It takes 5 minutes just to say our full name,Association of International Product Marketing & Management --- So let’s get to the point. Only cross functional, online association serving the product management community(The AIPMM is the largest association of product managers, brand managers, product marketing managers in the world. )
We were founded in 1998 idea for the group came when Therese Padilla was at Comdex 1997shared a cab with several other product managers and traded horror stories. Those horror stories turned out to be prophetic tips on what not to do in situations. Therese was then sharing the stories to other product managers, Paula Gray asked, is there an association for Product Managers? A quick search on Yahoo! netted nothing – so the idea was born.
To give you an idea of who was around back in 1998 no googleno iPhoneiPhoneeven iPodSteve Jobs introduced the iMac
We created our web presence, and began to start to shake the trees
Our first images we used in our materials were that of lighthouses and beacons. We wanted to be the 24/7 365 days of answers for PMs. That 3AM search for a tool to help a lonely PM in the middle of a crises. We began posting word documents, excel spreadsheets. Then we started getting inquiries from consultants and trainers and we allowed them to post information. Everything was free – it was out of pocket to cover the hosting, the website development, etc. But the goal was to grow into a much bigger organizationSo we followed the other DOT COM businesses and said, we will just get attention.
Our forums were busy, with lots of questions – but no one wanted to ask questions publically – they didn’t want to have others see them as dumb. They asked the questions privately – but finally one day, a brave young 24 year old “newly minted product manager” wrote the famous post – EEEEK! Help, I’m a product manager The discussion netted a rich exchange.
We became even more committed to being a resource for product managers. We worked with our training partners and created the workshop, Help I am a product manager. We then went on to have our first conference (2004) , where we administered our first certification exam. (2004)Guy Kawasaki keynote speakerSince then, we have grown internationally bringing the certification to many different countries; all types of product managers in every industryPMEC’s filled need for dedicated PM training thru conferences
But what was once a barren desert of no resources, has become
A vibrant, packed filled space
Soon, particularly after 2005, we began to see more activity springing up Our members and partners began creating local groups, blogs, PCAMPSLandscape has changed, but the need to support the PM profession still exists.The form of that support is evolvingBut the goal remains – help PMs to grow the profession
Twitter replaced the lighthouse – and now communication was being broadcast over the networks..
Vibrant but very chaotic environment
AIPMM mission – Turn Chaos into Order – or Make order out of Chaos
Our most important job now is to bring order to the chaosProduct Management Framework (PMF)And resulting Product Management Body of Knowledge (ProdBOK)
Simple -- and later in one of the sessions, I will show you how our gap analysis and commitment to our mission will help product managers in 2011-2012
AIPMM is firmly behind the local and regional PM groupsOur support of local and regional groups: our commitment to making sure that product managers Find the info they need, when they need it.
In closing – AIPMM is here to help youSo Help Me – Help YouCheck out AIPMMSe how you can help AIPMM help grow the Entire PM profession to everyone’s advantageFrom Jerry McGuire