Organizing ProductCamp Toronto 2019

Ever since I moved to Toronto in August 2018, I have been attending tons of events for Product Management like ProductTank, ProductGo and ProductTO. While all of these are great opportunities to learn and meet the Toronto Product Community, ProductTO has been quite valuable for my learning and sharing experiences collectively. At each monthly ProductTO meetup, there are three simultaneous round-table discussions on different topics in product management.

Back in February 2019, I was at TWG for ProductTO to attend Saaed Khan’s session on defining and discussing product metrics. I was amazed by the session as I not only learnt a lot but I also got the opportunity to contribute to the session by virtue of my prior knowledge and experience in defining and analyzing KPIs for the products I have built. I also got valuable feedback from all the participants. After the session got over, I got the opportunity to learn about ProductCamp Toronto (PCT) from Lee Garrison, who organizes PCT with the TPMA. ProductCamp is a day-long un-conference which features a variety of round table discussions and all the participants get to engage in these interesting sessions. I could immediately connect the similarities between ProductTO and ProductCamp. I was fascinated by the whole idea of the event – a day where I could not only learn immensely but also meet over 200 like-minded individuals.

Eager to be a part of PCT 2019, I reached out to Lee if I could be a part of it and help him in any possible way. I had known him for quite a while and he had been guiding me regularly. Lee offered me to be a part of the organizing committee and I immediately jumped into the opportunity. I knew it will be an extraordinary learning experience – working with a team of senior leaders and experiencing the organizer side of planning an event.

In the kickoff discussion in April, Lee gave us a background of the event and we briefly discussed the vision, goal and important details like the organizing categories, date and venue. Historically, PCT was held on a Saturday in the Summer. However, we wanted to increase the participation of the product community and decided to hold the event in the Fall on October 19, 2019.

Next, we started dividing the tasks amongst the team. I volunteered to take ownership of setting up the PCT website. As a product manager, I had previously managed websites and strongly believed that I could add value. It was also an opportunity for me to learn building websites on WordPress (And I was able to learn quickly and apply it – this blog is also built on WordPress). I collaborated with Lee, Baker, Derek and Jason to set up the website and take it live. The tasks that I undertook were:

Revamped the homepage to show details about the upcoming event and strategically placed Call-To-Actions for registration and submitting a session
Helped set up the registration form and quality tested the complete user flow for registration and submitting a session
Reorganized the header menu to display important and relevant links
Refreshed the content across the website

In addition to the website, I was also involved with promoting the event. I shared it to all the students at Schulich as well as requested the Career Development Centre at Schulich to promote it. I also reached out to the Rotman Business Technology Association, who included the event in their weekly newsletter. Furthermore, I also reached out to my LinkedIn network and shared the event with all the professionals working in product management. On the day of the event, I helped with the coordination of registrations and sessions to make sure the show runs smoothly.

I even conducted a mini-session on the topic “Networking for Product Managers”, where I shared my experience and learnings about building a professional network with my audience. I got positive feedback on my session and was appreciated by the attendees on the progress I had made in establishing strong connections.

I know by now you might be wondering how did the event go. Over 250 people attended the event, an increase of more than 25% from last year. The feedback we got was positive. The attendees enjoyed the vast variety of speakers and sessions. Nour Alkhatib, Product Manager at Flipp, won the best session award for her session “The Minimum Viable Product Manager.”

Organizing ProductCamp Toronto 2019 was the proudest accomplishment of my career. My key learnings from the event:

If an opportunity does not come your way, go ahead and create it
Don’t be scared of new and huge experiences – they either entail success or learnings
Establishing and making good connections help you grow both professionally and personally

Some moments from PCT 2019: