This is a page with archived information about ProductCamp St. Louis 2019.
On this page
ProductCamp St. Louis 2019 Overview and Recap
ProductCamp St. Louis 2019 was our 8th annual event and was held Saturday, March 9, 2019 at Webster University. We had over 400 registrants and over 250 attendees.
Schedule
Proposed Sessions for ProductCamp St. Louis 2019
These are the session topics that were proposed for ProductCamp St. Louis 2019 (held on March 9). Regardless of whether the session was selected or not, anyone submitting a session proposal had the opportunity to provide a link to/copy of the slides, contact information, and anything else to supplement their session. Any information that ProductCamp St. Louis received from those who submitted session proposals is included here. If you would like more information on a specific session, please contact the individual who proposed/led it directly.
- Session ID1: Psychographic Profiling: How to sell more, more quickly, with less effort [Dale Furtwengler.]
- Session ID2: If price mattered… [Dale Furtwengler.]
- Session ID3: Confidence and Product Management: An Oxymoron? [Dale Furtwengler.]
- Session ID4: Riding the No-Code Revolution [Ben Haefele.]
- Session ID5: BrainStorm like Oracle, Apple and Google [Daniel Glasscock.]
- Session ID6: Improve your Teams Performance by increasing their Energy [Daniel Glasscock.]
- Session ID7: Perfect Your Pitch – Increasing Sales with better Messaging [Dan Glasscock.]
- Session ID8: Your Product from Concept to Production [David Wojcicki.]
- Session ID9: Delight & Conquer: Add value post-purchase to turn users into a brand loyalists & sales multipliers. [Brent Jennings.]
- Session ID10: The Key to Brands Adding Real Value: Empathy Meets Aspiration [Brent Jennings.]
- Session ID11: How to Survive Your First Year as a Product Manager at a Startup [Nadja Cajic.]
- Session ID12: The Thing From Your Products Future [Tamarah Usher.]
- Session ID13: Best Practices for Product Roadmaps [Jeff Lash.]
- Session ID14: Agile Product Management: Helping Product Managers Triumph in an Agile World [Jeff Lash.]
- Session ID15: Do I work in a feature factory? [Alex Basa.]
- Session ID16: How to create a product owner/manager training program? [Alex Basa.]
- Session ID17: Is Your Small Business Ready for Big Retail? [Angie Echele.]
- Session ID18: How To Build A Strong Product and Marketing Relationship [Karen Loiterstein.]
- Session ID19: The UX Mindset [Jon Robinson.]
- Session ID20: Get a Competitive Edge! [Shelly Azar.]
- Session ID21: Open Innovation – Why, When, and How to Practice It [Dan Reus.]
- Session ID22: What should I do BEFORE sitting down with a patent or trademark attorney? [Kevin Staed.]
- Session ID23: My first service design job (was not a Service Design job) [gBRETT miller.]
- Session ID24: Chatbots – The sales and CR reps that increase business [Leroy Simpson.]
- Session ID25: Competitive Analysis: How to make investors and strategic partners believe in what you tell them [Stephen Von Rump.]
- Session ID26: Win/Loss Analysis: Insight into the Minds of B2B Customers/Prospects [Shelly Azar.]
- Session ID27: Protecting your Idea (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark) [Brett Schenck.]
- Session ID28: Providing Clarity and Vision to Product Requirements: A practical guide to product definition [Stephen Von Rump.]
- Session ID29: All Over the Map: Lessons Learned from a Decade of Customer Journey Mapping [Julie Harpring.]
- Session ID30: Which Research When? Using the Right UX Research Method at the Right Time [Julie Harpring.]
- Session ID31: UX in the Agile Workflow: Tips and Tricks [Julie Harpring.]
- Session ID32: The Heart of the Matter: Really Knowing Your Customer [Brian Posnanski and Ron Strawbridge.]
- Session ID33: Understanding The Early Stages Of The Product Development Process And Avoiding Common Pitfalls [Tim Corbet.]
- Session ID34: How hard would it be to … ? [gBRETT miller.]
- Session ID35: Position Your Business for Success [Dennis Donahue.]
- Session ID36: Building Success with a fully remote dev team. [Katie McAninch.]
- Session ID37: Product in the Plex: What I Learned as a Google Product Manager [Jonathan Mesh.]
- Session ID38: Get Out Of Your Own Head & Into Your Customer’s World [Trace Steffen.]
- Session ID39: Customer Obsession: Surviving The Customer Experience Revolution [Suzanne Offner.]
| Session ID#:1 | Psychographic Profiling: How to sell more, more quickly, with less effort |
| Description: | We spend way too much time trying to sell to people who will never buy because we don’t have a way to identify them quickly. Psychographic profiling provides the criteria you need to dramatically increase the productivity of your sales efforts. Dale Furtwengler will share the keys to creating an effective psychographic profile. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Go-to-Market |
| Submitted by: | Dale Furtwengler. Dale Furtwengler is the author of Pricing For Profit. Psychographic profiling is one of the elements that not only help his clients generate sales more quickly, but at higher prices. Dale is on Twitter as @DaleFurtwengler. |
| Session ID#:2 | If price mattered… |
| Description: | …how did Apple grow to be the largest market cap company in the worst recession in seven decades selling something no one needed? Discover why price doesn’t matter and how to develop a premium price strategy. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Go-to-Market |
| Submitted by: | Dale Furtwengler. Dale Furtwengler is the author of Pricing For Profit, a book dedicated to helping companies get compensated for the value they provide. Dale is on Twitter as @DaleFurtwengler. |
| Session ID#:3 | Confidence and Product Management: An Oxymoron? |
| Description: | If ever there was a profession that challenged us in ways we never envisioned, product management is it. How do we remain confident in a profession defined more by what isn’t known that what we know. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Prod Management Careers |
| Submitted by: | Dale Furtwengler. Dale Furtwengler is the author of a confidence trilogy. Each book deals with one of the three levels of confidence. His approach to confidence works well for kids from 8 to 80+. Dale is on Twitter as @DaleFurtwengler. |
| Session ID#:4 | Riding the No-Code Revolution |
| Description: | Every day more and more products are launched that promise to give the power of software creation to non-developers. But in a world where everyone can create an app, how do you use this new technology to get ahead — and not be left behind? In this session, we’ll discuss strategies for supercharging your team with no-code platforms to conduct User Research, Launch MVPs, and build internal tools to make your team more efficient. |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Go-to-Market |
| Submitted by: | Ben Haefele. Ben is the Co-Founder of Foundry, the platform where anyone can create amazing apps. He is an experienced product leader with a passion for bringing the power of software to everyone. He is the former VP of Operations at Second Street where he led product strategy, design, and development. Ben is on Twitter as @benhaefele.
Website: FoundryPlatform.io |
| Session ID#:5 | BrainStorm like Oracle, Apple and Google |
| Description: | Accelerate your business, product innovation and problem resolution by learning the same brainstorming techniques used by Oracle, Apple and Google.
Participants in this workshop will learn how to lead SUPER EFFECTIVE brainstorming sessions which will generate numerous good ideas, build consensus and produce results. This workshop is intended to increase the productivity of individuals, teams, and organizations; empowering them with the best tools, techniques, and advice. |
| Session Format: | Workshop |
| Category: | Product Strategy |
| Submitted by: | Daniel Glasscock. Dan Glasscock leads Oracle’s North America Strategy and Business Development for the Oracle Exadata and Oracle Database Cloud product lines. In FY18, Dan’s team generated a 42% increase in sales growing the product line by $700 MM thru market analysis and segmentation, strategy formulation and program execution.
Dan specializes in Strategy Development, Go-to Market Execution, Sales Campaign Design and Management, Process Execution, Building Businesses at Scale and Leadership enablement. Slides from this presentation are located at https://www.slideshare.net/DanGlasscock/brainstorm-like-oracle-apple-and-google-2019 |
| Session ID#:6 | Improve your Teams Performance by increasing their Energy |
| Description: | U.S. Business loose over $400 Billion every year from low worker productivity. For maximum productivity, employees must take time to renew their energy every 90 minutes –a reality that companies must embrace to fuel sustainable engagement and high performance. This session will allow you to increase team productivity by providing techniques and guidance which will regularly renewing your teams four core energy needs: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Don’t run out of energy at Product Camp. Attend this session! |
| Session Format: | Workshop |
| Category: | Employee Productivity |
| Submitted by: | Daniel Glasscock. Dan Glasscock leads Oracle’s North America Strategy and Business Development for the Oracle Exadata and Oracle Database Cloud product lines. In FY18, Dan’s team generated a 42% increase in sales growing the product line by $700 MM thru market analysis and segmentation, strategy formulation and program execution.
Dan specializes in Strategy Development, Go-to Market Execution, Sales Campaign Design and Management, Process Execution, Building Businesses at Scale and Sales Leadership Enablement. Slides to this session can be found at https://www.slideshare.net/DanGlasscock/managing-energy-for-sustainable-high-performance-v4 |
| Session ID#:7 | Perfect Your Pitch – Increasing Sales with better Messaging |
| Description: | The most effective Sales Strategy is a great message. However, studies show the number one inhibitor to selling is the inability to effectively communicate value to customers, investors, and co-workers. Consistent messaging accelerates sales ensuring customers have a clear understanding of what your solution can do for them. Inconsistent messaging creates friction that can slow, stall, or destroy sales.
