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Product Management

Three product leaders to learn from at #mtpcon inside Pendomonium

With his background in technical editing, community building and product marketing, Chris' approach to product management is inherently centered around user narratives. He spent the first few years of his career working with the B2B developer products, prototyped an experimental technical publishing platform along the way, and then kick-started the Mind the Product platform. You can find him at ProductTank, or on twitter as @camassey.

Chris Massey

Mind the Product conferences happen all over the world and sell out fast. You’ve decided that you desperately want to attend the product management conference of the year to level-up your skills and network with a rich community of passionate product people &#8211; there’s just one last hurdle…
… you&#8217;ve got to convince the boss (who isn&#8217;t a product person) about how valuable the conference will be for you and for the whole team!
No problem &#8211; we&#8217;ve got five key points you can use to convince your team or manager that Mind the Product (#mtpcon) is an event that you cannot afford to miss. Pick the ones that work for you, or just grab the email at the end and fill in the blanks. This information is all relevant for our MTP Engage conferences too.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-14250" src="//wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Roan-Lavery-on-stage-at-mtpcon-London-1024x684.jpg" alt="Roan Lavery on stage at mtpcon London" width="1024" height="684" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Roan-Lavery-on-stage-at-mtpcon-London-1024x684.jpg 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Roan-Lavery-on-stage-at-mtpcon-London-300x200.jpg 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Roan-Lavery-on-stage-at-mtpcon-London-768x513.jpg 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Roan-Lavery-on-stage-at-mtpcon-London.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
<h2>5 Reasons you Need to Attend</h2>
<ol>
<li>Get inspired by the speakers, all top-notch product leaders from the leading tech companies around the world, as they share some of their hard-earned insights from across the product management spectrum.</li>
<li>Share experiences, best practices, stories, and pro tips with hundreds of other passionate product managers (in London and San Francisco you&#8217;ll be amongst 1,500+ fellow product people!). Product can be a lonely job, but here you’ll find peers facing the same challenges you are &#8211; and finally get a chance to work through them. Your tribe welcomes you.</li>
<li>Level up your product management skills with one of the superb workshops before the conference, covering everything from Product Management Essentials through to Product Leadership.</li>
<li>Save the cost of going to all those UX, tech, and marketing events where you only get a sliver of value, and get everything you need in one place &#8211; this is the conference by product managers for product managers.</li>
<li>Be among the first to learn about and get your hands on some of the leading product management tools, and chat to vendors like Atlassian, Algolia, Intercom, Pentaho, Autodesk, Uservoice, and Pluralsight.</li>
</ol>
<h3>The Elevator Pitch</h3>
If you want that all in a one-line elevator pitch:
You’ll bring back bags of fresh skills, ideas, tools, and actionable insights for your team to level up with, and you’ll save money while doing it!
You’ll gain a fresh perspective on your product challenges by reaffirming first principles and best practices, and come back fired up to tackle them. Make sure you share what you learn back at the office, and you’ll be a product hero.
<h3>What Past Attendees Thought</h3>
<img decoding="async" style="width: 200px; float: right; margin-left: 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; border: 8px solid rgba(98, 173, 236, 0.3); padding: 0;" src="//wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ken-norton.jpg" alt="Ken Norton" /> 
&#8220;Mind the Product is one of the best organized and most informative product-oriented conferences I’ve ever been to. It’s a must-attend for product leaders. 
<a href="https://twitter.com/kennethn" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8211; Ken Norton, Product Partner, Google Ventures</a>
<img decoding="async" style="width: 200px; float: left; margin-left: 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; border: 8px solid rgba(98, 173, 236, 0.3); padding: 0;" src="//wp-content/uploads/2019/01/julia-whitney.png" alt="Julia Whitney" /> 
&#8220;At MTP Engage I was expecting to meet a crowd of people who were quite engaged with product management, and that is indeed what I&#8217;ve found &#8211; people are really excited about product management. 
<a href="https://twitter.com/_whitneyand" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8211; Julia Whitney, Leadership Coach</a>
<img decoding="async" style="width: 200px; float: right; margin-left: 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; border: 8px solid rgba(98, 173, 236, 0.3); padding: 0;" src="//wp-content/uploads/2019/01/thiago-peres-3.jpeg" alt="Thiago Peres" /> 
Mind the Product was one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended, amazing talks that will change how I work. 
<a href="https://twitter.com/thiago_peres" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8211; Thiago Peres, Product Owner at Booking.com</a>
<img decoding="async" style="width: 200px; float: left; margin-left: 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; border: 8px solid rgba(98, 173, 236, 0.3); padding: 0;" src="//wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Rachel-BodnarBW.jpg" alt="Emily Tate" /> 
&#8220;I love attending Mind the Product. It&#8217;s a great experience and I always learn things which apply to my role and can take back to the office to action straight away. It&#8217;s amazing to connect with other people who can really understand your position and all it entails. Being surrounded by all of the fantastic product people there makes me feel a part of a bigger, amazing community.&#8221; 
<a href="https://twitter.com/bodnarrachel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8211; Rachel Bodnar, Lead Product Manager at Sheet Music Plus</a>
<img decoding="async" style="width: 200px; float: right; margin-left: 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; border: 8px solid rgba(98, 173, 236, 0.3); padding: 0;" src="//wp-content/uploads/2018/12/marty_cagan_bw.jpg" alt="Marty Cagan" /> 
&#8220;It’s very rare to have a crowd this big of kindred spirits. This is really the only conference aimed at this community. The talks were among the best talks I&#8217;ve heard in a very long time. We’re very happy it’s come to San Francisco and certainly hope it’s an annual event here. 
