Let’s face it: Product Management is blowing up. Listings for PM jobs are through the roof. Another indicator is the number product management conferences and events, which I like to track. When I write my annual article listing the top product events, the list grows every year. When I wrote my last article back in April, there were 21 product conferences on my list for 2018. Since then, many more new events have been scheduled. It seems that Fall is the most popular time to hold product events 🙂 Conferences are a great way to grow your skills, compare notes with fellow product people, and grow your network. So here is an updated list of product events (20 of them!) for the rest of the year. Hope to see you at some of them!
October 1 – 3: Industry Global, Cleveland – I spoke at the Industry conference in Cleveland last year and really enjoyed it. Organized by Product Collective, this 2-day conference has been growing every year. In fact, they expanded to Dublin, Ireland, this year. Organizers Mike Belsito and Paul McAvinchey do a great job bringing together lots of awesome speakers and PMs from all over. There is also an optional workshop day. Learn more at http://global.industryconference.com.
October 2: Decisions by Split, San Francisco – It’s great to see more companies hosting product management conferences. Split has a great product that enables feature flags and experimentation. I’m excited to be speaking at their first PM conference Decisions. Tickets to this event are actually free, so get one while you can! Learn more at https://www.decisionsconf.com.
October 9: Amplify by Amplitude, San Francisco – Leading analytics company Amplitude is hosting their first all-day product conference. They’ve thrown a lot of high quality product events in the past, so I have high expectations for this conference. Learn more at https://events.amplitude.com/amplify2018.
October 11: Lean Product Meetup, Mountain View – Lean Product is the monthly product speaker series that I host at Intuit. For October, I’ll be hosting former VP of Product Gib Biddle who will share advice on Customer Obsession: How to Delight Your Customers Like Netflix. Learn more at https://biddle.eventbrite.com.
October 18 – 19: MTP London – The Big Kahuna of product conferences. Mix and mingle with 1,600 other product people at London’s Barbican Centre as you learn from world-class product speakers at this single-track conference. As they would say in Hollywood, this conference has high production value. There is also an optional workshop day beforehand. I’ll be giving an all-day workshop there. Keep calm, carry on, and be sure to RSVP quickly when tickets go on sale: they usually sell out in less time than your average stand-up. Learn more at http://mtpcon.com/london/.
October 18: Leading the Product, Melbourne, & Oct 23 Sydney – Do you like product conferences? Have you been looking for a good reason to visit Australia? Brainmates puts on a great set of Leading the Product conferences in Melbourne and Sydney, just a few days apart so you can attend both. I had a great time speaking there in 2016. The Brainmates team knows how to put on a great event that creates a sense of community with top speakers, enthusiastic attendees, and great venues. Learn more at https://www.leadingtheproduct.com.
October 19: ProductCon LA – Product School is throwing 4 product conferences this year. They already held conferences in SF, Silicon Valley, and NYC. They are holding their first product conference in Los Angeles. Learn more at https://www.productschool.com/productcon/.
October 24: Lean Product Management Workshop, San Francisco – Each year, I teach 1 or 2 all-day public workshops in San Francisco where I share advice from my book The Lean Product Playbook. These workshops are highly interactive with lots of case studies, discussion and class exercises. Early bird pricing is available through Sep 28th. Learn more at https://danolsen.eventbrite.com.
October 29 – 31: Impact PM Conference, Budapest, Hungary – It’s great to see new PM conferences sprouting up in more countries.
November 1: Empower B2B PM Conference, San Francisco – This conference focuses on B2B product management. I’m looking forward to speaking there and checking it out for the first time. Learn more at https://empowerb2b.com.
November 1 – 2: Productized, Lisbon – AndrĂ© Marquet and his team put on a wonderful conference. I had a great time speaking there last year. The 2-day conference is chock full of great product speakers from around the world, and there’s an optional workshop day. Plus, Lisbon is an awesome city: do you really need an excuse to visit? Learn more at http://www.productized.co.
November 8: Lean Product Meetup, Mountain View – Lean Product is the monthly product speaker series that I host at Intuit. For November, I’ll be hosting Barry O’Reilly, author of Lean Enterprise. He’ll be sharing advice from his upcoming new book Unlearnand we’ll be giving away free copies to the first 100 attendees. Learn more at https://www.meetup.com/lean-product/.
November 15: Product Leader Summit, Redwood City – I am one of the organizers of unique conference designed specifically for Product Leaders (i.e., CPOs, VPs, and Directors). Our inaugural Product Leader Summit featured top speakers like Reid Hoffman, Aaron Levie, and product execs from Facebook, Slack, and Tesla. This year’s summit, sponsored by Spero Ventures, will be a similar event with top speakers and a curated audience of around 120 product leaders (the event is by invitation only; everyone has to apply to attend). View talks from past summits, learn more, and apply at https://www.productleadersummit.com.
November 16: Product Management Workshop, Redwood City – In conjunction with the Product Leader Summit, Gib Biddle and I are teaching a set of back-to-back half-day workshops the next day. I’ll be sharing advice on Lean Product Management and Gib will be sharing advice on How to Hack Your Product Career. Learn more at https://dangib.eventbrite.com.
November 14 – 16: Lean Startup Conference, Las Vegas – If you’ve never been to the Lean Startup Conference, you may not know that it’s largely a product management conference. As a Lean Startup Co. Senior Faculty member, I’ve spoken at this conference several times. Most of the people I’ve met there were product managers, which makes sense because we’re the ones responsible for achieving product-market fit (those hypotheses aren’t going to test themselves). Historically held in San Francisco, the conference is moving to Las Vegas for the first time this year. Learn more at https://leanstartup.co/2018-conference/.
November 14 – 15: PM Festival, Zurich, Switzerland – This conference in Zurich, Switzerland, has been running for several years. I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but you can learn more at https://productmanagementfestival.com/zurich/.
November 27 – 28: Open Mobile Summit, Burlingame – This 2 day conference focuses on mobile products. I’m excited to speak there and check it out for the first time. Learn more at https://events.incite-group.com/oms/.
November 30: AgileCamp SF – Up your Agile game at AgileCamp SF, held at the Mission Bay Conference Center. I look forward to speaking there. Learn more at http://agilecamp.org/2018/sanfrancisco
December 5 – 6: Product Camp Brazil, SĂŁo Paulo – I haven’t been, but this event is billed as South America’s largest product conference (it’s great to see product management conferences expanding to more countries). Learn more at https://www.productcamp.com.br.
December 11 – 12: Growth Marketing Conference, San Francisco – This conference run by Vasil Azarov has had a successful track record for several years now. It’s back again in SF this December. It’s a marketing conference that’s focused on growth, and given the overlap between growth and product, many of the talks are relevant to product managers. I am excited to be speaking there again. Learn more at https://growthmarketingconf.com.
So there you have it: 20 product events between now and the end of Fall. I’m looking forward to speaking at 9 of them. If we’re at the same event, please say hi: look forward to seeing you out there!