The PM Conference Grab Bag: Top 10 mobile PM events in the calendar
We know many industry conferences can get old. The same people, the same topics, everyone trying to sell you on something…you know what you’re getting into when you sign up.
On the contrary! There are product management conferences that shake things up, and we’ve compiled a list of our top picks. Not only will you be sure to meet new faces, you’ll learn–who doesn’t want to learn something new every day, and at every conference?
Take your pick from big conferences, summits, festivals, and intimate gatherings. Be prepared to tackle subject matters from industry trends and challenges to successes and failures, and if nothing else, you’re guaranteed to walk away with the takeaway that “yeah, this was worth it!”
MIND THE PRODUCT
Hosted annually in both London and San Francisco, MTP Con is known as one of the top conferences for bringing together cutting-edge thought leaders from the product realm. The London conference is two days long, and San Francisco is one day. The conference also offers workshops for attendees. The speakers typically tackle topics like industry trends and best practices, as well as lessons learned from their own product journeys. General admission costs $899.
FRONT: CONFERENCE FOR UX AND PRODUCT MANAGERS
Front is a conference for designers and product managers that takes place annually in Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s a very unique product conference in that it’s focused on in-depth case studies from peers in product management and UX — case studies that showcase the good and the bad. If you want to dive into the nitty gritty of product successes and failures, this is the conference for you. There is also no call for speakers; instead, presenters are invited based on the their body of work. Front is organized by the Product Design Association, a group that also organizes smaller meetups for the product management community in Utah.
INDUSTRY: THE PRODUCT CONFERENCE
A three-day product conference based out of Cleveland, Ohio, Industry markets itself as the “world’s fastest growing product management conference.” If you are based in Europe, don’t worry about missing out. They will also host a conference in Dublin, Ireland this spring. Industry is organized by The Product Collective, an organization founded in 2014 to bring product managers together and build communities, especially outside of Silicon Valley. The event includes presentations by featured speakers as well as working sessions focused on achieving specific goals. In past years, speakers have come from companies like ESPN, Square, and Facebook.
PRODUCT CAMP SERIES
Known as an “unconference”, ProductCamp’s goal is to create a user-driven gathering where attendees get to to decide the topics and pick their own agenda. ProductCamp “unconferences” happen at least once per month, in cities all over the world, If you are looking for a more intimate, discussion based atmosphere, this is the conference for you.
PRODUCT LEADER SUMMIT
“For product leaders, by product leaders,” is the motto of this summit. This invitation-only, one day event brings together approximately 100 product people (founders and leaders) to connect and network. Previous speakers hail from companies such as Etsy, Netflix, Slack, and Facebook. You can sign up for their newsletter to be notified of future events and receive exclusive event videos.
SIRIUSDECISIONS SUMMIT
Inhabitants of the United States and Europe both have access to this B2B focused event. In the USA, the conference takes place in Las Vegas and spans three days. The goal of SiriusDecisions is to bring together B2B professionals in product, marketing, and sales and discuss data-driven best practices and innovations in the B2B space. This conference is a great way for PMs to network and explore new market trends.
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS
The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is an annual trade show run by the GSMA. It is a massive event, that reached well over one hundred thousand attendees in 2018. MWC is known as a launch platform for many of the year’s big smartphones but also serves as a powerful show for networking and identifying new industry trends.
THE OPEN MOBILE SUMMIT
The Open Mobile Summit is a fantastic forum for mobile product, marketing, UX, and design executives to congregate and exchange ideas/challenges when it comes to the mobile strategy and the mobile industry as a whole (including multi-platform experiences). The summit is a great opportunity to hear from key thought leaders and brands in the industry.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT FESTIVAL
This five-day program, catering to product executives, hosts a slew of noteworthy speakers from companies such as Atlassian, Facebook, Delivery Hero, Shopify, and Kayak. The festival focuses on leadership talent development and PM-specific sessions. It takes place in Zurich, Switzerland.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT & INNOVATION 2018
In 2018, this two-day conference occured in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia. It spans the entire process of product management from product development to testing and iterating. Product Management & Innovation also emphasizes that their learning sessions are vendor agnostic and free of sale pitches. Come to learn and be challenged.
Need time to think about it?
That’s okay! But don’t wait too long, because some of these highly coveted events sell out quickly–and when we say quickly, we mean it!
Browse through these websites and choose accordingly–you won’t know what you’re missing if you’re not there in the first place.
See you there!
