A Total Success. We Want More!
The energy surrounding this first-ever event was astounding. Community members made themselves known and expressed excitement about spending two days with their peers, exchanging ideas, and learning from industry leaders. The first-ever event sold out in just 31 days and racked up a 185 name-long wait list—a feat that we never saw coming! The event kicked off the evening before the Summit began with a Happy Cog-sponsored happy hour with Philadelphia’s PM meetup group, PhilaPM. More than one third of the attendees turned out to get the conversation started.
“This is THE conference to attend if you are a digital PM. Turns out, there is a community for us, and this conference is a great way to get plugged in. Valuable insights and stories from the front line, and great opportunity to make peer friends.” –Crystal Vitelli, Venveo
Day One
Registration started at 7:45am on Monday, October 14, and all attendees checked in by 8:30am. The folks at the registration table were shocked but were reminded that this was a conference for project managers. Of course, everyone was on time! Greg Hoy welcomed the packed room to our first event and made sure that everyone was settled in for two great days of learning and networking. Our first speaker was Jeffrey Zeldman, who kicked off the event with an inspiring talk titled “The Ten Commandments of Web Design.” Later that morning, Jared Poncot presented “Designing on Purpose: Process & Deliverables in the Responsive Age.” The first two topics set the table for industry learnings ahead and served as a primer for the audience, who were hungry for PM-specific content. The final morning speaker was Brett Harned, who presented 25 tips under the title “Be a Better PM.” At that point the group was hungry for lunch, and more PM-specific knowledge sharing.
“As a project manager, you may feel like you’re the only one who understands what it’s like to be you. At the Digital PM Summit I found like-minded individuals willing to discuss the issues we’ve all run in to. The conference was both educational and validating for me. I would recommend it to anyone else managing digital projects.”–Devin Reams, Crowd Favorite
During the afternoon, attendees took part in breakout conversations led by speakers from across the web industry. These sessions were smaller in size (limited to 50 attendees) and were intended to encourage conversation and idea sharing among the small groups. After those sessions wrapped up, everyone reconvened in the main room for “Embracing Chaos: An Interactive Project Management Survival Guide” presented by Meghan Wilker and Nancy Lyons. It was the perfect cap for the day, as the “Geek Girls” touched on the points that hit home for attendees: keeping teams and clients connected and collaborating on projects. To say the least, the first day ended with a general feeling of inspiration. That evening, attendees, speakers, and sponsors met at Triumph Brewing for an opening night party sponsored by ArcusTech. Conversation and idea exchanging continued, and many people broke off into groups for dinner.
Day Two
The second day of activities kicked off with three inspirational talks filled with actionable takeaways. Rachel Gertz presented “Your Clients Matter, So Put Your Teams First,” which was full of interesting stories and communication tips. Next, Sam Barnes talked about his experience “crossing over to the dark side” in his talk, “Vice Versa Client Management.” Carl Smith capped off the morning with “The Client Whisperer,” a talk that drew from his vast experience in the client services realm. Based on the lunch conversation that day, attendees started to feel a real bond over the fact that everyone in the industry seems to be practicing digital project management in the same way. The morning talks solidified that fact and brought up some interesting questions and ideas.
“The Digital PM Summit provided me with new, challenging ideas that I look forward to putting in action. The approachable speakers delivered their presentations with knowledge and passion. The intimate setting allowed me to network with dozens of professionals familiar with my situation and my issues. A MUST seminar for PM professionals in this volatile and exciting space!” –Ed Engman, Team Detroit
Just as they did on Day One, attendees broke out into smaller groups for conversations led by speakers. Some sessions were led with a presentation, others were led with a question to ignite conversation among attendees. The idea of these sessions was to engage on a more personal level and share ideas. Mission accomplished: some sessions have continued the conversation online, some folks met later that evening, and some have plans to have follow-up meetings. The conference was keynoted by Michael Lopp, who presented “Stables and Volatiles,” a talk that dissects what’s needed to manage teams and the personalities involved. Following the keynote, attendees were invited to a closing party and invited to come to our 2014 event, which is bound to be amazing.
“If you mind map what you’ll get out of this Summit it’ll be a spiraling mess of AWESOME. It’ll include words like energizing, confidence building, encouraging, kick-ass people based, relevant, thought-provoking, fun.” –Anna Thornton, Canada’s National Arts Centre
