Gathering of the Games

Today was the first day of the Gathering of the Games conference here in St. Louis. I've never been to St. Louis before, and I was surprised when I saw the arch from miles away. This first day has been pretty interesting. It took us about four hours to drive here, and then we headed to Friday's for lunch. We took a little break before our heading to the start of the speakers. Our first speaker was Scott Waddle, the commander of the US submarine that ran into a Japanese school ship. He was a very interesting speaker, and had a powerful message about doing the right thing, even when it means putting yourself into a bad light. I purchased a copy of his book and had it signed to Corbin. Next up I had a breakout session focused on Employee Stock Ownership. It was okay, but the conversation that it sparked with my co-workers later was awesome. We hit on a lot of topics that had been brewing in my mind for some time. It's always nice when you find out someone else has been thinking about the same things as you have. It was also fun to have a bunch of free drinks with my coworkers!

Tomorrow is more of the same, starting with a breakfast / networking session, followed by more keynote speakers and breakout sessions. Right now, I think this conference has been more valuable for the conversations that it sparked with my colleagues than for the content of the conference itself. Still, the ends justify the means. I'm looking forward to some of talks we have coming up to see if they spark any more interesting conversation.