CreativeMornings Summit Camp 2018

Every two years, we celebrate our volunteers and their indispensable work at our CreativeMornings Organizer Summit. This year, we’re calling it Summit Camp.

We’re celebrating our 10th anniversary in upstate New York at the beautiful Iroquois Springs summer camp with more than 300 volunteers from 89 chapters.

Ten years of generosity. Ten years of free events, inviting millions of attendees and thousands of speakers. Just thinking about the endless breakfast spreads, cups of coffee and tea, hugs, ideas, collaborations… it’s breathtaking.

We’re thrilled to share what the Summit is, why we do it, and how this engine of generosity keeps humming its song.

CreativeMornings Summit 2016 at Austin, Texas. Photo credit: Manny Pandya.

What is the CreativeMornings Summit?

It’s a three-day event packed with joy, learning, face-to-face connections, hugs, and high-fives.

Imagine sitting around a bonfire and roasting marshmallows with hundreds of hosts and organizers from around the world—sharing stories, tips, and ideas, finally meeting face-to-face and building upon the relationships that formed months or years ago.

It’s a space where Slack avatars become real humans, where seasoned hosts share best practices, and for new members of the community to feel the energy and love of a global creative family.

We are also welcoming incredible speakers like Seth Godin, Priya Parker, and Ingrid Fetell, to share their wisdom and inspire our community. It’s a moment for our chapter hosts to kick back and enjoy the event.

For some participants it feels like coming home, for others it’s an unwavering sense of belonging. But for all of us it’s an opportunity to unplug, learn, connect, and celebrate the fact that we are all in this together.

CreativeMornings Summit 2016 at Austin, Texas. Photo credit: Manny Pandya.

Why do we do The Summit?

We are in awe of our 1500 volunteers around the world—their spirit, generosity, and commitment to making their local communities and cities more creative. A space for like-minded people to belong and learn new ideas, so they’re inspired to create the work that’s within them.

CreativeMornings Summit 2016 at Austin, Texas. Photo credit: Manny Pandya.

We do it because we love this community. When people meet for the first time, there’s no awkwardness because we see one another from the core of our being—the traits that inspire hosts to become hosts and organizers to show up.

We do it to bring these big-hearted humans together, so that they feel seen, respected, and heard, eager to pass it forward to the neighbors in their city. There was never a question of “should” we do this? No, we have to do this—it’s both an honor and privilege.

How is Summit Camp supported?

The same way CreativeMornings has been supported for a decade: generosity.

Our partners make a significant financial contribution to make the Summit possible, as well as creating in-person activities for the community to learn and stretch their creativity.

We’re infinitely grateful for the support of our:

• Global Presenting Partners: MailChimp, WordPress.com and Adobe
• Presenting Partners: Harvest and Dropbox
• Photo Partner:  B&H Photo Video
• Event Partners: Red Bull and Grizzly
• Video Partner: KERTIS

Camp partners:

Our camp partners generously donated their products and services to ensure that we’re hydrated, caffeinated, and bringing home tons of useful goodies.

• Printi has generously printed notebooks, handbooks and signage that will keep our campers informed and inspired at camp.
• Kikkerland has provided the flashlights that will light our way to the campfire, among other essential camp goods.
• Java Love Coffee Roasting Co. will be onsite making us delicious espresso.
• Real Thread is teaching us how to live print CreativeMornings T Shirts.
• Saje Natural Wellness is providing the natural skincare and essential oil products that will make us feel at home.
• Sunday Beer , Lucky Jack Coffee, Green Sheep Water, Buchi Kombucha, Harmless Harvest, and BluePrint Juices are sustaining and keeping us hydrated through long days of learning and adventuring.
• Hudson Trailer Co. is providing beautiful vintage carts and bars to serve from.
• Scout Books printed the Field Guides that will allow our campers to earn their camp Merit Badges.
• tabtag is providing us with glowing CreativeMornings Macbook stickers.

This level of generosity is a testament to the work of our organizers around the world, month after month.

We at HQ are honored and feel extraordinarily lucky to be serving a community like this. We’re infinitely grateful for all of the companies that believe in this community and are here to support them.

We’ll be sharing a follow-up blog post after the Summit, capturing the love, energy, and lessons learned.

CreativeMornings Summit 2016 at Austin, Texas. Photo credit: Manny Pandya.