Product Leaders Forum
My experience with volunteering
About a decade ago, I attended a course on Product Management at the Institute of Product Leadership (IPL). This was an experiential learning course covering product management principles, with a certification from AIPMM. It had online as well as in-person classes. The final presentation to jury and networking with industry stalwarts, was held in Bengaluru - IPL’s headquarters in India. I had to travel a couple of times for the same.
While the course was super impactful, the professional network that it built for me, outside my workplace, was the key takeaway for me. Many of my peers landed product management jobs (rare in the Indian corporate landscape at that time), some others turned into intrapreneurs, and quite a few became enterpreneurs.
Over the years, there have been many batches that passed out from various courses from IPL, and kept getting added as alumni to my network. One of main events that this alumni came together for was the Product Leaders’ Forum (PLF), a network of product professionals and a conference for learning and networking. There were also informal events such as the annual Alumni Festival, wherein we came together to exchange notes and celebrate each others’ achievements over food and games.
I got an opportunity for volunteering twice for the PLF conference in my city, and the experience was eye-opening as well as fulfilling. Right from planning the Agenda and Venue, to co-ordinating and finalising the speakers, and the actual event execution - it demanded tremendous physical, mental, as well as networking stamina. It also gave me an opportunity to apply all the learning from the course to build this product - the PLF conference, from scratch :)
The leadership and collaboration skills that I picked up, as well as the spirit of doing something without expecting tangible returns, is something I will never forget. What I really gained from this community built over the years is that it is important to pay it forward, and ensure that others benefit from what you have learned. You need not wait for an official opportunity to do the same but just volunteer your time and effort to such causes from time to time. The benefits are the goodwill and camaraderie that you can enjoy many years down the line.
A couple of quotes -
“You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich (wo)man.”
~Seth Parker
“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.”
~Winston Churchill