Participants will learn to create and deliver messages which are compelling, memorable, and differentiates your product. Participants will also learn to how to determine if your business needs a new sales messaging. Attending will improve your ability to develop high impact messages which anyone can deliver. |
| Session Format: | Workshop |
| Category: | Go-to-Market |
| Submitted by: | Dan Glasscock. Dan Glasscock leads Oracle’s North America Strategy and Business Development for the Oracle Exadata and Oracle Database Cloud product lines. In FY18, Dan’s team generated a 42% increase in sales growing the product line by $700 MM thru market analysis and segmentation, strategy formulation and program execution.
Dan specializes in Strategy Development, Go-to Market Execution, Sales Campaign Design and Management, Process Execution, Building Businesses at Scale and Sales Leadership Enablement. Slides for this session can be located at https://www.slideshare.net/DanGlasscock/perfecting-your-pitch-v1 |
| Session ID#:8 | Your Product from Concept to Production |
| Description: | Need help moving a concept or existing product to the next step? It is an exciting time, and everyone is eager to move to the next step in the process. Some designs are simple and others complex, depending on the degree of novelty. Design a product that customers love but that is also profitable for manufacturing & assembly. Here’s an eight (8) Step Process that comes with description of what information is needed and gathered at each step. 1. Concept “Napkin Sketch” 2. Rough Drawing 3. Rough Prototype 4. Product Design Development 5. Final Prototype 6. Detail Design 7. Testing 8. Production This topic comes from an mechanical design engineer with patents and experience in assembly and testing of new products. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Go-to-Market |
| Submitted by: | David Wojcicki. Using the latest 3D CAD tools to bring ideas from the “napkin stage” to an aesthetically pleasing, functional, manufacture-able product. Unique expertise has been gained from hands-on experience throughout the development cycle. Design process involves selection of materials and purchasing components with the latest cutting edge technology. |
| Session ID#:9 | Delight & Conquer: Add value post-purchase to turn users into a brand loyalists & sales multipliers. |
| Description: | Receive current personal examples of disruptive post-purchase brand loyalty- building and sales force-multiplying tactics. Then, work with groups of 3 to find opportunities for your product, service, or business to make every current user a natural sales force multiplier and brand loyalist by delivering more value and spending more marketing time and attention on current users after they have purchased your product/service. Also will be spending time examining five critical goals of this approach (reviews, ratings, referrals, relevance, and retention). Share your top value-adding opportunities at the end of the session. |
| Session Format: | Workshop |
| Category: | Opportunity Analysis |
| Submitted by: | Brent Jennings. Brent is a market value creator and brand builder who brings 10+ years brand experience in attempting to add life-giving value to the lives of those receiving his products and services. Currently, Brent is engaged in revitalizing one apparel brand while crafting a business model for a soon-to-launch second brand. Brent holds his MBA from Saint Louis University, his Master of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary, and an Advertising degree from the University of Georgia. |
| Session ID#:10 | The Key to Brands Adding Real Value: Empathy Meets Aspiration |
| Description: | Brands make the mistake far too often of emphasizing only deep understanding of and emotional connection with customers or a mere jobs-to-be-done focus on goals and desired outcomes of those same customers. This session will explore the need to have authentic empathy with its customers while at the same time also calling and motivating its customers to more hopeful outcomes. Half of this session will be breakouts where small groups will work with outcome and empathy map tools to develop some value-add opportunities around social and emotional outcomes as well as how to help lead customers from where they are to where they want to be while remaining authentic. |
| Session Format: | Roundtable Breakout |
| Category: | Opportunity Analysis |
| Submitted by: | Brent Jennings. Brent is a market value creator and brand builder with 10+ years of experience in branding, product development, and market research. He holds his MBA from SLU, his Master of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary, and his Advertising degree from the University of Georgia. Currently, Brent spends his time revitalizing one consumer apparel brand while spinning up a business model for a second apparel brand. |
| Session ID#:11 | How to Survive Your First Year as a Product Manager at a Startup |
| Description: | Tips and tricks to help make your first year as a PM at a startup or small company more successful. Stuff they don’t teach you in school or books. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Prod Management Careers |
| Submitted by: | Nadja Cajic. Currently working as a PM at a refinancing software company. Has experience in edtech and consumer facing mobile app design. |
| Session ID#:12 | The Thing From Your Products Future |
| Description: | The Thing From The Future is a card game that challenges players to collaboratively describe objects from a range of alternative futures. In this session we will learn about the discipline of strategic foresight, why it is important and how to apply to product design through imaginative game play. |
| Session Format: | Roundtable Breakout |
| Category: | Product Strategy |
| Submitted by: | Tamarah Usher. Strategist, architect, designer and futurist. Brought to reality via strength in execution and leadership. |
| Session ID#:13 | Best Practices for Product Roadmaps |
| Description: | Roadmaps are key deliverables for product managers. They are used to lay out the future plans for a product and to communicate that plan to internal and external audiences. Unfortunately, many product managers struggle with roadmaps because they don’t understand the various ways roadmaps can be used. Without an effective roadmap, a great product strategy will not be supported internally by other functions or understood by external parties. No matter how great a product plan is, it will not succeed if it isn’t properly articulated, documented and communicated. In this session, we’ll provide best practices for product managers for product managers to follow for creating and communicating product roadmaps. |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Product Strategy |
| Submitted by: | Jeff Lash. Jeff Lash is VP and Group Director, Product Management at SiriusDecisions, where he advises B2B product management leaders and their teams on how to implement best practices and improve efficiency and effectiveness. He has 15+ years experience in product management, product marketing, user experience and product development. Since 2006, Jeff has authored the popular blog How To Be a Good Product Manager (www.goodproductmanager.com). Jeff is on Twitter as @jefflash.
