THANK YOU – SWITCH 2011

Everything started back in 2009. The idea was quite simple: to gather in Portugal wonderful speakers able to share ideas and knowledge. Despite iterations, the concept for the 2011 edition was pretty much the same. Our idea was to gather an awesome and interested audience with top-notch (and inspiring) speakers that would make them re-consider everything they took for granted. That was the big challenge my team had ahead.

Back in September 2010 we decided to announce and prepare the 2nd edition of SWITCH Conference, after a first edition in the city of Coimbra. We also decided to raise the standards and goals even higher. We wanted to gather a truly international panel of speakers so we could incrementally grow into becoming an international event of excellence.

Last weekend Oporto was the home for an event that gathered about 300 registered attendees with 28 speakers coming from 14 countries. Both speakers and attendees came from all sorts of backgrounds and our main goal was to create a networking event that was fruitful with many of the speakers staying for the whole event and many openly talking to participants in the networking breaks. Oporto gathered ideas, innovators, do-ers, thinkers and everyone in-between for a weekend full of rich ideas and thoughts being shared.

Despite the fact that we all stated we wouldn’t measure SWITCH only by its stats, those were impressive nevertheless: 300 attendeees, 28 speakers, 15 countries, 4 networking breaks, 10.000 visitors to the website, #1 hashtag in Portugal (twitter), thousands of tweets produced, 4.100 plays of our livestream, dozens of hours of recorded video. All those stats say one thing in common: SWITCH was an event that went way beyond University Portucalense, our hosts.

Now that we’re wrapping-up the conference, and as the conference curator, I must look back and thank all those that made SWITCH what it was.

First I would like to start by thanking our Advisory Board. They provided the guidance, the last-minute detail attention and the overall guidance we were looking from them and were essential pieces in this organization.

Then I’ve to thank our amazing speakers that came all way from their homes in 14 countries to celebrate ideas, networking and knowledge with us. They delivered some remarkable talks that are now generating hundreds of tweets and blog posts with quotes, interviews and things that somehow changed someone. Was an unforgettable experience to meet everyone in Portugal.

I would love to thank our sponsors. Event organizers seem to be ashamed of publicly thanking them, but I want to do so. Without their work, time, money or resources SWITCH couldn’t exist. A big and warm thank you to those that made SWITCH possible through sponsoring and support.

Obviously, you – the attendees – are an extremely important part as well. We would like to thank everyone. Those that retweeted, shared or liked us, those that attendeed the event and sent criticism, those that attended the event and praised us, the ones that seated in their sofa and watched our talks, our webpage visitors, our tweeters and everyone who, now looking at the SWITCH logo, feel they are part of something bigger. Let me break it down: YOU ARE. Thanks for supporting our organization team, our advisors and everyone who made SWITCH possible.

Finally I would like to thank, as I did from the main stage, my wonderful / awesome / kickass team :-) People that ever participated in something like SWITCH will understand why it is so important to thank them. SWITCH is made of volunteers. Despite popular belief, no one at SWITCH is making a dime out of it. It’s all sweat, hard work and, yes, some money spent! When I’ve people that will give up on sleep for almost 4 days to make this happen, I’ve no way to not thank them. They’re awesome. As Chris, from SandBox, stated we’re probably the youngest team to organize an event such as SWITCH. I’ve people in my team that with only 17-years are more professional, applied and resourceful than many folks with 40 that I’ve found through life. You should pay attention because if they are ready to give such an effort when they are not getting paid, they’ll probably be some of the best employees or partners you’ll ever get. Thanks. Thanks Thanks. Thanks for your hard work, for believing in this crazy man’ dream and for fighting for it as your own. SWITCH is not ‘mine’ anymore – SWITCH belongs to this amazing folks. SWITCH is not easy to organize also. The last few days were crazy, but I couldn’t have made it without them. And yes, they are changing the world – not by curing a disease, not by ending a war – but by making small changes, risking small bits of their lifes in something they believe. This is the true change and they embraced it. Thank YOU.

The thing that impressed me the most were the people that believed in the project. Pedro, from WaterDogMobile for instance, that not only developed cool apps for us but also was there to help during the 3 days. Those that tweeted, shared or wrote about us not only sharing the conference, but sharing the love for the conference. Those that came to us and praised, and those that someone are now part of the SWITCH family. This is the really interesting part about creating a brand, an unique (portuguese) brand.

The drawings are now published, the photos will be made available very very soon and our videos will be published over the next 1/2 months. The future? Well, it’s too soon to tell but we at SWITCH will never cease in pursuing the goal of bringing talent and ideas to Portugal, inspiring to action each and everyone of you guys that showed us some support.