the portland experience: wds edition

Since moving to the East Coast last year, we haven’t had an opportunity to visit the West Coast, a.k.a. the best coast. We were able to take this opportunity when we signed up for the World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon.

Intimidating, right?!

World Domination is a three day conference that is packed with wonderful events and keynote speakers. There are separate educational courses that provide many discussions to help you achieve your goal. The best part is, you get to choose what you attend all weekend. This was my first ever “conference” and to say the least, I am now spoiled.

We arrived to PDX late Thursday morning to roam around town, grub from the food carts, and attend our first event that evening, at the Punch Bowl Social. This couldn’t have been a better start to the weekend. Hosted by Sean Ogle, there were familiar faces for some, but for others, this was very unfamiliar territory. The drinks helped to take the edge off and encouraged us to meet as many people as possible. To take the “un” out of uncomfortable.

During the day, on Saturday and Sunday, there were main speakers presented in the Arlene Schnitzer Hall. We were given a mid-day break between 12 and 4, which is more than enough time to explore the city a bit. The conference also provided a “Portland Experience” on Saturday, which was a mixture of food and drink tastings, with a side of crafts and music. Need I say more.

Topics and speakers varied each day, but all of the speakers and attendees are there for one reason: to make a difference. Chris Guillebeau posed this question: “how do you live a remarkable life in a conventional world?” Mike Goncalves, from The Wellness Bucket, could not have said it better: “the difference between corporate conferences and WDS, is that at corporate conferences most often you have a bunch of people working toward the same VISION with different VALUES. At WDS, you have thousands of people working towards different VISIONS that share the same VALUES.”

I mean who doesn’t love a place where it is all about community, service, and adventure?

I am blessed beyond words to say that these powerful experiences have brought new meaning to the values above, but more importantly, new friends.

“Great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it… Doing what you’re afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that — that is what life is. You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that’s really special and if you’re not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself.” – Amy Poehler

So, I will leave you with this one question presented to us all: how do you want to be remembered?