Session Topics

ProductCamp St. Louis session

ProductCamp St. Louis 2025 is happening on Saturday, April 5 — register now for free!

Unlike traditional conferences, anyone interested in leading a session at ProductCamp St. Louis can submit a topic. Then, everyone in attendance gets to vote on which sessions they would like to see, and the most popular choices get on the schedule.

You are welcome to submit up to 5 sessions for ProductCamp.
You are welcome to submit sessions on any topic that you choose. However, remember that the topics that get the most votes will get chosen, so we suggest you pick a topic that will appeal to the audience. (Helpful hint: Some people may read the title, not the description, when they’re deciding which sessions to vote on/attend, so we suggest an accurate and catchy title!)
Make sure all of your information is correct, and ensure that the session title and description accurately reflect the content. Once submitted, we will not allow any changes to any of the sessions. (With typically 60+ sessions submitted in total, it’s too much work for us to worry about tracking edits.)
You should be prepared to lead all sessions that you submit—even though you don’t know if yours will be picked.
Do NOT promote a specific product or service during your session —that’s not at all what ProductCamp is about, and attendees have reacted negatively to sessions that they felt like the presenter was giving a “pitch.” It’s okay to mention that you have a product/service, but the main focus should not be on your product/service, and attendees should get value out of the content without having to buy anything from you.
You must plan to be at ProductCamp by 8:20 AM that morning. It is your responsibility to find the Presenter check-in table when you arrive and let the volunteers there know you are present. If you haven’t checked in, your session(s) will not be included on the agenda even if there were enough votes.
You are welcome to publicize your sessions in advance, but only those in attendance at ProductCamp are able to vote.
It’s probably worth reviewing the different Session Categories and Session Formats before you submit your session, since you’ll have to specify when you propose a session.
The deadline to submit session topics is Friday, March 28, 2025 at 11:59 PM CT. No additional sessions can be submitted after that time.
Contact Sarah Ramrup if you have any questions about submitting a session proposal.

Okay, now with all of that out of the way — go ahead and submit your session using this form!

Proposed Sessions

All proposed sessions will be posted — along with descriptions, information about the session leader, etc. — after the session submission window closes. For now, though, here’s some of the sessions that have been proposed…

How to Clone Your Best Customers
Exploring Fundamentals of Product Psychology (back by popular demand)
From Puzzle Pieces to Strategic Mastery: A Product Manager’s Guide
A Mental Health Manifesto – Harnessing Agile Principles for Mental Wellness
How to differentiate in a competitive market: ERY Method
When Buyers Won’t Commit: The Art of Offering Less to Get More
The Stage Gate Process
Concept Development
AI-driven decision making AYFKM
Maximum Team Productivity
The Product Career Playbook: Strategies for Growth & Leadership
The Ultimate Product Playbook: Equipping Sellers, Resellers & Leaders to Sell Your Product
Agile Meets Data Science: Agile Strategies for High-Impact Data Science & Machine Learning Projects
Agile Unleashed: Beyond Frameworks to Build an Organization That Thrives in Complexity”
From Intuition to Impact: Building Strong Product Sense
Self Care for SUCCESSFUL Innovation Leaders
The GTM Black Box: Unlocking the Secrets to Scalable Product Growth
Bug-Free is a Myth… Unless You Predict It: AI Testing Hacks for Product Managers
Selling Without The Sleaze: Learn to collaborate your way to sales success
Marketing Plans That Pay For Themselves
When Your Product Is a Human: Managing “People-Driven” Services That Leverage Technology
Ask Me Anything: Product Leadership

Ideas for Potential Sessions

While you are free to submit sessions on any topics, we asked registrants “What kinds of topics would you like to see included in ProductCamp sessions?” and a consolidated list of some of the responses are below. Feel free to use this list as a guide to come up with ideas for potential sessions.

Artificial Intelligence in Product Management
- Generative AI and its evolution
- AI chatbots & digital applications
- AI-driven decision-making
- AI tools for automation and efficiency
- AI in healthcare and financial products
Product Strategy & Discovery
- Product roadmaps, feature prioritization, and vision alignment
- New product discovery and planning methodologies
- Defining data as a product
- Strategic planning and value mapping
Metrics & Success Measurement
- Measuring product success in B2B and B2C
- KPI-driven decision-making
- Leading vs. lagging indicators
Stakeholder & Leadership Engagement
- Effective business engagement in product vision and strategy
- Internal stakeholder management and communication
- Improving stakeholder engagement and trust
Marketing & Customer Experience
- Low-budget product marketing strategies
- SEO and social media communication strategies
- Customer journey mapping and experience design
- Innovation and business strategy for product growth
Agile, Change Management & Collaboration
- Agile methodologies in waterfall organizations
- Change management for AI adoption
- Agile prioritization and backlog management
- Cross-functional collaboration and leadership
Product Management Tools & Techniques
- A/B testing and data-driven decision-making
- Feature maps and IT tools for PMs (e.g., Aha, Pendo)
- Ideation, design, and experimentation frameworks
- Planning best practices (MVP design, estimation, and roadmap planning)
Career Development & Transitions
- Transitioning to leadership roles
- Career paths for product managers
- Navigating ambiguous or non-digital products
- Intro-level product management sessions
Specialized Industry Topics
- Product management in healthcare and health insurance
- Retail success, inventory management, and financial planning
- Mobility, transit, and emerging industries (e.g., cryptocurrency, safety tech)
Testing, QA & Requirements Management
- UAT, smoke testing, and best practices
- Writing compelling requirements for technical & non-technical teams
- End-to-end vs. UAT test case etiquette
Funding, Operations & Business Strategy
- Funding and finance for product managers
- Grant writing and business structure
- Communicating with buyers and investors
Community & Career Support
- Job matching and networking opportunities
- Strengthening team relationships in a remote world