You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn (make sure to note that you found him through ProductCamp St. Louis) or email him for a copy of the slides. |
| Session ID#:14 | Agile Product Management: Helping Product Managers Triumph in an Agile World |
| Description: | According to SiriusDecisions research, nearly 80% of b-to-b organizations use some form of agile development, yet 70% of product managers say that while there are benefits to agile, they are struggling in some areas. For many teams working in agile environments, a key problem is that tactical agile cycles (sprints) are disconnected from the broader product lifecycle and strategic product management responsibilities. This results in a lack of clarity for executives, marketers, sales reps and customers on future product plans, and can leave product managers focused on incremental enhancements divorced from the vision or strategy. In this session, we will introduce model and approach that enables product managers to connect strategic responsibilities with the agile development cycle. |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Product Management/Development |
| Submitted by: | Jeff Lash. Jeff Lash is VP and Group Director, Product Management at SiriusDecisions, where he advises B2B product management leaders and their teams on how to implement best practices and improve efficiency and effectiveness. He has 15+ years experience in product management, product marketing, user experience and product development. Since 2006, Jeff has authored the popular blog How To Be a Good Product Manager (www.goodproductmanager.com). Jeff is on Twitter as @jefflash.
You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn (make sure to note that you found him through ProductCamp St. Louis) or email him for a copy of the slides. |
| Session ID#:15 | Do I work in a feature factory? |
| Description: | We will break up in teams and do a workshop to give us signals if we are working in a feature factory. We will then talk in depth about a feature factory and then discuss some techniques to break out of it. |
| Session Format: | Workshop |
| Category: | Product Strategy |
| Submitted by: | Alex Basa. I’m the Lead IT Agile Coach at Centene and as part of the agile transformation, we have been staffing and growing product owners and managers throughout the company. This is my 4th agile transformation and I have been in the agile space for 15+ years. In each transformation, we have spent a lot of time on product structure, strategy and product ownership development. I have a passion for agile, product management, devops and coaching at all levels of the organization. |
| Session ID#:16 | How to create a product owner/manager training program? |
| Description: | I will share my experience in creating product owner/manager training programs at different companies and why we needed to do that. How was it different from a certification? What were the benefits? |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Product Management/Development |
| Submitted by: | Alex Basa. I’m the Lead IT Agile coach at Centene. I’m on my 4th agile transformation and have a passion for agile, product ownership/management, devops and coaching at all levels of the company. |
| Session ID#:17 | Is Your Small Business Ready for Big Retail? |
| Description: | America’s largest retailers are more open than ever to new and niche products. A fantastic product, though, is just the starting point. We’ll discuss how to get a retail buyer’s attention, what matters in closing the sale, and what happens after they say Yes. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Go-to-Market |
| Submitted by: | Angie Echele. Angie Echele is founder of Retail Smarter, LLC. She directed award-winning sales and marketing teams for global brands and now enjoys helping small businesses win in big retail. She has extensive experience working with Walmart, Walgreens and other large national and regional retailers. Angie holds an MBA from Olin School of Business at Washington University and two Honors bachelor degrees from Saint Louis University. Angie is on Twitter as @AngieEchele. |
| Session ID#:18 | How To Build A Strong Product and Marketing Relationship |
| Description: | There is often conflict, friction, and even an outright adversarial relationship between a company’s product management and marketing teams. Products will enjoy the most success when both product management and marketing are working toward the same goals, all operating from a cohesive strategic plan. And to accomplish this, product management and marketing need to come out of their departmental silos and begin thinking of their two departments as a larger, unified team focused on product success. During this session, you will learn 5 steps to an amazing working relationship between product management and marketing. You will also learn about how to measure success with collaborative efforts and how to demonstrate early wins so leadership is part of aligning these two functions. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Go-to-Market |
| Submitted by: | Karen Loiterstein. Karen Loiterstein serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Enterprise Bank & Trust and is responsible for corporate marketing strategy, product marketing and demand generation. Before joining Enterprise Bank, Karen led Sales Enablement for Express Scripts Inc. She has held numerous marketing leadership roles in publicly traded companies including FleishmanHillard and Willis Towers Watson and has 20 years of experience designing go-to-market initiatives resulting in revenue growth. Karen is on Twitter as @Loiterstein. |
| Session ID#:19 | The UX Mindset |
| Description: | In order to support design decisions, UX professionals must understand the audience as much as the problem. But a good UX mindset goes beyond research. When we analyze details, question the way things work, or just observe people, we’re collecting data on user experiences and strengthening our understanding of what works and why people love it. In The UX Mindset we’ll examine how minute details and observations impact the products we design and build. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Opportunity Analysis |
| Submitted by: | Jon Robinson. Jon Robinson is a multidisciplinary art director, UI/UX designer, freelance creative, consultant, and professor of design. Based in St. Louis as a User Experience Design Consultant with Slalom, Jon has more than 14 years’ experience creating and managing brands, developing strategic products, and designing and building human-centered user interfaces for both business-to-business and consumer-facing companies. Jon is on Twitter as @jfarrellstudio.
