Keynote Achievement Unlocked!
Last week I had the privilege of speaking at Music City Agile and Music City Code. I had an absolute blast hanging out with old friends, and "old friends who've just met."
Gaines Kergosien, chief geek of Music City Code, asked that I give the closing Friday keynote. Well... ok... technically it was labeled "closing session," but I'm counting it as a keynote :)
This was such an honor for me, for many reasons.
I lived in the Nashville area for nearly 20 years, which is most of my adult and professional life. We raised and graduated four of our five sons there. The DevLink conference, when it was located on the same Lipscomb University campus, is where I was inspired to get involved in the developer community, which led me to become a speaker.
Georgia may be where I currently lay my head, by Nashville is where my heart remains.
When Gaines asked me to do the closing, he asked that I tell my story and encourage others to get involved in their local community. It was my goal to inspire and challenge the audience to:
- Get to know other developers, and have great conversations
- Keep the conversations going by getting involved, such as meetups, hackathons, and other events
- Step up to a leadership role, such as speaking, organizing a meetup, or mentoring
To help me with the first goal, I invited my friend and expert on the subject, Jeremy Clark, to join me on stage to talk about his Becoming a Social Developer movement.
We are excited to have @reverentgeek and @jeremybytes close out #MusicCityCode with great advice and belly laughs! pic.twitter.com/s7zfvTa5Zs
— Music City Code (@MusicCityCode) August 19, 2016
Feedback from the closing session has simply been overwhelming. The following is just a few of the tweets from the presentation.
#musiccitycode Haha! Awesome slide by @reverentgeek '...not going to be talking about the latest JS library today' pic.twitter.com/Bmyf5JS7rk
— Bryan Hunter (@bryan_hunter) August 19, 2016 Great talk by @reverentgeek at #musiccitycode ! pic.twitter.com/K7AHrXkiKv
— Heather Wilde (@heathriel) August 19, 2016 Lots of wisdom in the closing session by @reverentgeek at #MusicCityCode pic.twitter.com/wIKAoN2yee
— jeff mikres (@jeffmikres) August 19, 2016 @reverentgeek killing it with his closing remarks at @MusicCityCode today #hi-LAR-ious pic.twitter.com/s2aG5SEeX0
— Christina Aldan (@luckygirliegirl) August 19, 2016
I've also had many people personally let me know how much they enjoyed and were inspired by the talk!
I am so glad I was able to give this presentation and share a little bit about my journey. It's what I would have wanted to hear 6-8 years ago when I was getting involved. I am thrilled to hear how it resonated with the audience.
In the coming months and years, I hope to hear your story!
P.S. Don't forget: You Don't Need Permission to be AWESOME!!
@reverentgeek 'nuff said. #MusicCityCode @MusicCityCode pic.twitter.com/hq4nM7jDON
— SpencerSchneidenbach (@schneidenbach) August 19, 2016