I recently got back from the Mozilla 2010 Summit in Whistler, BC.
I can sum up my entire experience in just one word.
Awesome!
But, that doesn’t really do the summit justice, not even close really. The summit was held over three days. Three full days of talking to people who change the world. Three days of meeting with like minded people who are just as enthusiastic about Mozilla as I am, even more perhaps. These people changed me a bit. I saw a spark in them that is very hard to describe. They, much like me, really believed that they could change the world (via the internet) for a better place. They really cared, not just giving lip service, about the people who use the software they help create. They put people first. Awesome!
This “army of awesome” as it was so called lent me a lot of energy. I was fueled by their passion. It was fantastic.
I gave a talk on the Perception of Performance in Firefox. I think there was about 500-600 people in attendance. It rocked my world. Many people came up to me after and told me that they really liked the work I was doing. Validation! I walked away from that talk exhausted but feeling incredibly worthy and capable of changing the world.
Much like any conference or summit, so many things happened in the after hours events. The Firefox UX team held a Beer Hall design session where we solicited ideas, complaints, and solutions from anyone who wished to join us. The ‘end-of-summit’ party, held on top of a mountain, was the best I’ve ever attended. It was full of fun, dancing, and some great discussions. We also had fun monsters hanging out with us! We even had a cool dancing conga line!
In summary I would like to thank everyone who made this possible. The summit was truly invigorating and exhilarating. In short, it was effing awesome!
I rarely meet anyone with the same name, although, I will say, at least your parents put the name in the right order. 😉
Conferences like this, when you get that validation, can be so inspiring and helpful to you. Awesome that you had a good experience, and nice to make your acquaintance.
Cheers!