More info: |
| Session ID#:20 | Get a Competitive Edge! |
| Description: | To be competitive your business needs to understand customer needs, know the competitor landscape, monitor industry trends, identify market opportunities & threats, and much more. Are you aware of all the topics you should track to be competitive? Do you know the best ways to learn about them?
This session will review the topics you should monitor, and it will provide tips and resources to help you do so. Come prepared to share research challenges you have faced; we can learn from each other the best ways to find answers. This year’s session includes lots of new content. There will be an emphasis on practical, inexpensive advice for finding key information and Google tips. |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Opportunity Analysis |
| Submitted by: | Shelly Azar. Shelly Azar, principal of Insight Researchers, has been working in the field of competitive intelligence since 1996. She helps clients be competitive by making better strategic and tactical decisions. Her experience, both as a corporate practitioner and as a consultant, has been with companies large and small, public and private, in the US and abroad … and in a variety of industries. Shelly is on Twitter as @stazar. |
| Session ID#:21 | Open Innovation – Why, When, and How to Practice It |
| Description: | How do you get fresh ideas, strategic insights, explore different business models, and engage outsiders in your product innovation? Many companies engage customers, suppliers, startups, and the general public to rapidly explore products and services their organization might not be able to while building new relationships. In this session, we’ll dive into examples from consumer products, advanced manufacturing, software, and others. Bring your own examples to share! |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Culture of Innovation |
| Submitted by: | Dan Reus. Dan Reus has over 20 years experience helping Fortune 100 firms and smaller organizations practice open innovation to connect with new and existing customers, partners, opportunities, technology and ways to operate.
He works with clients from technology, healthcare, professional services, consumer packaged goods, biotech, entertainment and manufacturing industries. Dan is on Twitter as @DanReus. |
| Session ID#:22 | What should I do BEFORE sitting down with a patent or trademark attorney? |
| Description: | Protecting your intellectual property with a patent or trademark should be done with the assistance of an IP professional. However, there are a number of things an inventor can do on their own BEFORE they spend money on a patent or trademark attorney. During this session we will discuss the “DOS” that an inventor should consider before seeking legal counsel. In addition, we will look at some of the “DON’TS” that an inventor should steer clear of if they want to have the best chance at meaningful protection. Ultimately, we will aim to arrive at actionable tasks that can be completed while identifying common pitfalls that an inventor should keep in mind as they start down the path towards IP protection. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Legal |
| Submitted by: | Kevin Staed. Kevin Staed is a Patent Attorney with CreatiVenture Law and provides legal counsel and support in preparing and prosecuting patent applications, as well as providing services for trademarks, copyright, licensing, and other IP matters. He counsels clients on the best ways to use IP assets to advance their business and protect against infringers. |
| Session ID#:23 | My first service design job (was not a Service Design job) |
| Description: | In my first job I was technically a “manager”, but what I really did was what we might now call service design. Service Design as a discipline has come about, I believe, to help overcome the inexorable march of management towards a ridiculous level of reductionism (efficiency and hyper-specialization) and bring back a renewed understanding of the inter connectedness of all things. In this interactive conversation I’ll share some stories from my experiences, ask you to do the same, and hopefully we will all leave with some insights into why and how to bring some service design to your team. |
| Session Format: | Interactive Presentation |
| Category: | Product Management/Development |
| Submitted by: | gBRETT miller. Brett is a Solution Designer at DSA, Inc., currently designing and implementing solutions for a large Federal government enterprise social network. He has 30+ years experience pulling together the pieces of problems to create successful big picture solutions. gBRETT is on Twitter as @gbrettmiller. |
| Session ID#:24 | Chatbots – The sales and CR reps that increase business |
