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Recap: ProductCamp Austin

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

On one Saturday, nearly 90 people gathered to the St. Edward’s Professional Education Center in Northwest Austin for ProductCamp Austin, spearheaded by Paul Young and John Milburn of Pragmatic Marketing, a product management teacher, startup enthusiast, and overall energetic presenter. A handful of others volunteered (me included) to keep PCA running smoothly, and several others enthusiastically made their way to discuss and teach the numerous different topics related to product management—at 8 AM.

Young and Milburn were immediately surprised at the high turnout, and received overwhelming feedback from participants from beginning to end. Some participants even pointed out that the amount of information and knowledge they’ve acquired is on par with or even exceeded what they expect from a traditional conference. For some, this was an open door to the world of product management while others fine-tuned their skills after discussing Agile development environments, usability, company strategies, and more. In fact, it was so impactful that Young announced that now ProductCamp Austin will be twice a year, and he is already planning a second PCA this fall!

Young and Milburn, however, were not the only ones who developed regular and long-term goals out of this. A number of native San Antonians (I’m not a native, but I still count) living elsewhere by chance came together and left with eager plans to improve their hometown. Additionally, everyone made at least one connection with prominent Austin locals as well as visitors from Dallas, TX, Phoenix, AZ, and, of course, Houston, TX. The mix of corporate and startup organizations created something apparently unexpected for Austin—a superb experience not just led by aspiring startups.

For many, the most important lesson was that this unique experience happened simply through dialogue and discussion, and, as someone said earlier, it was all free. My personal goal was to watch a BarCamp devoted to a specific topic behaved, and after throwing around ideas in my head, I finally saw a concrete way of planning AccessCamp, an accessibility “unconference” that will be added to the Barcamp wiki.

I would like to thank the PCA sponsor, planners, other volunteers, and participants for making this a great and encouraging experience for me. I look forward to the next ProductCamp Austin!

Tags: austin, barcamp, pca, product camp austin, san antonio, UI, usability, UX
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