Category Archives: product-camp

Product Camp Melbourne 2025

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We’re about 6 weeks away from Saturday, August 16th – Product Camp!!!

We’ll be kicking off at 9am sharp for a full day of activities, learning, food and fun. Plus an after party once we wrap up around 4:30pm. See the Camp website for pix from previous years & additional info.

Product Camp is run as an ‘unconference’ which means the majority of the talks are voted on by the attendees. We have a pitch session in the morning & then everyone gets to vote.

Want to give a talk or lead a discussion? Get your ideas in early so we can promote you on the website & socials! More info here: https://bit.ly/pcamptalks2025

Want to volunteer and help make the day amazing? Jump on the Product Anonymous slack and reach out in the #product-camp channel.

RSVP for Product Camp

Camp is not possible without these amazing sponsors!

Thank you to our host – Seek!
SEEK has been helping Australians live more fulfilling and productive working lives for 27 years. SEEK is a diverse group of companies, comprised of a strong portfolio of online employment, educational, commercial and volunteer businesses. As a market leader in online employment marketplaces that span ten countries across Asia Pacific and Latin America, SEEK makes a positive contribution to people’s lives on a global scale.

Thank you Mixpanel!
Mixpanel is a modern digital analytics platform built to help companies move faster, grow smarter, and deliver better experiences at scale. Designed for product, marketing, and data teams, Mixpanel makes it easy to analyze user behavior in real time, measure the impact of digital experiences, and tie product decisions directly to business outcomes like revenue, retention, and engagement. With intuitive self-serve reporting, strong data governance, and flexible integrations with modern data stacks, Mixpanel empowers enterprises to break down data silos, foster a culture of data-driven decision-making, and scale confidently. Thousands of leading companies—including in fintech, healthcare, media, and SaaS—use Mixpanel to turn data into a competitive advantage. Visit mixpanel.com to learn more.

Welcome Octopus Deploy!
Octopus Deploy makes it easy to deliver software to Kubernetes, multi-cloud, on-prem infrastructure, and anywhere else. Automate the release, deployment, and operations of your software with a tool that can handle CD at scale in ways no other tool can.

Welcome ROLLER!
ROLLER’s vision is to help create experiences that bring joy and happiness to the world. We do this by building modern technology for leisure and attractions businesses, helping them to deliver amazing experiences for their guests.

Thank you Everest!
Everest Engineering helps clients step into the future by designing, building and scaling smarter digital products, delivered by trusted experts in product, design, engineering and AI. Smarter products, powered by AI. Built with people you can trust.

Welcome The Outlook!
The Outlook is a conference and events organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. We produce immersive, curated experiences that bring Australian creatives, innovators, and leaders together to discuss, connect, and learn. We’re optimistic about the future and can’t wait for what’s

Product Camp 2024 – It’s almost here!

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Every year… it’s like Christmas. The Xmas eve anticipation of amazing food, presents & fun. But this is Product Camp anticipation of seeing 250 of our community, hearing their amazing stories and knowledge they share & fun.

If you have not RSVP’d, get in there! And if you get the wait list message, it’s worth adding your name to the list because there is always movement.

This year our keynote is all about culture! You do not need to be the head of HR or head of the department in order to influence the team and organisation culture.You have a role in creating and shaping it!

photo of our keynote speaker, Sara Zabukovec

Our speaker, Sara Zabukovec, will explore the essence of company and team culture, debunking common myths and emphasising how every team member, from individual contributors to leaders, shapes it through daily actions and decisions. She will share her insights on building a collaborative culture with software teams.Full talk info here

Product Camp is an unconference. What really does that mean? Almost all the talks of our multiple streams  during the day are presented by and voted on my the people attending that day.  Submit your idea to drive some hype and glory 😉 , pitch during the morning of the event and enjoy the day.

Some folks who have already submitted talks

  • Experimentation – Running Cheaper yet better experiences – Jack Rust
  • Mastering Product Management to thrive in any organisation sizes – Teresa Huang
  • Ai For Fintech – Mankaran Singh Saggu
  • Change Quest: A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Session on Change Management – Calum
  • Inclusion in Action: From Saying to doing – Baani Ahluwalia
  • Get your digital sh*t together – Felicity Bodger

Submit your talk. Not sure what you should suggest? Think about what your coworkers compliment you on? Is there something you could share? What have you learned that others could benefit from? What are you currently struggling with that you’d like to crowdsource help?

We would like to thank our Sponsors!!!

Everest Engineering – A bold, people first community, building digital products for those who do things differently

seek

SEEK has been helping Australians live more fulfilling and productive working lives for 26 years. SEEK is a diverse group of companies, comprised of a strong portfolio of online employment, educational, commercial and volunteer businesses. As a market leader in online employment marketplaces that span ten countries across Asia Pacific and Latin America, SEEK makes a positive contribution to people’s lives on a global scale. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, SEEK was recognised as one of Australia’s Top Ten Places to Work in Tech in the AFR BOSS Best Places to Work awards.

