Satiating needs of Product Professionals at Hyderabad – ProductCamp Hyderabad, Vol2

10^th March Saturday Morning, saw product professionals in and around Hyderabad gather at ProductCamp Hyderabad Vol2, conducted at the Microsoft Campus, to learn, grow, share and impact. The registration desks were pre-organised to provide a hassle free entry to all registered participants. The ProductCamp Hyderabad standees were placed at different points throughout the campus and some hilarious product camp quote such as, “Dating a PM? He argues with you using bullet points in a PowerPoint presentation” found their way behind chairs set up in the main arena.

All the participants were greeted with a warm welcome and a beautiful jute laptop sleeve that consisted of a stunning diary and a pen, a Pragmatic Marketing newsletter along with Pragmatic Marketing framework, a gift voucher from our relaxation partner O2 spa, mint, 3 voting stickers, a plain card and a sketch pen. The registration kit was carefully designed, and the contents were chosen keeping in mind the needs and requirements of the participants. For example; we all need a diary and pen so we can take notes during the meetings or the training sessions, the informative newsletter that talks about different aspects of pragmatic marketing and since we all are doing a desk job, a coupon from O2 spa definitely adds a smile on our faces, the mint was given to ensure that the participants stay fresh and alert throughout the sessions during the day. Now talking about the sketch pen and white card, any guesses what they were for? Not for taking notes but for Doodling. We had one of the renowned doodle artist Tejo Guna present at the event who captured the entire essence of ProductCamp Hyderabad  Vol2 on his canvas, live. The doodle was nothing less than stunning.

Now the most important thing in the kit – the 3 voting stickers. This is where the unconference aspect of the day kicked in and out of the 34 breakout speakers (26 pre-registered and 8 on-spot entries) that took stage to present their pitch as to why other participants should listen to them, top 14 breakout speakers were selected based on the votes that all the participants casted on the voting grid.

ProductCamp’s are free for participants to attend and are supported by various organizations as sponsors and partners, Vol2 saw support from Microsoft, Optum, Eze Software, Pragmatic Marketing, O2 Spa, Reviving Dreams and Eclarie to help ProductCamp Hyderabad in its endeavor to satiate the needs of the growing product community at Hyderabad.

Darshan Khanna and Dheeraj Pershad, 2 of the core members of the organizing team, filled up the audience with energy with their opening speech. Darshan spoke about how to think out of the box and create an inverted triangle learning curve. Dheeraj highlighted the core take away from the day: to Learn, Grow, Share and Impact.

Next, it was the time for our KeyNote session which was delivered by an eminent industry leader Ram Papatla – Vice President and General Manager – Flipkart who was joined by Somnath Singh Mahapatra, Group Product Manager and Debnath Sinha from Flipkart who shared their thoughts on the topic ‘Focus on insights, attachment for your users!’ The Banglorians shared how understanding and knowing customers’ requirements can help in building great products. Also, they shed light on the power of data insights and machine learning capabilities – and how it can help in enhancing, improving the product and delivering a great user experience. They shared tips and tricks for not only meeting customer needs but also ensuring customer satisfaction.

After a delightful, informative KeyNote speech, delicious snacks were served. Also, the participants engaged themselves at the photo booth where they networked and got themselves clicked.

Now, it was the time we all were waiting for. The breakout sessions pitches. ProductCamps run on the concept of an unconference, meaning the audience gets to decide the speakers and topics they wish to listen on the day of the camp. It also works on two-foot rule which allows the attendee to opt for any session at any hour. During the breakout pitches, some of the speakers amongst the 26 pre-registered speakers were: Vikram Muddya, topic: “Always Customer First?”, Mahuya Ghosh, topic: “Product Management in 2030”, Venkataraman Ramachandran, topic: “Your Product Is A Story?”, Phil Christianson: topic:“Interview Secrets Revealed” and Sugandh Rakha: topic: “Using Blockchain For Your Next Product Breakthrough”. Every breakout speaker got 1 minute to pitch about their topic so that the audience could vote at the end of all the breakout pitches. Each pitch was unique, interesting in its own way giving a hard time for the audience to decide whom to vote for. Apart from the 26 pre-registered speakers, Vol2 also saw 8 speakers sign up for a breakout session on the day of unconference.

It was next time for some delicious Indian food and mouth-watering desserts and voting for the breakout sessions. Meanwhile, the organizers Anusha, Pranavi and Amita captured the testimonials from the participants where participants shared insights about different aspects of product management and their experiences at ProductCamp Hyderabad.

Our photography partner reviving dreams and member of the organizing team: Pranavi worked together to capture the memorable moments of the event in the camera.

Lunch was followed by a Panel Discussion on the topic, “Building Global Products from India” by some of the elite members of the product fraternity from across the globe.  The panelists came from different product spaces across Product Management, Products Strategy, Product Marketing and UI/UX. The panelists included: Anand Kamat – Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft, Karthi Subbaraman – Chief Design Officer at Oghma, Jeffrey Shormen – President and CEO at Eze Software, Boston and Yogesh Rao, Head of Product Management at United Health Group and was moderated by Chandra Sekhar Sarmah, Lead Product Manager at NCR Corp. The panel discussion focused on what it takes for an Indian Mindset to shift to global product managers eco-system thinking.

After an insightful panel discussion, it was the moment we all were waiting for. The breakout sessions. Out of the 34 pitches, 14 enticing sessions were shortlisted by the audience. 7 sessions ran in parallel and 2 rounds of the same, which meant 2 hours of interesting conversations, discussions and information about product management.

With this our organizer Sayir thanked the sponsors once again and the core organizing team: Darshan Khanna, Dheeraj Pershad, Aditya Jaroli and Sayir Ashai along with the volunteers Olivia, Pranavi, Amita, Anusha, Raghu, Nishant, Mani, Sai Kiran and Abdul Avaze were recognized for their 4 months of hardwork and effort in different aspects such as PR and marketing, sponsorship, sessions and logistics.

Our doodler Tejo Guna was acknowledged for beautifully capturing the event on his canvas in the form of a mesmerizing doodle.

Then the audience feedback was captured on the Kaizala app and the fastest responded was rewarded with a prize. The day concluded with a vote of thanks, lots of smiles and a group picture!

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