Is it just me or is there a bunch of events going on?

There are no shortage of events going on for product managers and marketers.  So what’s going on?  A flurry of ProductCamps are on the schedule, along with regional talks and a conference on Innovation.

If you are interested in going to a PCamp, a complete list of schedule camps can be found at www.productcamp.org.  I hear there even is a Vancouver in the works for 2011 from one of yesterday’s commentators here..

Here are a couple of other events which you might be able to catch online or if you are in Vancouver:

Pipeline 2010: This is a virtual meeting of folks who will be speaking on the best practices of innovation, product development, and product portfolio management.  Some of the speakers include – Chris Trimble, Braden Kelley, John Milburn, Maureen Carlson, Steven Cristol, Bill Poston…. This event is hosted by Planview on November 10, 2010

British Columbia Technology Industry Association – The November 16th session focuses executing on your strategy in trying times.  The session will be lead by Barb Nelson.

Technology Association of Georgia PM Society – The November 10th meeting is focused on Developing Product Strategies That Align With Corporate Strategy.

Related articles/events
October 26, 2010 by
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Minnesota Product Camp v2.0

I’m excited to be able to catch up with some old friends, but also to make new ones next month in Minnesota.  Based on the feedback from last years on the official PCampMN.org’s site and the stories from a couple of people I know who went last year, this event should again be a good one.  Here are some of comments from last product camp in Minnesota:

“Product Camp is a great way to meet and network with people in the Product world right here in Minneapolis. We often hear about these kinds of opportunities on the “coasts” and don’t get to participate since we live in MN, but this is our chance! I loved getting to talk with others that can truly understand what I do every day and actually relate. Keep it up.”

Eric Swanson
Product Manager
PLATO Learning

“PCamp was a fabulous opportunity to meet  many product management-focused individuals in one place.  Great way to share interests and ideas and have fun.”

Joan Watson
Senior Product Manager
Lawson Software

“Product Camp Minnesota was a great way to meet product managers and marketers from different industries.  There were also other disciplines represented who were interested in learning about the community.  The surveys and comments all strongly indicated that we should keep this going. It serves a useful purpose by filling a void in the local market.”

Harvey Andruss
Andruss Consulting

What: Product Camp MN

When: 11.13.2010 @ 9:00

Where: University of St Thomas – Minneapolis1000 Lasalle Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403

October 25, 2010 by
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I don’t care what you say, Glaminar is a great product name

Product naming just might be one of the most heated discussions when launching a new product to market or re-branding a portfolio.  For most marketers, product naming is rife with frustration, disagreement and perhaps a little bit of fear no matter what is driving the need to come up with new product names.  Urban legends have even  formed around  product naming ( Cheverolet’s Nova ),   so there is definitely some stress around product naming – real and perceived.

There are plenty of examples of bad product names, even Apple’s naming has been a topic of discussion with their new Tiger OS.   Thanks to a lack of things on the DVR and no satellite signal, I ran across one of the best product names I’ve heard in a while: Glaminar.

So what is a Glaminar?   Here is an ‘remixed’ overview of the product from a recent post from the Glam Fairy’s site.

Target Buyer: MUA’S (MakeUp Artist’s).

Problem: Cosmetology school rarely goes beyond 8 hours of makeup training and MUA’s need more training to be effective.

Product Overview: These classes are going to be different each and every week– bubbling over with so many topics your head will spin.  Contouring, body glow, scar coverage, tattoo coverage, beauty makeup, macro makeup, tv makeup — everything and anything that the professional makeup artist has in their arsenal of makeup knowledge.

Requirements: At each class the student will bring a model so that there is no idle time for artist’s (you wont have to work on each other).

From my perspective, some of the better product names conjure an image of a concept, a problem or the problem resolved and Glaminar kinda does all three in a memorable way.  Over my career I’ve been able to create some filter’s I run every product name idea through which might be helpful:

  • Do you have to follow the name with some sort of qualifying statement like: “It’s an anagram of X” or “it’s Danish for X”
  • Does it require an unnecessary use of colons or other punctuation
  • How could this be used in a sentence? as a verb? an adjective? an adverb?

Other Product Naming Insights

October 25, 2010 by
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