Some sessions

Session Categories

While it is not required that a session topic falls into one of the categories listed below, it’s a helpful guide for some of the topics that may be covered.

Strategic Product Leadership (Prioritization, Stakeholder Management, Product Visioning, Product Mindset Leadership, Product Management Frameworks, Finding Product-Market Fit)
Product Development Execution (Agile Processes, Requirements Gathering, Product Delivery and Operations, Automation, Reinventing Legacy Products, Total Cost of Ownership)
Data and Analytics (Data Product Management, Product Analytics, Journey and Empathy Mapping, Market Research and Intelligence)
Customer and Market Focus (Customer Centricity, Product Adoption, Product Research, Transforming Creativity into Commercialism: Aligning innovation with market demands.
Design and Collaboration (Product and UX Optimization, Design Thinking and Human-Centered Design, Product Design, Ecosystems)
Marketing and Go-to-Market Strategy (Sales Enablement, Positioning and Messaging, Lean Canvas, Business Cases)
Team Management and Operations (Team Dynamics, Idea Intake, Organizational Focus)
Startup Ecosystem (Funding, Investors, New Ventures)
Specialized Areas (Manufacturing, Patenting, Non-Consumer-Facing Products)
Other

Session Formats

In general, the most enjoyed and talked about sessions are those that have been very interactive. That said, you can structure a session however you wish. To help align expectations of the session leader and participants, we offer a list of format descriptions. This list is intended to be a guide but not intended to be limiting, so feel free to be creative.

Presentation – The speaker presents on a specific topic, followed by opening the floor for expansion, comment, questions and general discussion.
Roundtable Breakout – Similar to a presentation, except that audience breaks out into small groups and typically shares findings, comments, or team responses with the room at the end of the session.
Workshop – In this format, the audience is actively involved, collectively or in groups, in an exercise or application of a technique or process which has been presented by the session leader. The description should mention the portion of the session spent in the exercise and what the attendees will produce. Proposers are encouraged to have knowledgeable assistants to help answer questions and support the exercise.
Panel Discussion – Popularly seen, this format has several people qualified to talk about the subject of the session, preferably from diverse or even counterpoint perspectives or roles. A moderator facilitates questions from the audience or a series of prepared questions for the panelists, but a significant part of the session is still interactive Q&A with the audience.
Ask the Expert – This format is most successful with a recognized authority on a subject of wide interest, or a direct participant in some particularly interesting event or phenomenon. The expert or a moderator introduces the topic and frames some appropriate discussion and then opens the floor for questions, including those that might be somewhat specific as long as they are applicable to more people than the individual questioner.
Demonstration – Formal presentation on how to use or apply a tool or concept. This may can also include providing hands-on experience.

For Session Leaders: Logistics

If you are proposing a session, and it gets chosen, then you should be prepared to lead the session. Here are some details to help you make sure you’re prepared. There will be computers and projectors in each room. You can either…

Bring your laptop or other device to present off of, along with any connectors you may need to hook up to a projector (especially for those with Mac laptops or tablets). Most rooms should have an HDMI connection and VGA connector.
Or, store your slides online using a service like DropBox or Google Drive and then use the computer in the room to your presentation from there.
Or, bring your slides on a USB drive and load them onto one of the computers in the room.
Or, more than one of the above. (Things do go wrong, after all.)

We will have volunteers on hand to help with A/V as needed, and we have tested all of the equipment out in advance. That said, it’s always a good idea to have a backup plan in case you can’t get your slides to present. We’ll do the best we can to help, but no guarantees. If you need something specific, bring it with you; for example, if you want to play a video and want people to be able to hear it, we suggest bringing your own speakers.

The rooms will be set up “classroom style” with tables and chairs facing the front of the room, most likely in rows. For simplicity and logistics purposes, we won’t be able to accommodate other setups (e.g. arranging chairs into a circle). If you want to do something interactive, for example, you can ask people to pair up or get in small groups — that will be possible without moving furniture around, but we ask that you don’t move equipment or furniture otherwise.

If you have specific logistics questions, contact Sarah Ramrup.