We held our first conference on Versatackle this December. There were many ways in which it was a success:

• We started and ended on time
• All of our presenters were able to join and give their presentations as planned (though one ended up presenting from their car due to a power outage.)
• We made enough money from ticket sales to pay our presenters
• Participants gave us some great feedback - both about things that we could improve and about things that they got out of the conference
• We learned a lot!
• Our technology worked
• We were able to roll out much of our redesign in advance
• We came away with meaningful new connections

There are also things that I wish we could have done:

• There are people I know who I wish could have been there
• There are people I haven’t met yet, that I wish could have been there for me to meet
• I wish we could have gotten a few more design roll-outs in place - especially ones our team worked on, but we couldn’t deploy in time
• There were some tech glitches I wish we’d been able to anticipate and fix

Something we remind ourselves of frequently is that we have to put what we’re working on out in the world before it feels ready. Working on Versatackle feels so personal that sometimes I have trouble finding enough remove to look at it objectively. It’s important to take a step back and reflect on what we’ve accomplished, where we want to go, and what we need to learn in order to get there. 

Our next goal as a team is to set aside time to do that. We’ve come through the crunch time getting ready.  We’ve proven that it’s possible to hold a full conference on Versatackle. Now we need to spend some time thinking about the big picture. 

If you are someone who would like to help us do that, we’d love to hear from you. Do you host conferences or other events and you want our tool to work for you? Are you also trying to change the world in ways big and small and want an online space that helps you do that? 

But first, we need some time to take a deep breath. It’s very snowy in Seattle. We’re moving slowly through the shortest days of the year.  There’s still a pandemic. The new year is rolling around. We are taking some time to appreciate our loved ones near and far.  We hope you are able to do that, too.

Please, stay safe and warm, wherever you are. Welcome to 2022.  I hope it brings us all peace, justice, health and safety.