Substack Meetup Event
My reflections on a night to connect with fellow writers in SF
This week, I had the pleasure of attending a meetup in San Francisco for other Substack writers. Yes, it was an official event during Substack's Meetup Day!
With San Francisco being the home base of the company, it's surprising that there hasn't been one of these events in the past. To the best of my knowledge, it was the first of its kind. And in addition to San Francisco, there were other events taking place on the same day in London, New York, and Toronto. Those not fortunate enough to be in one of these hubs were encouraged to plan their own smaller events either in-person or virtually.
There wasn't much of an agenda for the event, it was just an occasion for writers to gather and discuss their work and feelings about the Substack platform. Again, since the Substack office is in town, there were also plenty of Substack employees in attendance too. In fact, it may have been a pretty even ratio of employees to writers, which made for amazing conversation in all corners of the space.
And the space itself was beautiful. Nestled away in San Francisco's waterfront Fort Mason, The Interval at Long Now is a cozy spot where cocktails, books, and eclectic artwork come together as a perfect backdrop for writers to get to know one another. If you're not familiar with the Long Now foundation, they're a group focused on the longterm viability of our civilization. In fact, they believe in building a giant clock that can accurately keep time for the next ten millennia. There is a small-scale replicate of the clock located with the Interval space. Let's just all agree that this location has seen its fair share of deep conversations in the past, and was the right size and had an excellent vibe for a writer meetup.
Both classic and experimental cocktails were being meticulously prepared by the jovial bartending staff at The Interval. Based on my brief conversations with them, they all seemed pleased to be working in the space and took a genuine interest in the work Substack is doing. And yes, the alcohol they were serving became excellent social lubrication for writers who tend to be more introverted.
I won't go into each and every conversation I had, but it was honestly some of the best banter I've found at a networking event. Every writer I spoke with shared a palpable excitement about the ease with which Substack allows them to connect with their audience. There were the obvious questions: what do you write about? how long have you been on Substack? where else have you written? do you love or hate social media? (I was pleasantly surprised by how many folks seemed to stay away from social media).
For the most part, people were ecstatic about what Substack was doing. It was nice to have a few Substack engineers on hand as well to casually field interface questions or give insight about the reasoning behind design choices.
The only official address from the company came in the form of a brief but passionate speech by co-founder and Chief Writing Officer Hamish Mckenzie. It didn't feel scripted or hyperbolic. Hamish really just seemed thrilled to be in a room with so many of the writers that make Substack the successful platform that it is. This felt so much better than an over-the-top presentation about hockey stick growth patterns or “disrupting the world of writing forever!”. It's safe to say that the people in attendance didn't need much convincing that Substack was the right place for their work.
As most of you know, writing this publication is not my full-time job. It's been a wonderfully rewarding creative outlet and side gig now for about 18 months. But attending this event allowed me to take off all other hats (dad, producer, marketer, coach, etc.) and solely be a writer surrounded by other writers for one evening. And that was a fantastic feeling.
When asked about my writing, I gave slightly different responses each time gauging the person's reaction. It can be so hard to articulate the value of our creative work (whether that's writing or anything else). I will say that people genuinely seemed excited to read a publication that "improves people's relationship with technology" or “helps make your precious screen time more nourishing” or just “highlights how technology can improve all aspects of life”. And of course, I'll take some liberties and meander and iterate and write about whatever strikes me at the moment.
But this event really made me appreciate the last year and a half and all that I've learned on my journey as a writer on Substack. I felt really comfortable like it was a place I certainly belonged.
Thanks to you dear reader for being here with me. Here's to more connections with fellow writers both online and in person in the near future. And a huge shout out to the folks at Substack for putting on such a fantastic event. My only gripe? Next time book a food truck or something! While it may make for livelier conversation, a hungry writer cannot subsist on cocktails alone!
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Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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