| Description: | Artificial intelligence or machine learning is the future of interaction. Slowly, companies are using AI to engage their customers to answer questions, guide sales, promote new products / services and answer frequently asked questions that customers may have. AI is even helping employees to become better at their jobs by being assistants and trainers. How is one deployed? Let’s explore. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Marketing Execution |
| Submitted by: | Leroy Simpson. Leroy D. Simpson, Psy.D has been a practitioner in the field Industrial and Organizational Psychology for over 14 years advising individuals, small businesses, and large organizations. His concentrations are on training, learning, coaching and change-transformation management. Leroy is on Twitter as @realdrroy. |
| Session ID#:25 | Competitive Analysis: How to make investors and strategic partners believe in what you tell them |
| Description: | Competitive analysis is a critical evaluation point for any investor, cornerstone customer or strategic partner in making a decision about a startup company. And it is what startups all too often get wrong – turning an opportunity into a liability, a strength into a weakness. Let’s talk about how to keep that from happening in your company! In this interactive discussion, audience participants will recreate real-life cases and evaluate what entrepreneurs do right and wrong when it comes to sizing themselves up against the market. We’ll talk about how to emphasize your strengths, neutralize your weaknesses and – above all – make decision makers believe in you. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Opportunity Analysis |
| Submitted by: | Stephen Von Rump. Stephen Von Rump is a serial entrepreneur and CEO with over 20 years of U.S. and international operational experience including R&D for software, electronics and mechanics; manufacturing and technical service; project, product and quality management; intellectual property and global regulatory activities; sales and marketing; finance and venture capital fund raising. He has global experience in medical technology including telehealth, telemedicine, medical devices and AI analysis. Stephen is on Twitter as @svonrump.
Email: [email protected] |
| Session ID#:26 | Win/Loss Analysis: Insight into the Minds of B2B Customers/Prospects |
| Description: | How do you get into the mind of B2B customers and prospects to learn what they really think and desire? If you’re looking for strategic and tactical insights from your B2B customers and prospects — how they make decisions, what they value, where they’re headed, how they identify vendors, what they think of your offerings and what they think of competitors — the best (and perhaps only) way to get this information is through in-depth interviews in a process called win/loss analysis.
This session will provide an overview of the win/loss analysis process; insights and benefits that can be achieved; and considerations/tips for doing it. Q&A and discussion of best practices are most welcome! A popular session in the past, this is being offered again this year. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Product Lifecycle Mgmt |
| Submitted by: | Shelly Azar. Shelly Azar, principal of Insight Researchers, has been working in the field of competitive intelligence since 1996. She helps clients be competitive by making better strategic and tactical decisions. Her experience, both as a corporate practitioner and as a consultant, has been with companies large and small, public and private, in the US and abroad … and in a variety of industries. Shelly is on Twitter as @stazar. |
| Session ID#:27 | Protecting your Idea (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark) |
| Description: | Learn about the ways to protect your Intellectual property for your product or service in order to prevent others from copying and selling your protected product or service. Brett Schenck is a registered patent attorney and trademark and copyright attorney with over 20 years experience both in the corporate and law firm environment. He has provided legal services for large corporations including Honda, Maytag (Hoover division), Diebold, Lenovo, Boeing, ZTE, and TRW as well as small businesses and individuals. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Legal |
| Submitted by: | Brett Schenck. Brett Schenck is a registered patent attorney and trademark and copyright attorney with over 20 years experience both in the corporate and law firm environment. He has provided legal services for large corporations including Honda, Maytag (Hoover division), Diebold, Lenovo, Boeing, ZTE, and TRW as well as small businesses and individuals.
