#MTPCON (Mind the Product Conference) is one of the largest and most influential product management conferences globally. It is designed for product managers, product owners, UX designers, and leaders to gain insights into the latest trends, best practices, and challenges in product development.
This year, I had the opportunity to attend the conference held at the Barbican Centre, London, on 11 March 2025. More than 1500 product folks participated in the conference (both in person and online).
As a Product Owner, attending #MTPCON was an exciting opportunity to network, learn, and be inspired by some of the best minds in the industry.
I was looking forward to:
- Listening to several keynote speakers
- Networking opportunities
- An opportunity to learn about new frameworks and playbooks that can be implemented at work
- Role of AI in product management
- Share my learning with my fellow product owners at work
About Barbican Centre and the first hour at the conference
The Barbican Centre is an internationally celebrated arts and cultural venue famous for its prominent Brutalist architectural style. The venue hosts a wide range of events, such as theatre performances, musical concerts, film screenings, and exhibitions, establishing it as a centre for creativity and innovation. The biggest multi-arts centre in Europe includes a library and conservatory and offers conference areas that draw both artists and professionals.
Despite hearing plenty about the Barbican Centre, I never got a chance to visit it. On the day, I started early, around 07:30 AM. I planned to arrive at the venue at 09:00 AM. I looked into the venue details and transportation options. The venue’s location near central London was beneficial as it was close to my workplace on workdays.
I finished the registration requirements immediately after arriving. Since there was still time before Mike Belsito’s (Senior Director, Mind the Product) opening remarks, I had a cup of coffee and grabbed a sandwich.
I visited the sponsor’s area and found that Atlassian and Pendo were this year’s title sponsors. I checked in to Atlassian’s stall and talked to the executives Hermance and Kesha about the showcased Atlassian product Jira Product Discovery. They gave me a demo that lasted a good 20 minutes.
Finally, I entered the auditorium at around 09:45 AM, and to my surprise, there was a band performance on the main stage. The hall was almost packed, and the attendees were enjoying the show.
10:00 AM sharp, Mike entered the stage and started his opening address.
Schedule of the day and keynote speakers
The day was divided into various sessions. There were keynote sessions in the auditorium, and simultaneously, Product Tank and Product Experience sessions ran on different floors. We could listen to the keynote speakers or participate in other product management sessions.
Additional activities included a round table discussion, speed networking opportunities, access to the engagement lounge, a visit to the exhibition area, book signings, and sponsor demonstrations.
Regarding the keynote speakers, the main speakers included:
- Leah Tharin (Smallpdf, jua.ai) — Product-Led Growth (PLG) specialist
- Jose Quesada (Amex) — Amex Mobile App Experience
- Ebi Atawodi (YouTube Studios) — The Importance of Vision
- Nesrine Changuel (Formerly Google, Spotify) — Customer Delight
- Matt LeMay (Author) — Impact-driven product teams
- Aman Khan (Arize AI) — AI-led product management
- Emily Tate (IVC Evidensia) — Internal Products Development
In between, I tried to attend some of the Product Tank sessions, but there was overlap and too much crowd; hence, I decided to stick to the keynote sessions in the main auditorium.
The talks that I liked the most were:
- Driving customer retention using the delight framework—Keynote speaker Nesrine Changuel discussed the art and science of customer delight. According to Nasrine, emotional connection plays a significant role in customer retention. The delight framework discusses identifying motivators (jobs), outlining opportunities, identifying and prioritising solutions, and enhancing existing solutions. We should try to find motivators that combine functional and emotional needs.
- Emily Tate gave another rousing session that I liked a lot. It was based on internal products, and I could instantly relate to the content as I also own a developer platform product in a big enterprise. She talked about using storytelling and narratives to manage stakeholders and turn them into advocates. It’s challenging to take their focus out of the day job that they are supposed to do and align them to your vision.
- Leah and Aman’s talks were relevant, too. They discussed product-led growth (PLG) and the role of an AI product manager, respectively.
Breakout Sessions, Networking & Workshops
During the break, attendees had options for refreshments in the form of tea, coffee, soft drinks, cookies, etc. As I said before, Atlassian and Pendo had set up stalls to showcase their latest products. I was interested in JIRA Product Discovery (JPD), the most talked about product from Atlassian and drew lots of attention.
Speed networking platforms provide a dynamic environment for product professionals to connect and collaborate. Within a brief 5-minute timeframe, participants can engage with fellow industry peers, share insights, discuss challenges, and explore potential partnerships.
This year, a new innovative concept was introduced: a confession lounge, where individuals could anonymously confess or express concerns regarding the product or agile malpractice at their workplace. The cards were later read out loud at the centre stage by Mike :)
There were product experience and product tank stages, where different talks took place throughout the day. Attendees could either attend the main keynote sessions or these parallel running sessions.
During the coffee breaks, I engaged in discussions with numerous product managers who primarily represented new startups. The central insight learned was their engagement in multiple activities, from product discovery through growth stages, creates several learning opportunities for them. They also have access to the latest tools and platforms, which can sometimes be difficult for product managers in regulated or big organisations.
I was mentally exhausted towards the end of the day. I headed back home when Mike finished his closing remarks around 06:15 PM. However, another social interaction (after-party) was planned at The Folly, a venue a short walk from the Barbican.
Emerging trends & key takeaways
#MTPCON 2025 showcased the evolving landscape of product management, emphasising AI-driven product management, continuous product discovery, and customer-centric innovation. Product-led growth (PLG) is reshaping how companies acquire and retain users, and it was another focus point at the conference.
As product folks, we can also benefit from Gen AI and simplify some of the work that is either error-prone or time-consuming. The conference underscored the shift from feature-driven to outcome-driven product thinking, shaping the future of product leadership.
I was taking notes, and I will be investing my time to explore the following items further in detail:
Key Frameworks:
- Jeoffrey Moore’s Vision template
- Delight framework — based on delight grid. If we combine functional jobs with emotional jobs and devise/prioritise solutions to delight customers.
- Jobs to be done (JTBD)
Valuable Books (with links):
- Attention is all you need (paper)
- Product Delight (to be released)
- Indistractable
- Product-led organisations
- Radical Focus
- Impact first product teams
Quotes:
If no one hates it, no one really loves it — Jessica Welsh.
We are stubborn on vision; we are flexible on details — Amazon.
Align team goals with the organisation goals (should not be more than one step away) — Matt Lemay.
No-code tools, AI apps to explore:
- Cursor(AI code editor), Bolt(web & mobile app builder), Lovable(idea to app), Windsurf(Agentic AI IDE), Replit(Make apps & sites with natural language prompts)
- Superwhisperer(voice-to-text application), sunsama(The digital daily planner), gumloop(automate complex workflows)
Others:
- Enhance proactivity by engaging in product meetups.
- Establish a Product Community of Practice (COP) within the office to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- Additionally, implement a product prioritization framework to guide decision-making processes at work.
- Invest time and effort in exploring Agentic AI apps
Why every Product Owner should attend #MTPCON
Participation in #MTPCON extends beyond listening to industry leaders and involves full engagement with the product community, acquiring new viewpoints, and mastering Product Ownership techniques.
#MTPCON serves as a catalyst for growth by providing attendees with practical strategies and motivational stories to take back to their teams. I had big expectations, and #MTPCON didn’t disappoint me. My only concern was that it was oversubscribed, and at times, there was a rush for non-keynote sessions.
If you are committed to product excellence, attending this conference is essential.
Ah, I forgot to mention that there were plenty of goodies for everyone.
Leave a Reply