Digital PM Summit 2013 Reaction and Next Steps

So I’m home and finally feeling almost normal again after attending and speaking at the 2013 Digital PM Summit hosted by Happy Cog.

I presented my talk Vice Versa Client Management.

Check out the Flickr group to see a few pictures from the event.

Here’s a tiny video, taken just before I was about to start my talk i.e. here is a video taken by a man absolutely terrified.

The verdict

How was it? Well, it was, yes I’m going to actually say it, here goes…

TOTES AMAZEBALLS! (feel dirty)

But in all seriousness it felt like the ‘thing’ that I’d always wished for, when I started my blog, had finally happened.

As Greg Hoy, Happy Cog’s CEO, stepped up to the mic to introduce the event, I just sat at the back, looked around and shook my head in disbelief that this was actually happening.

If that sounds really corny or dramatic to you then sorry, but that’s how I felt, incredibly humble and proud to be a part of it.

The atmosphere and attendees reminded me so much of the London Digital PM Workshop that Brett Harned and I ran back in June i.e. everyone I spoke to just kept going on about how amazing it was that finally an event like this was happening.

They couldn’t believe that everyone they’d met, including the ‘well known’ people and agencies, didn’t have some magic formula for managing digital projects or clients, but instead face exactly the same challenges on a daily basis.

Through talking to one another, everyone picked up a few great tips and pieces of advice that they can start to implement, but for the most part, once people realised that no one has all the answers, a mass cathartic wave washed over everyone like a big fluffy comforting blanket.

Some said it over the two days, and I bet those that didn’t think it…

OMG Those guys have the same problems we do with projects and clients. You know what, we’re actually not that bad at managing digital projects!

Everyone at the DPM Summit

Since starting my blog all those years ago, this is the single most common thought I’ve had and feedback I’ve received from others that I’ve connected with through it.

But this cannot and should not be the end. This mass realisation is great but it’s just step one.

Now it’s time for step two, but what is step two?

Step two for Digital Project Managers

Step two is for all of you to connect and start sharing knowledge for the benefit of both yourself and others.

• Start with Carson Pierce’s Twitter list to follow some folk you met, or didn’t.
• Check out the brand new Digital PM Tools website started by Katie High and Brenna Heaps off of the back of their great breakout session at the summit.
• Keep an eye on the Digital PM Summit blog for reviews of the event and news of the next one.

Our people are out there, here’s 12,000+

Start connecting, start tweeting, start publishing and talking about issues you face and how you solve them.

Believe me, there is a huge community out there just waiting to find each other.

• Brett and I had 100 people at the London Digital PM Workshop with many more not able to get a ticket.
• The Digital PM Summit had 150 attendees with 184 on the waiting list.
• New York-based DPM Connect regularly gets 50 to their events.
• Matt Thornhill just ran the UK’s Northern Digital PM Meetup and has over 40 attendees.
• The #webpm Twitter hashtag has grown in use massively.
• Find almost all Digital Project Management resources on Brett Harned’s blog.
• The LinkedIn Digital Project Managers,Digital Project Management and Digital Producers groups have over 12,000 members between them!

Connect, get involved and share

People, get blogging, get posting, get Tweeting, get LinkedIn-errr-ing, start writing about what challenges you face and how you deal with them, start sharing what others write about.

If you don’t know how to set up a blog, contact me on Twitter and we can arrange for you to post on this one, or post on someone else’s.

Thank you

I want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped organise the event, all the speakers and attendees – it was a genuine honour and pleasure to have been involved and I look forward to next event!