Mixpanel revolutionizes how companies link product analytics to tangible business outcomes. By understanding the full impact of product and marketing decisions, companies have the necessary information to optimize how they acquire and grow their customers. By providing complete, self-serve, and correct data in an easy-to-use platform, Mixpanel frees teams to move faster, see the whole picture, and measure impact. Visit mixpanel.com to learn more.

Mantel Group is an Australian-owned technology consulting business with capabilities across Cloud, Digital, Data & Security. Since our inception in November 2017, we have experienced remarkable growth across Australia & New Zealand and are honoured to be recognised as a Great Place to Work for 4 years in a row! We hire smart and talented people and get out of their way. As a principle-based organisation we have a flat structure with no hierarchy. By focusing on our five principles and not getting caught up in red tape, we trust you to get the job done! Our team develops end to end solutions to business problems that help organisations move from idea or concept to delivery and ultimately our focus is helping businesses make human

VicRoads is a government joint venture in the state of Victoria, Australia. We are here to help provide Victorians with safe and easy connections to the people and places that matter most to them, and we are responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration. We’re embarking on a large modernisation journey and our vision is to become Australia’s most progressive registry! If you think Product, come join us.

Equiem activates real estate with technology that understands people
Founded and headquartered in Melbourne 12 years ago, Equiem was the original TenX platform. Now Equiem operates around the globe, trusted by 150+ leading real estate organisations in over 900 buildings.
Equiem enables real estate owners and operators to create responsive, human-centric working and living environments, by integrating building operation tools, flexible space management and community engagement into one smart building management platform.

Product Camp 2023

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Take your mind back to August 2019.. it was a bit chilly and we had 300 people interested in product all together for Product Camp. We celebrated 10 years of Product Camp in Melbourne, where Rich Mironov virtually spoke to us about the importance of community and history of Product Camps, Georgia Murch helped us understand feedback, Antony Ugoni shared his knowledge and experiences with bringing the data and about 20 of our community gave talks (after they pitched & the attendees voted on what they wanted to hear).

AND then there was that thing – that prevented us from gathering together.

But we’re excited to say… we’re back. Join us on Saturday August 5th (RSVP)!

Same familiar ‘unconference’ style event where we organise the venue and keynotes (including Ken Sandy and one TBA) and make sure you have some food and water during the day – but you (!) are active participants! You can pitch a talk idea, or run a panel discussion or ask for a working talk to help you work thru a problem.

For more details and to submit a talk idea, go to https://productcampmelbourne.com

NOTE: If Camp is at waitlist, we recommend you add yourself and check back in. As the day gets closer, numbers will change and spaces will become available. If you are one of the people who have RSVP’d but something has changed and you can’t make it, please change your RSVP to no so others can attend.

How to Help your Team Benefit from Neurodiversity – Product Camp 2019

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The speaker of this talk was Ben Jackson who discovered his Autism Spectrum Disorder as an adult.

I found this to be a great talk. I was deeply inspired by Ben’s self-knowledge, his investment in self discovery, his courage in getting up on the big stage in the largest meeting room at Product Camp and his commitment to shining a light on the spectrum of his own humanity. 

https://twitter.com/_rebeccajackson/status/1165084263378587648

The focus of the talk was Ben’s own experience and his own neurodiversity. He was not seeking to convey the experiences of other neurodiverse people. Instead Ben wanted to give us an idea of what it is like to be neurodiverse

It is impossible for Ben to put words to the thousands of things he struggles against every day but he did share his self-stimulating (‘stimming’) behaviours that help him focus and are part of his self-management.

Two of the key terms Ben used were “neurodiverse” and “neurotypical”. Neurodiversity refers to variations regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood & other mental functions. Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Dyslexia & Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are some of the variations. Neurotypical is used to describe individuals of typical developmental, intellectual & cognitive abilities.

Key take-aways from the talk

Neurodiversity as a spectrum

Neurodiversity is a spectrum, not where someone sits on a 1-10 scale

A neurotypical person can be represented on the colour wheel as an almost perfect circle whereas a neurodiverse person would be more like a 5 pointed star.   The big thing to remember is each neurodiverse person is as unique in themselves as a neurotypical person is.

Triggers and reactions are not a choice

Neurodiversity can also mean diversity in triggers and reactions to specific stimuli. 

For example, Ben can find unexpected social interaction a trigger that leads to stress. When stressed, he tends to bite nails, touch his face and repeatedly wring his hands. His stress reactions also include extreme perfectionism. He has a pathological need to complete a task and has no choice overdoing it. He has sensitivity to sudden loud noises and even colours can trigger discomfort or cause a panic attack.

Neurodiversity means strengths and challenges in a workplace

Like with all us humans, the challenge is to understand where our strengths lie and how to use it for good.

For Ben, it means he is excellent at pattern recognition. He is also completely honest yet won’t realise if he’s being offensive or hurtful even though he’s very afraid of causing emotional distress in others. He works ‘like a computer’ where if there’s any room for interpretation he freezes as directions. Questions should be very clear as he can anticipate thousands of variations you may need but won’t know which you need

How to work with an autistic person? Just like anyone else!

