@MJ DeMarco thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting on this conference and for all of the selfless work you do for this community. The value you bring to the world and this community is immense and unmeasurable.
The summits that I have been fortunate enough to attend have been some of the most impactful things I have ever done. Each summit makes me feel so humbled, I am in complete awe at so many of your accomplishments, it's just so amazing to watch. I can't thank you all enough, both speakers and attendees, for sharing your ideas so openly.
I am a pretty extreme introvert, and the first summit I attended in 2015 I had to push myself everyday and every interaction. @MJ you challenged us to put ourselves out there, and pretty much just said accepted the anxiety and did it. At that time that meant talking to about 15 people at that event. Now that seems pretty pathetic for putting myself out there.
The second summit (2016) you gave me the opportunity to speak. I must admit part of the reason I submitted my name was because I was terrified to speak and wanted to put myself completely outside of my comfort zone. I was shaking like a leaf the whole time I was presenting...from the podium it felt it went terribly. But after I finished it really opened the door and other people approached me to talk. I ended up talking to about 30% of everyone at the conference that year. Which is probably the highest number of relative strangers (by a factor of 5) I've ever talked to in one day.
This year, I made it my
goal to learn as much about as many people as I could. I think I managed to connect with about 60% of people there. It's astounding the wealth of experience, contacts, and valuable information that is at this event. I'm just bummed I couldn't get around to talk to everyone.
Thank you to all the speakers. I especially want to thank
@AllenCrawley,
@Red, and
@Eskil for the behind the scenes time and effort they put into this. If there is anyone else who was working behind the scenes I missed, thank you.
Thank you to all the speakers, I know that it takes many hours of time and effort to put things together. Thank you for your contributions.
@Arrabista thank you for your wisdom in interacting with people, communication. This is one area I am working hard every day to improve.
@million$$$smile your story is inspiring like none other, and your presentation was immensely entertaining.
Chris S (sorry forgot your forum name). Your ideas on hiring and on boarding couldn't have come at a better time. This is definitely something we have struggled with.
@AllenCrawley Thanks for sharing your journey, teaching us about negotiations, and man you have some kick a$$ skills in photography and marketing.
@eliquid your niche is right up my alley. I appreciate your takes on authority and how to grow products like this. It makes me rethink some of my approaches, and I will definitely be expanding some of the things we do based on ideas and experiences you had.
Roc (sorry didn't catch your forum name either). I'm interested to see how your ideas on office hacking turn out. Hopefully we have a follow up next year. It's impressive what you've accomplished so far.
@biophase No one can put a value on the information you share. Every time I read your posts or hear you speak I want to get into ecommerce. I'm going to do it just have too much on the plate right now and trying not to have shiny ball syndrome....but thank you so much for sharing your wealth of experience.
@SteveO thank you for sharing your information and story. Truly inspiring.
I know I'm missing a few people that spoke...thank you. There was not a single talk that I did not gain some new insight and
perspective from.
Hopefully I have the true privilege and opportunity to attend the next summit. I know there are far more people that want to attend then their are tickets available. Thank you again MJ for giving me the opportunity of sitting at the feet of giants and learning from them.
