This year I got to experience an Automattic Grand Meetup in my homeland for the first time. Granted, it took place in Whistler, British Columbia, 5000 km away from where I live, but it was still Canada! It was fun to watch nearly 500 of my colleagues encountering everything from poutine to the stunning Coast mountain range for the first time. They were even struck by small things I take for granted, like the ubiquitous Canuck politeness, in the form of “sorry” and “please” on signage.
The week was jam-packed, even more so than my last four Grand Meetups. (Has it really been five already? Seems impossible!) Highlights of the week include a class on WordPress plugin development taught by code wrangler Jennifer (I made something! And it’s on GitHub!); icebreakers and brainstorming with my theme division-mates; organizing an afternoon of painting for my colleagues, who blew me away with their creativity!); spotting a black bear (OMG!) munching on foliage by the side of the highway; swooping across mountaintops in the spectacular Peak to Peak gondola; and attending a thought-provoking workshop about diversity and inclusion by an outstanding facilitator, Y-Vonne Hutchison. And of course, countless chats with friends/co-workers from all over the world and a lot of good food. Oh, and I invented a cocktail that was one of three chosen to to be served at the closing party. (Automojitto! It was blue and yummy!)
As we’re a company full of bloggers, many of my colleagues have posted accounts of their week in Whistler as well. You can check out some of them under the #a8cgm tag on WordPress.com.
This year’s company photo was the most epic yet – check out my colleague Donncha’s account of how he pulled it off!
Kathryn Presner 
7 replies on “A GM in Canada”
This is so awesome ! Just makes my love and respect for Automattic grow every single day ! Great team, great product, great culture ! Cheers 🙂
OMG. Looking at those magnificent photos, I think my mouth stayed hung open in awe the entire time. Unreal!! The art session looks fabulous! The black bears – ha, I just finished catching the movie, “The Revenant” – my respect for them knows no bounds! My guess is you’ll remember this amazing GM for years to come. Pass the Automojitto – two “t’s” noted! 😀
You and Laurel’s flash talk is one of the most entertaining for me. Looking forward to re-watch on A8C Tv 🙂
Aw, thank you, really cool to hear — glad you liked it!
Poutine in the mountains…yummy! I hope you offered some Automojitto to the bear to compliment her foliage. 😉🍻
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[…] week, nearly 600 of my co-workers and I gathered again in Whistler, British Columbia, to spend time with each other at our annual all-company get-together. For the first time, I decided […]