Unfortunately, saying thank you seems to be an afterthought more and more. So at least once a month, I will take a few minutes to publicly appreciate someone that has had an impact on me.
This round: Craft Conference & People
Talk about an amazing experience that I will forever be grateful. I’m not sure this post will even come close in doing justice to the value I received this week but it’s a start.
- Budapest is an incredibly beautiful friendly and walkable city that I couldn’t get enough of. I think I averaged 8 miles a day and loved every minute. Plus, I consumed too much and yet not enough langos (think fried dough). We even got a taxi driver to find a spot on the way home one night just for more. I might have had an issue.
- The Craft conference…first time and hopefully not the last. I’ve been to many conferences since covid but this is the first time I’ve been with this big of a group (I think there was almost 2000 people there) at a train museum (so cool!). The energy was infectious. The sessions were inspiring. The organizers were doing it all including helping lay down cardboard when it rained. It was an impressive event from start to finish. Kudos to everyone that worked so hard for this event. It showed!
- I always get a bit worried being slotted to speak in the last time slot (that people are done and will leave early) and in a different country (that no one knows me and I picked a bad topic that wasn’t interesting for people to attend)… that my session will be empty and I will have let down the organizers. Luckily, this wasn’t the case and the feedback was lovely. I had a blast.
- I met so many new people – one person even brought me to tears after my session. People often ask me why I choose to stay more focused on software leadership vs leadership in general. The truth is I just love this industry. The people. The conversations. The topics. It felt like home being at a developer conference even if I don’t still code.
- There were two people that I have remained connected to all these years but had not seen either one of them in person in over a decade each. Getting to hug each of them, getting to smile directly at them, and getting to thank them in person for all of their support… I just can’t find the words to explain how important and valuable this was to me. I’m so freaking lucky to have friends all over the world but it can be hard to barely see them. And yet, it’s as if no time has passed as we talk and laugh. Thank you Dan & J.B…. until next time!
- The thing I want to call out the most is a crew of people that really came together to support each other without discussing it. There were no plans and yet, frequently, we all showed up at sessions to support the person speaking. I’ve talked about before how much it means to me when teammates come to my sessions but here were strangers that I had only met days early, sitting front and center to support me. A crew of people figuring out how to support another when technical difficulties kept happening. A crew of people making sure we were asking questions and taking photos for others. None of this was decided beforehand, it just happened. I found my people. I am extremely grateful for the memories of this week… thank you Llewelyn, Lars, Oliver, Michael, Kate, Ashi, Jess, Jacqueline, Jessica, Balazs, and Ivett.
Thank you for refilling my energy and heart!
A few pictures from this amazing experience…
