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- RECAP—10/11 Small Group Networking Event
RECAP—10/11 Small Group Networking Event
On Friday, 10/11, several dozen product leaders gathered to put aside work and connect on a personal level.
Product Leader Virtual Speaker Series
October 17, 2024
Whether it’s getting vulnerable about what support we need to hit our personal goals this year, commiserating over having our kids hijack our playlists, or bopping to the latest Diljit Dosanjh bangers, when several product leaders gather, the conversation is always vibrant, insightful, and candid.
Our latest Speaker Series event happened last Friday, Oct 11th in the form of a small group networking session.
Participants consistently ask for more interaction and networking time in post-event surveys. Product leadership can be a lonely trade as you’re often the only person dealing with the exact same challenges in your day-to-day work, so having forums to meet other humans that deal with similar issues as you is absolutely necessary.
We kept the session light and casual with minimal structure, allowing for organic interactions in small groups—keep the framing and rules to a minimum and allow for people to meet each other in small 3-5 person groups with a simple question to answer on their behalf to start the conversation.
We split the hour into 3 sessions with a theme and a few icebreaker questions:
Finding Common Ground
What’s your go-to comfort food?
If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be?
What’s the best vacation you’ve ever taken, and why?
Superpowers
What’s one skill you’ve mastered that people wouldn’t expect?
If you had to teach a class on something completely random, what would it be?
What’s one thing you’re weirdly good at that you wish was more useful?
Goals and Support
What’s one big thing you want to achieve by the end of this year?
What’s one thing you’re working on that you’d love some advice on?
What’s a skill or hobby you’re working on that you’d love help with?
Based on the full group wrap-ups after each breakout period, the conversations in the subgroups ranged from profound to hilarious—and everything in between! As you would expect from a few dozen hardworking product leaders in a safe space of peers!
Feedback and Next Steps
Based on the participants’ feedback (NPS 94!) we’re confident there’s a need for similar peer sessions in the future. So we will be conducting another small group networking event later this fall. Keep an eye on your inbox for more information on the timing and RSVP to that session.
Participants enjoyed making new friends and having fun in a supportive environment.
Our resident MC Nishith Patel also got props. No surprise as we also found out he’s MC’d 7 weddings already—a fact that somehow isn’t represented on his LinkedIn profile! 🤔
On the room-for-improvement front, the platform we used (Gatheround) wasn’t without its challenges so we may end up playing around with options there. People also expressed a desire to prep ahead (a shocking request from product leaders! 🤣) and play around with the structure of breakouts (more/less people per room, more/less time per breakout session), so needless to say we’ll keep iterating!
See you at the upcoming events this fall! Don’t forget to RSVP for our amazing next session next week with Yue Zhao on Finding & Grooming Your Superpower!
—The PLS Speaker Series team