As we hit the end of the year, we're still looking back with continued appreciation for our chance to host October's international Awesome Summit! (More @ www.awesomesummit.org/summits/westminster-2024).
Amidst this increasingly busy holiday season, our post-event feelings can best and appropriately summed up as “grateful.” As a chapter that formed during the pandemic, we never had the chance to attend a summit before…and now we were hosting one! Needless to say, there was equal anticipation and trepidation in the months and weeks leading up the weekend. But once the airport runs started, the first drinks were raised, and the conversations began, we realized afresh that we were with an incredibly sympathetic and supportive group.
Which is no surprise, really--it’s why we joined the network, in the first place!
We were honored by the facts alone: 15 chapters. Almost 40 people, traveling thousands of miles from cities around the world. Nearly 20 different activities and workshops across three days. And it was great to hear Joel from San Francisco advocate joyfully for the value of whimsy, Jesse from NY and Joe from Westminster talk about website best practices, a group join Cedric from Chicago to talk about the potential use of AI in our chapters, Amanda and Graham from DC explore community partnerships, and so much more. We walked our main street, met at the library makerspace, and convened under the stars at a local farm. It felt pretty magical--dare we say, awesome?
But our Westminster chapter all agreed afterwards that the greatest selfish joy we had in hosting, was to see our town and our community through the eyes of our guests. It truly was a gift to have such encouraging and appreciative guests-now new friends-join us and engage in robust conversation. Everyone was incredibly generous in their appreciation of what we have here in our small Maryland town and what we are striving to build for local impact. If for nothing else, we encourage other chapters to consider nominating themselves for the next summit, so we can come out your way and share that same encouragement! We came away freshly inspired to keep up the creative good work--and heard many visitors express the same sentiment.
Josh, Becki, and Tony from heywestminster.com/