Website: www.bschencklaw.com |
| Session ID#:28 | Providing Clarity and Vision to Product Requirements: A practical guide to product definition |
| Description: | MVP, UX/UI, roadmap, change requirements, internal buy-in, product metrics, PM process, user stories, market analysis, etc. – some say we have lost our way in the product definition and creation process, especially for startups and first-time entrepreneurs. But it doesn’t have to be that way! We’ll start with a review of the fundamentals of the product process that give rise to all the techniques in the PM business as listed above. Then we’ll guide audience participants through an interactive discussion to look at real-life cases, cut through the industry jargon and provide the clarity and vision to your product requirements that will make your business successful. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Product Strategy |
| Submitted by: | Stephen Von Rump. Stephen Von Rump is a serial entrepreneur and CEO with over 20 years of U.S. and international operational experience including R&D for software, electronics and mechanics; manufacturing and technical service; project, product and quality management; intellectual property and global regulatory activities; sales and marketing; finance and venture capital fund raising. He has global experience in medical technology including telehealth, telemedicine, medical devices and AI analysis. |
| Session ID#:29 | All Over the Map: Lessons Learned from a Decade of Customer Journey Mapping |
| Description: | Gain insights and ask questions about best practices for creating a customer experience map from a user experience researcher who has developed maps for companies such as Emerson, Orbitz Worldwide and CVS Caremark. |
| Session Format: | Ask the Expert |
| Category: | Requirements Definitions |
| Submitted by: | Julie Harpring. With more than 10 years in the user experience field, Julie is the founder and principal consultant of Human First STL. Her work spans multiple stages in the interface design process for desktop, tablet and mobile: – design / customer insights research – early concepting and sketching – high-fidelity prototype creation – usability evaluation – detailed functional spec documentation Julie is on Twitter as @julieharpring. |
| Session ID#:30 | Which Research When? Using the Right UX Research Method at the Right Time |
| Description: | Should it be a diary study or contextual inquiry? Interviews or a usability evaluation? Is it too early to test? Too late? The session with start with a brief description of the main UX research methods you can use and when, and then answer your questions! |
| Session Format: | Ask the Expert |
| Category: | Requirements Definitions |
| Submitted by: | Julie Harpring. With more than 10 years in the user experience field, Julie is the founder and principal consultant of Human First STL. Her work spans multiple stages in the interface design process for desktop, tablet and mobile: – design / customer insights research – early concepting and sketching – high-fidelity prototype creation – usability evaluation – detailed functional spec documentation Julie is on Twitter as @julieharpring. |
| Session ID#:31 | UX in the Agile Workflow: Tips and Tricks |
| Description: | It can often seem that UX gets shoehorned into the Agile software development process, but great collaboration and flow can be achieved between Product, Developers, and UXers. Hear how one UX pro, working in Agile teams since 2011, has developed a successful workflow in multiple environments, and then get your questions answered. |
| Session Format: | Ask the Expert |
| Category: | Product Management/Development |
| Submitted by: | Julie Harpring. With more than 10 years in the user experience field, Julie is the founder and principal consultant of Human First STL. Her work spans multiple stages in the interface design process for desktop, tablet and mobile: – design / customer insights research – early concepting and sketching – high-fidelity prototype creation – usability evaluation – detailed functional spec documentation Julie is on Twitter as @julieharpring. |
| Session ID#:32 | The Heart of the Matter: Really Knowing Your Customer |
| Description: | Do you really know your customer… really?
Before product roadmaps, before marketing strategies and definitely before launch… this is the question you need to answer. A thorough understanding of the customer is the foundation of marketing and product strategy. Too often, companies — established and startup alike — make assumptions they don’t verify. Product strategy requires deep roots if it’s going to stand up to time and market pressure. Join Brian Posnanski and Ron Strawbridge of Graybar as they explore how a 150-year old FORTUNE 500 distributor took a fresh look at who it serves and why. This session will cover: > How to evaluate potential markets and focus customers (Please find a link to our slides here. Also, please feel free to reach out to us via Twitter and LinkedIn.) |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Opportunity Analysis |
| Submitted by: | Brian Posnanski and Ron Strawbridge. Brian Posnanski is Director of Marketing for Graybar. Ron Strawbridge is Director of Customer Experience for Graybar. Brian is on Twitter as @bpoz. Ron is on Twitter as @ronstrawbridge. |
| Session ID#:33 | Understanding The Early Stages Of The Product Development Process And Avoiding Common Pitfalls |
| Description: | Covers the early stages of new product development and how to grow your business by avoiding common pitfalls and identifying/projecting commercial sales opportunities. Tim Corbet, IASL board member, will share helpful insights and business strategies to consider in the earliest stages of the development of your invention/ business. He will help inventors/entrepreneurs learn how to avoid costly pitfalls often encountered during the product development phase and offer valuable lessons on how to identify the need for product changes.
Participants will learn how to properly assess when “constructive” less expensive changes are beneficial versus “destructive” and expensive changes made at the back-end threaten to hinder the scalability of their business model. |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Product Management/Development |
| Submitted by: | Tim Corbet. IASL Board Member, worked 40 years in new product development with Hallmark, Crayola, and Brown Shoe.
