This past week, I had the joy of attending Catalyst West Coast in Irvine, CA. It was a great week of learning, networking, and reconnecting with some great friends. I wanted to give you a brief reflection of some of my initial thoughts about Catalyst.

First of all, I thought Catalyst was one of the most organized conferences I’ve been to in awhile. Led by people like Brad Lomenick and Ben Arment, the Catalyst team did a phenomenal job in putting the experience together. All of the team members were extremely courteous and sensitive to the needs of those attending. I appreciate the fact that many of them knew how to both work hard and still enjoy the experience. Great work guys!

Secondly, the diversity of speakers and topics were well thought through. It was good to listen to people like Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, Guy Kawasaki, Craig Groeschel, Ravi Zacharias, Bethany Hoang, Francis Chan, etc. There was much practical wisdom communicated.

Thirdly, I loved the environments created by Catalyst to connect with people. I thought Mariner’s Church was a great location for Catalyst. Their campus was amazing and allowed for plenty of space for people to connect. It was fun to spend some time with some old and new friends including Jeff Shinabarger, the Roov guys, Naeem from Mosaic Charlotte, the Idea Camp tribe, Bethany Hoang, Leadership Network crew, and many others.

I personally believe that in addition to great content, conferences need to intentionally consider the facilitation of space for people to interact with one another. Catalyst did that well.

I look forward atteding the next Catalyst in Atlanta later this year in October. That’s all for now…need to catch a flight

If you were there as well, what were some of your thoughts from the conference?

(In an upcoming blog post, I will share with you about the newly formed Origins Project and some of the great conversations that took place about that during Catalyst.)