I can’t explain what it is like to walk into a resort with roughly 560 of your fellow Automatticians. You truly have to live it to understand. It is overwhelming, exciting and chaotic all at the same time. I work with these amazing people and we converse online, but have never had the chance to meet until now. What is a Grand Meet Up? It is our chance to finally meet face to face, since we all work remotely, distributed around the world. It is our opportunity to come together as a team, learn more about each other and our divisions across the company and grow both in our employment and as an individual. And what a week it has been!
I arrived in Whistler after about 15 hours of travel to walk into a lobby filled with people. Some had met in past meet ups, others for the first time and some knew no one at all. It was overwhelming and exciting to feel the energy in the room. Our name badges and water bottles were waiting for us. Once I had mine, I decided sleep was my priority. I knew our schedule for the week and I needed to be sure I had the energy to match it.
I woke up the next morning feeling great and ready to start the day. I headed to breakfast, I had signed up for the early risers breakfast and wow, what a buffet to await me. After breakfast, I attended my very first “Town Hall”, where for the first time I had seen Automattic’s founder and CEO Matt Mulenberg. I have to admit I was a little star struck at first. Before I applied, I knew my final interview would be a 3-4 hour long chat with Matt himself. I had spent the course of a few weeks before that time watching and listening to any interview I could find on the web. I knew so much about Matt, his values and outlook for the company. Seeing him in real life was almost like meeting a celebrity in a sense. His opening to Town Hall was welcoming and after it was over, we were off to spend the day with our Team.
Although we work remotely, we are still each apart of a smaller team. This team is designed to support us, and allow us to have close peers whom we can rely on and help grow with. My team has 12 members and we are called Eshu. We have 5 members in South America, 6 in USA and myself in Canada. I had met one of my team members over vacation this summer, but the other 10 I had not met in person. It was a great day together chatting about our summers, our team, etc. During our break we headed to Cows for a treat. 🙂 I was excited to introduce the team to one of my fav ice cream brands!
Lunch and supper this day were both spent with our teams. The rest of the week we had table assignments. Lunch would be at the resort and supper at the Whistler Conference Centre. At lunch we would sit with 7 other Automattician’s whom we most likely hadn’t met before and at supper 3 other Automattician’s. It was a great chance to get to know many colleagues that I hadn’t had the chance to meet or work with their divisions.
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday were a combination of listening to Flash Talks (I will explain this one in a moment), doing our regular job, working on a project or taking a class. We also participated in “Home Rooms” each day and the evenings we had an opportunity to sign up for activities. First to explain “Flash Talks”. In the past everyone in the company had to give one each meet up, but now we have grown too large and just not enough time, so it was decided that anyone who has not given one, would do a flash talk. This can be about anything, I choose Nova Scotia Beaches and it had to be no more than 4 minutes. You can use video, pictures, a powerpoint presentation or anything you wish to help you complete your talk. I was the 2nd one on Thursday to give mine and although I don’t mind speaking in front of people, I was glad when it was over. 🙂
Home Rooms were something new this year and I loved this. It allowed us to meet again smaller groups of Automattician’s, we were divided into classes of about 20 and then broken into smaller groups each day to do activities. One day was a scavenger hunt, another day was speed interviewing, and building the tallest tower out of simple ingredients like spaghetti, a marshmallow, etc. We also were given a gift each day as well, we truly are spoiled during the Meet Up and really all year round.
I choose 2 activities this week. The first was a Paint Nite. I was excited because we could vote on the picture and the winning. Picture was an Eiffel Tower painting. Caile has her room in this theme so I was so excited that it won as I wanted to paint it for her. I am definitely not an artist, but I love Paint Notes. And it was another opportunity to meet more Automattician’s.
My other activity was my last day. A group of 14 of us, a mix of Sandy’s old large team and part of my team headed to the top of the mountains for the Peak to Peak Gondula ride. Wow! I am not really sure how else to describe it. It was breathtaking over and over again. I was so thankful that I did it and highly recommend it to anyone who visits the Whistler area.
Our schedule is pretty full for the week from the start of each day until the end of supper around 9pm, but Sandy and I were able to make some time to explore Whistler. One morning we set off for a bit of a walk through the town and the trails, it was so quiet and beautiful. We also explored at night when we went looking for gifts for the kids. And there were a few trips to Cows during the week for a treat. 🙂
It is hard to believe 6 days has come and gone already. The meet up does last 7, but we left a day early because we wanted to be back for Noah’s birthday. I love that Automattic is so family orientated that there was no hesitation when we made this request.
Last evening was our final town hall. It is the chance for employees to ask anything. I sat and listened over the evening and I walked away with so much contentment and excitement for the future. I have never worked for a company that values their customers, always trying to find new ways to make their experience and the web a better place and at the same time values their employees so highly. I can’t say enough about the flexibility I have to build my own schedule, the amazing people I have the pleasure of working with and the many many perks for Automattic employees.
It’s hard to explain this week unless you have lived it, but I can honestly say that I went into this week a little skeptical. I knew we were shutting down our support and I was concerned with the impact on our customers during this time. I was excited to meet everyone, but wondered if the whole trip and all it involved would feel worth it for me. I have to say that it has been so worth it and then some. As a company we pulled together as a team and ensured that we were still able to enjoy our week and provide support to our customers in a timely fashion. I now fully understand the benefit of having that face to face time with our co-workers. This week has helped me to grow so much as a person and as a Happiness Engineer. As I looked out the window at the end of our first flight I had just opened my eyes are dozing off to see the beauty of the mountains as we crossed into Alberta. The first thing that came to mind was “How Great Though Art!” I am so thankful for the opportunities that God has blessed me with and looking out over this great country as we fly home, I can’t help appreciate it even more. I am excited to be home and hug my amazing children and share my week with them.
I Dream of Summer 
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