<a href="https://twitter.com/cagan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8211; Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product Group</a>
<h3>Mind the Product London 2018 Recap</h3>
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/297149365?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="605" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<h3>Mind the Product San Francisco 2018 Recap</h3>
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/281649443?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="605" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<h3>MTP Engage Hamburg 2018 Recap</h3>
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/268000032?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="605" height="340" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<hr style="color: #00aeef; background-color: #00aeef;" />
<h2>How to Convince The Boss</h2>
When you’re talking to whoever holds the purse-strings, be passionate, be detailed, and be relevant to whatever challenges your team is currently facing.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" size-full wp-image-8070 alignright" src="//wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MTPMindTrick.jpg" alt="Join us at Mind The Product on Star Wars Day" width="359" height="300" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MTPMindTrick.jpg 359w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MTPMindTrick-300x251.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px" />
<ul>
<li>Make sure your case is strategically relevant to the business &#8211; Are you hiring, looking to hone the product function, bring in in fresh perspectives, or tackle a specific problem? Understand which of these issues are relevant for the business as a whole, and make a case for how attending #mtpcon or MTP Engage will help achieve those goals for the business.</li>
<li>Understand the specific needs of your team &#8211; Are you looking for training, or to connect with the folks who build the tools you use (or might use)? Maybe your manager is building out their team? Work out what will make your manager’s life easier, and show them how you can help them achieve that at #mtpcon or MTP Engage.</li>
<li>Answer the “Why You?” question &#8211; If your team is going to send anyone to #mtpcon or MTP Engage, why should it be you? Or should they send the whole team?</li>
<li>Articulate what you’re bringing back to the team &#8211; This is an easy win, as people so often forget it &#8211; your manager will appreciate that you’ve thought this through. What can you bring back to the team? The skills and ideas you’ll be picking up in the talks and in the great conversations &#8211; best practices from industry leaders and product veterans. And, of course, your networking will lead to unique connections and opportunities, and an ongoing supply of fresh ideas and perspectives!</li>
</ul>
Send them the sample email below, with your costs and names updated, and make sure to corner them at your next meeting to get that sign off before the tickets are gone!
While you’re waiting for that approval to come through, head over to <a href="http://slack.mindtheproduct.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slack.mindtheproduct.com</a> and join the world fastest-growing community of passionate product people!
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-14669" src="//wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SF-general-double-photo-1024x351.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="351" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SF-general-double-photo-1024x351.jpg 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SF-general-double-photo-300x103.jpg 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SF-general-double-photo-768x263.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-14670" src="//wp-content/uploads/2016/02/34499588754_06ab59dd30_k-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/34499588754_06ab59dd30_k-1024x683.jpg 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/34499588754_06ab59dd30_k-300x200.jpg 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/34499588754_06ab59dd30_k-768x512.jpg 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2016/02/34499588754_06ab59dd30_k.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
<h3>Sample email</h3>
<div style="padding: 20px; border: 2px solid #00AEEF;">
Hi [Boss&#8217; Name],
Have you heard of Mind the Product? Their next conference is coming up and it looks like it&#8217;ll be a great opportunity to improve product management at [company name]. I&#8217;d love to attend because I think it&#8217;ll be hugely valuable both for me personally as well as the [team / company].
Having had a look at the schedule and the details from previous events, there are six ways I think we’d get a lot of value from the event:
<ul>
<li>The speakers are all product leaders, and they’ll be covering some serious product insights, as well as hard and soft skills.</li>
<li>It’ll be a chance to get to grips with the leading tools and technologies for product managers, and chat to folks from the likes of Atlassian, Algolia, Intercom, Pendo, Autodesk, and Pluralsight.</li>
<li>It’ll be an invaluable networking opportunity, and a source of fresh perspectives on what we’re doing.</li>
<li>I’ll bring back a raft of fresh skills and ideas, and make sure I share them so we can spread the value across the whole team.</li>
<li>From the point of view of training, there are also some superb looking workshops the day before the main conference.</li>
<li>The testimonials from previous events are all hugely energetic, and suggest that it’ll be a great way to get inspired about new ways to tackle our own challenges.</li>
</ul>
It should only cost about [your approximate costs]* (inc. flights and accommodation) for 2 days and the conference ticket.
There are more details online, and the highlight video from last year gives a sense of the quality of the speakers and the feedback from attendees. The consensus is that there’s a huge amount of value at the event &#8211; I think we could get a lot out of it.
Please think it over and let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to know before our next 1:1.
Thank you!
[Your name]
*Here’s a quick breakdown of the costs: 
Ticket &#8211; [conference ticket price, including workshops &#8211; if you choose to attend] 
Airfare &#8211; ~[flight cost] (return) 
Hotel &#8211; [hotel cost] / night (or [AirBnB cost] if I use AirBnB) 
Meals &#8211; [food cost] / day (minus the conference day)
</div>
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Chris Massey

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