Posts Tagged ‘pca’
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
Posted in Articles, Essays | No Comments »
ProductCamp Austin Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Earlier I mentioned I’m going to ProductCampAustin. Paul Young of Product Beautiful has done an excellent job organizing the event and getting volunteers (including myself) to participate in PCA. It will be this Saturday, 06/14/08, 8AM – 6PM at the St. Edward’s Professional Education Center.
Admittedly, I’m not too familiar with Austin’s tech and entrepreneurial scene (outside of Knowbility and anyone who is in circles with the IBMers there), so this will be a great experience for me to now have my foot in another door, familiarizing myself with Houston, now Austin, and of course San Antonio.
Additionally, because of idre.am’s growing success, discussing product management would be the most viable option for me. As an accessibility buff, it would also help to contribute and share ideas on product management.
The most important experience I expect to get from PCA, however, is the experience for helping organize BarCampSA and how to run an “unconference” for a specific field, which will help me get started on “AccessCamp,” an “unconference” on accessibility and usability, and its role in any market. When it becomes more finalized, I’ll give a full report on it. In the mean time, if you’re going to be in Austin (or nearby), it’s not too late to sign up for PCA.
If you need our location, we will be at:
St. Edward’s University Professional Education Center (PEC)
9420 Research Blvd
Echelon III Building
Austin, Texas 78759
(512) 346-8110
To get an idea of what we’re planning to discuss, follow this link to our Proposed Sections page. Additionally, if someone would like to organize a P-Camp (or help with AccessCamp) in Houston or San Antonio this year, feel free to drop me a line. If you’re starting a P-Camp, you can create a wiki for it by going to http://www.barcamp.org/ and starting a new page.
I’ll be around next time to give “live” coverage of PCA. Next time I’ll try finishing the 3 drafts I have in my queue (including finishing Chapter 2).
Tags: accesscamp, Accessibility, austin, barcamp, housto, idream, pc austin, pca, product camp austin, san antonio
Posted in Accessibility, Announcements | No Comments »
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