the event will vote for the demos and presentations they want to see. Presenters are responsible for making notes/slides/audio/video of their presentation available on the web for the benefit of all.
  • 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 & at any time: there is no requirement to stay in a session. Find the one that sparks your interest.
• An important aspect of 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. In other words, the offline and online experiences enrich each other. Make sure to completely fill-out your event site profile, and contribute to online conversations in blog posts and Twitter.

Sponsors

TBD

Planners

• Brad Yeager
• Doug Parker
• Greg White
• Ilene Albert-Nelson
• Jamie Elgie
• Mack McCoy
• Pete Deutschman
• Sharon Barnett

Tags for flickr, delicious, ma.gnolia, technorati etc.

Please use the tag ProdCampSoCal for content related to this event. On twitter, please use #pcSC.