Facebook: InventorsAssociation St. Louis |
| Session ID#:34 | How hard would it be to … ? |
| Description: | The ubiquity of (mostly) well designed products and services can lead to a false sense that it is easy to create them. Even an idea as seemingly simple sounding as, “I want to build a job board, you know, something where people can post openings or search for a job, like Indeed or something, how hard would that be?” I’ll discuss a recent project I worked on (yes, a job board) and then we’ll break into groups to explore a service we all interact with every day. |
| Session Format: | Roundtable Breakout |
| Category: | Requirements Definitions |
| Submitted by: | gBRETT miller. Brett is a Solution Designer at DSA, Inc., currently designing and implementing solutions for a large Federal government enterprise social network. He has 30+ years experience pulling together the pieces of problems to create successful big picture solutions. gBRETT is on Twitter as @gbrettmiller. |
| Session ID#:35 | Position Your Business for Success |
| Description: | If you have never sold your own product or started your own business, you will want to come to this session to learn what it takes to build a successful business. The leader of this town hall session, Dennis Donahue, is an accomplished patent attorney who started a top-rated IP firm (CreatiVenture Law rated in Top 1% of Best Performing Patent Firms by Patexia) and has counseled the founders of hundreds of startup companies and has mentored dozens of entrepreneurs. Dennis will identify the basic ingredients that you need for your business and will explain how you can use these ingredients the way that successful business owners have built their companies. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Product Strategy |
| Submitted by: | Dennis Donahue. Dennis Donahue – Founder of CreatiVenture Law (represents independent inventors, small & mid-size businesses and large international companies), Former Co-Chair of IP Department in AmLaw 100 Law Firm & Inhouse Patent Attorney for McDonnell Douglas & Boeing after having worked as an Aerospace Engineer on projects with NASA, Navy & Marines Dennis is on Twitter as @DennisDonahueIP. |
| Session ID#:36 | Building Success with a fully remote dev team. |
| Description: | Learn how I’ve grown my team from 1 to 6 developers over the past year, releasing features quicker (with fewer bugs) and building success for me and my and my product with freelancers from all over the world. |
| Session Format: | Town Hall |
| Category: | Product Management/Development |
| Submitted by: | Katie McAninch. Katie has recently taken on the role as VP of Product at Sapper Consulting, overseeing dev ops and all aspects of an internal web app that has helped the company grow and scale, specifically within the past year.
Email: [email protected] or [email protected] |
| Session ID#:37 | Product in the Plex: What I Learned as a Google Product Manager |
| Description: | A recently returned St. Louisan, Jonathan Mesh spent the last decade of his career working as a Product Manager in Silicon Valley, most recently at Google, where he built Google Optimize from the ground up. Come hear about life in the Plex: how product management works at one of the Valley’s biggest companies, whether there really *are* quidditch teams at Google, and most importantly, what you can do to bring a bit of the valley back into your team. |
| Session Format: | Ask the Expert |
| Category: | Product Management/Development |
| Submitted by: | Jonathan Mesh. Jon Mesh heads up the product and design teams at Jane.ai, having recently returned to St. Louis after leading product for Google Optimize. He previously led product for AutoCAD on the web and worked on Flip Video cameras and accessories. He holds an MBA from UC Davis and a Mechanical Engineering degree from Washington University. |
| Session ID#:38 | Get Out Of Your Own Head & Into Your Customer’s World |
| Description: | We’re always trying to hear the customer’s voice, but this is never easy. You need a good method, sure, but you also have to avoid the pitfall that’s built into the human psyche: our inability to set aside what we already know.
The Customer Led Model gives you a structure for getting out of your own head and into your customer’s world so you can see things from their perspective. Learn the model and then talk through the pitfalls that arise in your development process. |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Requirements Definitions |
| Submitted by: | Trace Steffen. Trace is an entrepreneur from Iowa, CEO of HowFactory.com, a member of the Customer Obsession Team, and a baseball coach. He is a certified Agile Product Owner and Scrum Master and is an expert in product development. He’s worked with big impressive companies, loves development and just making cool stuff. Trace is on Twitter as @tracesteffen. |
| Session ID#:39 | Customer Obsession: Surviving The Customer Experience Revolution |
| Description: | Customer Obsession is a critical business strategy in the next decade, because consumer expectations have risen dramatically. Technology has empowered customers and transformed the buying process. We’re in the Age of the Customer, and B2C and B2B consumers alike now expect more than just good products and services. They expect to have a great experience with your company at every touch point they have with you. The only way to survive the Customer Experience Revolution is to become Customer Obsessed! |
| Session Format: | Presentation |
| Category: | Other |
| Submitted by: | Suzanne Offner. Suzanne is one of the founders of the Customer Obsession Summit. For her, it’s all about stirring up the conversation about Customer Obsession in the Midwest, and making sure our medium and small businesses stay competitive and relevant in the coming decades. She started her business career creating programs for companies like Anheuser-Busch and SeaWorld, and spent 9 years immersed in the world of Online Marketing. She’s passionate about helping companies become Customer Led. |
Sponsors
ProductCamp St. Louis 2019 was free for attendees/participants, thanks to support from our generous sponsors.
Gold Sponsors for ProductCamp 2019
 |
 |
 |
 |
Silver Sponsors for ProductCamp 2019
 |
 |
 |
 |
Producing Partners for ProductCamp 2019
Producing Partners are the ones who “put on” ProductCamp St. Louis and handle all operations and logistics.
 |
 |
You must be logged in to post a comment.