When you start working with a new person, it sometimes takes a little while & effort to understand how to work best with them. Same is true with someone who is neurodiverse. Sit down and work out a way you can work with them.

This is not hard, just slightly different. It is similar to how you travel to a new country and adapt to their culture. 

Doing this is just a part of being a good leader and a good human being.

How to take advantage of working with a neurodiverse person

Where to learn more

Aspect Victoria https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/

AutismCRC https://www.autismcrc.com.au/

Ben’s article – Why you should care about Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Getting more women to present at conferences – Product Camp 2019

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Sarah Mitchell

By Natalie Yan-Chatonsky

Sarah Mitchell, the champion for Leading the Product (LTP) Melbourne conference, asked the ProductCamp Melbourne community how she can pave the way for more women to speak at the conference.

In curating the speakers, she’s found there’s no shortage of local and international men keen to snap up the opportunity but female speakers are much harder to come by. 

Sarah’s goal is to curate a diverse group of speakers to make it the best possible conference. Even after 5 years of LTP, it continues to be a challenge to get more female thought-leaders to agree to speak when invited, let alone respond to her call for applications to presenters.

She asked the group for their thoughts on how we can encourage more female product managers can step up and speak publicly. 

We had a robust conversation which clearly highlighted that many women in the product management community would love the opportunity to present but need some support in the months and years leading up to being able to speak at a conference with a big audience.

What is holding women back from talking? 

The discussion group shared their views on the challenges for women to be in a position to speak at a conference:

  • Imposter syndrome – people are worried about whether their topic is good enough and/or relevant to the audience.
  • Perfectionism – feel that they may not have the authority to talk so don’t even feel brave enough to initiate a conversation in a smaller forum. For as long as they don’t speak up even at work, then they will never be ready to advance to speak at a meetup or conference.
  • Anxiety and fear of public speaking – some expressed that they were unsure about how to conquer their fears to ‘go for it’. 
  • Lack of experience – without videos or a history of previous speaking engagements makes it harder to get their initial speaking opportunities.
  • Lack of awareness – that there’s an open call for speakers for many conferences – ideally they get advance notice and know that they will have plenty of support and opportunity to practice in a safe environment.
  • Prioritising other activities – not having enough time to hone the craft of public speaking.
  • Unaware what they need to do to improve their public speaking skills – if they don’t get feedback on why they didn’t get invited or their presentation proposal didn’t get accepted, they end up ruminating on all the possible reasons that could be wrong with them, which doesn’t encourage them to keep finding new opportunities to speak.
  • Can’t find a mentor – would like to find someone to learn from but don’t know how to get one that’s right for them or willing to invest time in helping them improve their public speaking.

Iva Biva, a service designer who has been designing a solution to get more women involved in sport saw the parallels between women’s participation in sport with participation as speakers at conferences. She said that it’s the anxiety that’s stopping women from participating – the self-doubt and feeling that they are not good enough.

Here are some of the suggestions that the group came up with on how to address the above challenges:

  • Small support groups – Create a safe and supportive spaces for women to present their ideas in front of a small audience, as well as the opportunity to video and watch themselves 
  • Model examples – Increase opportunities for women to see other women speak.
  • Co-present – to take the pressure off a novice speaker as they build up their confidence and ability.
  • More guidance – conference/meetup organisers need to provide more guidance on what they are looking for, how to come up with topics that would be appealing to their audiences and specific feedback to those who missed out on how they can improve and reapply next time.
  • Mentoring – make it easier for people to find suitable mentors that will help them improve and affirm that they are on the right track to presenting well in front of an audience. 
  • Gain experience outside work through volunteering and pro bono projects.

Opportunities to get practice

The following groups provide lots of speaking opportunities:

Continue the conversation on the channel that we’ve just started:

Product Anonymous Slack Channel ->  #gettalking

Product Camp 2019 Wrap-up

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Steve Bauer kicking off the 10th Product Camp Melbourne

Saturday August 24th was our 10th birthday and a big thank you to all the sponsors, speakers volunteers and attendees to made it a lovely day!

It is always a fantastic time when the tribe of people who care about making great products gets together and (if you ask me) Camp is the best day of the year for gaining new knowledge, sharing with others, meeting new people, catching up with friends and ex-colleagues and so much more.

Thanks to some amazing volunteers and attendees, we can share these notes from sessions you may have missed. If we’ve missed yours, add it in the comments. We’ll add more as volunteers send them in. 

Rebecca Jackson’s sketchnotes of several sessions during the day & notes

Remya Ramesh’s notes on Rich Mironov, Antony Ugoni, Andrea Ho, Chris Duncan, Amir Ansari and Georgia Murch

Nuvnish Malik‘s takeaways of the day including Antony Ugoni, Georgia Murch, Tom LeGrice, Amir Ansari & Josephine Maguire Rosier

Without sponsors, this day would not happen. This year we were excited to welcome:

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