Before I jump into my experience with Industry: The Product Conference this year, let me set the stage—
On Father’s Day a few years ago, I didn’t have anything planned. I figured I would ‘wing’ the day and not feel constrained to some schedule (these are rare moments in my life). So my wife suggested I get out of the house and do something by myself; this isn’t something I’m built for.
About an hour later, I found myself at a local coffee shop reading. I chose to sit up at the bar top; not exactly the spot to be alone. I noticed a couple sitting a few seats down from me playing some game and couldn’t help but strike up a conversation.
A couple of hours later, when I got home, I told my wife all about my new friends—and of course, she wasn’t surprised that this was how I spent my time. Why not, you ask? She’s well acquainted with my extroverted ways and ever-growing circle of friends and acquaintances.
Back to the present—
I recently attended Industry, the Product Conference in Cleveland.
While it’s always hard to leave my family, we’ve already established that I’m a bit of an extrovert. These things are also fun and energizing for me. I like to think of myself as our unofficial Chief Friend-Maker. There were great Speakers and fun events at this conference. What I gained most were new friends.
All the speakers were great.
Everyone tries to distill practical takeaways into 3 bullet points. I’ve always found this to be hard to be actionable back in our day-to-day, and I wasn’t alone. I was chatting with one of my new friends from the conference and they made a great point.
The energy and inspiration from the presentations can give us a new lens to view our real-world circumstances; it’s a new angle. I took this for granted.
My favorite presenter was Christian Idiodi and while his aim was great, it wasn’t his content that was the most compelling. His style of speaking was all around storytelling; each of his points was wrapped in an experience he’s had and what he learned through it. I find this to be the most compelling way to share and engage with content.
I look forward to attending Industry again next year and highly recommend it for anyone looking to be inspired, connect with great leaders of Product, and most importantly make some new friends!
