With the explosion in popularity of the PM role, more and more product conferences are popping up, giving attendees the opportunity to hone their craft, meet like-minded product pros, and hear from some of the top minds in the field. Here are ten product conferences we’re excited about in 2020.
ProductCon
When and where: London on February 11; San Francisco on April 16; Seattle on June 30; New York on September 8; Los Angeles on November 3
Product School, one of the leaders in product management courses and certification, puts on this conference five times a year. Can’t attend? That’s ok — they livestream the entire event for free, and online viewers also receive access to all videos and presentations after the event. The agenda for their London event features speakers from companies like Zendesk, Spotify, Expedia, and Amazon, plus dedicated opportunities for networking and job-searching.
The ProductCraft Event Series
When and where: San Francisco on February 25; London on March 31; Boston on April 16
This one is just a little self-promotional, but we promise it’s going to be a great conference. Last May, over 500 product practitioners attended the first-ever ProductCraft Conference in San Francisco. The response was so positive that we’re taking our signature event to multiple cities this year. Our first stop? Back to the Bay.
And like last year, we’re doing things a bit differently. Yes, we’ll have speakers and stages. But we’ll also have a hands-on workshop, dedicated opportunities for discourse and networking, and an interactive panel on product leadership. Plus, you’ll be hearing from some of the top leaders and influencers in product.
INDUSTRY: The Product Conference
When and where: Dublin on March 9-11; Cleveland on September 21-23
INDUSTRY is Product Collective’s marquee event and takes place twice per year. Each conference draws more than 500 attendees over three days and offers an impressive agenda of speakers from companies like Intercom, Balsamiq, Google, and Basecamp. Their Talk Shop stage allows attendees to learn from the speakers in a more interactive and intimate environment after each presentation. Also, Conference Plus ticket holders can attend an immersive four-hour workshop on the first day of the event. Finally, a special perk from INDUSTRY is notes and key takeaways from every session sent to your inbox right after the event.
Mind the Product
When and where: Manchester on February 7-8; Singapore on March 25-26; Hamburg on May 22-24; San Francisco on July 15-15; London on October 17-18
Mind the Product hosts both flagship and regional conferences around the world, each drawing an impressive crowd of attendees and a number of well-known speakers. Part of the conference includes a full day of workshops, allowing attendees to “get their hands dirty” and spend time putting best practices into action.
SaaStr Annual
When and where: San Francisco on March 10-12
Each year, over 15,000 software professionals attend the world’s largest SaaS event. And this year’s conference promises to keep up the momentum. With 300+ sessions, SaaStr has something for everyone, whether they’re a product manager, executive, designer, engineer, or investor. Also, the event offers tons of opportunities for mentorship and networking, including 1:1 meetings and AMAs with top execs. This one is a must-attend for any PM in software.
Software Product Management Summit
When and where: Frankfurt on March 24-25
Software PMs, this is another one for you — particularly if you’re based in EMEA. The event is held over two days and includes three separate tracks, allowing attendees to tailor their agenda to their needs. In total, the event includes forty sessions given by thirty different speakers. Highlights on the agenda include “From Vision to Strategy” (Dirk Bracklow, Lufthansa Systems), “How to Scale High-Performing Product Teams in Enterprise Software” (Peter Krmpotic, Salesforce), and “Building Innovative Products by Harnessing the Power of the PM-Designer-Engineer Relationship” (Luke Vella, Hotjar).
Atlassian Summit
When and where: Las Vegas on March 31-April 2
Teamwork makes the dream work, and Atlassian Summit is all about teams, collaboration, and building better ways to work. The company behind JIRA and Confluence puts on its flagship conference each year in Las Vegas and draws a huge crowd of attendees and big-name speakers. This year’s keynote will be given by Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author and host of the popular Revisionist History podcast. And it’s all happening at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino, which only adds to the fun.
Product Impact 2020
When and where: New York City on April 1
This full-day event is hosted by The Product Angle, an organization dedicated to helping product practitioners improve their communication, negotiation, and collaboration skills. Speakers include product and design execs from companies like Goldman Sachs, Shutterstock, and Fiverr. Can’t make it to NYC for the conference? No worries — all content will be made available online to Video-Only ticket holders.
JAM Product Leaders Weekend
When and where: Wales, the UK on May 14-17
The JAM product community puts on a number of events each year, but this one looks especially intriguing to us. In fact, it seems more like a woodsy, exclusive PM retreat than a conference. In fact, one of last year’s attendees referred to it as a “summer camp” for PMs. On the 2020 agenda are four outdoor activities, five group discussions, and eight talks by leaders in the field. And JAM prides themselves on the friendly atmosphere at their events, so attendees will be sure to make real connections with fellow product-obsessed peers.
Front UX & Product Management Case Study Conference
When and where: Salt Lake City on May 28-29
For the sixth year in a row, Front is bringing the worlds of product management and UX together on the slopes of Utah. Unlike other conferences that focus on either product or design, this event encourages collaboration, connection, and shared understanding between both UX and PM professionals. The speaker list includes leaders from companies like InVision, Workfront, Bitly, Indeed, and Drift, and the event draws an impressive crowd of over 1000 attendees each year.
ProductCampRTP
When and where: Online; June 11, June 18, June 25, and July 2
We wanted to give a shout-out to our fellow product-obsessed, North Carolina-based friends at ProductCampRTP. Unlike many other product conferences, this one isn’t organized by a specific company and is designed to be industry- and market segment-agnostic. Whether you work for a B2B company, a B2C org, a manufacturing plant, or a bleeding-tech cloud software firm, you’re welcome at ProductCampRTP. This year, the event will take place entirely online over four consecutive Thursdays in June/July.
Product Management Festival
When and where: Singapore on June 29-30; Europe (TBD) on November 11-12
Since 2018, PMF has hosted two events per year, one in Europe and another in Asia. Last year, their Zurich event included more than 70 speakers, including product leaders from Instagram, Google, Twitter, and Facebook, and drew over 1000 attendees. Their Singapore event tends to be smaller but no less impressive in terms of content; their 2019 speaker lineup included executives from global companies like Mailchimp, Atlassian, Rakuten, Honeywell, and Microsoft.
年次イベント Pendomonium
When and where: Raleigh on December 7-9
For the fourth year running, our colleagues at Pendo will host their Pendomonium conference in Raleigh, with plans to draw a global audience of 1,200 product managers, UX designers, customer success professionals, and marketing leaders. Technically, this event is a user conference, but you don’t need to be a Pendo customer to attend. Plenty of conference content focuses on product management more generally. For example, some of last year’s sessions included “Product-led Growth: How to Build a SaaS Company in the End-User Era,” “How To Build Virality Into Your Product to Achieve Rapid Growth,” and “Roadmap Poison: What’s Getting In Your Way?” This event also includes the signature Pendo karaoke party, so you really can’t go wrong.
We hope to see you somewhere in the world in 2020!
Edited to add: Let us know if we should add any other product conferences to our list. We’ll keep this post updated with your recommendations.
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