Remote Work Summit 2018 Recap
It’s been a few months since I attended the inaugural Remote Work Summit, a wonderful event in the scenic town of San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala.
Where?
While I’m well traveled, I had never gone to Guatemala. Flights from Phoenix to Guatemala City are not direct, so I ended up needing to stay an extra two nights, with the first night in Guatemala City, and the last night in Antigua, a well-preserved Spanish colonial city.
From Guatemala City, the adventure had only just begun, as a van picked up various speakers and attendees along the way to Lake Atitlán, a nearly five hour journey for around 100 miles. We then took a 20 minute boat ride across the lake to San Marcos La Laguna, and then a combination of walking, riding on Tuk Tuks, and then walking some more up the hill until we arrived at the conference venue. While I joked that they really took the word remote seriously in Remote Work Summit, the breathtaking views were more than worth the travel time:
Also, if you’re ever in San Marcos La Laguna, you must try the Falafel Burrito at Moonfish Cafe. It was truly exceptional.
I stayed directly at the retreat location, and the accommodations were relatively modest, with solar powered showers that only resulted in cold water, eco-friendly toilets, and a few more ways in which we were roughing it. Some attendees stayed at less modest accommodations, so I would recommend choosing the option that works best for you.
The Event — Day 1
The event itself began the first night with dinner and time to meet fellow attendees and speakers. It was clear from the outset that this was not a typical corporate retreat, but something planned with significant alternative creativity. It was also clear that Rebel + Connect had brought together an amazing group of people with a passion for remote working.
San Marcos is a fairly quiet town, with most places closing by 10pm, but each night we managed to find at least one restaurant that would stay open late for our group. It was often through these late night chats that stronger friendships were forged.
The Event — Day 2
The first full day of the conference schedule began with a yoga set with the amazing view of Lake Atitlán, and then a number of inspiring and interactive sessions focused on remote leadership and team building. It was the first conference I have attended where speakers and attendees were mostly barefoot, and it led to a very creative and inspiring environment.
The event as a whole was a charity fundraiser for two local charities in the San Marcos area. Videos for all of the conference sessions are available for $97, with all profits going directly to the charities. If you are interested in excellent content about remote working, I highly recommend ordering the videos and helping these local charities in the process.
Wayne Turmel, the co-author of “The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership” spoke about his experience in remote work leadership.
Janice Chaka really challenged us to think differently, and turned the talk into the audience forming groups and answering challenging questions.
Trina Hoefling shared excellent experiences, and Liz Scully is a fantastic story teller and compared her experiences in thinking like a film crew to working remotely.
Overall day 2 was filled with so much useful information and gave us a lot to think about, share, and discuss.
The evening of Day 2 was a collaborators dinner with delicious food prepared by one of the local charities.
The Event — Day 3
Day 3 began with another yoga class. I’m an avid yogi and really enjoyed the classes. The biggest challenge was yoga at high altitude in a fairly humid climate made breathing a bit more challenging than normal, but it was well worth the effort.
This sessions for this day focused on company culture, with inspiring talks from Marty Imes and Chris Dyer to kick off the day.
After lunch, we had options for cultural excursions. I chose the option to take a Mayan cooking class, which was led by the charity that had prepared dinner the previous night.
The evening was a highlight of the event, with a Cacao + Music + Dance Experience. My wife is very into ecstatic dance, and having an open air experience in the tropical rain was very rejuvenating. The venue also had a sauna and plunge pool which helped to recover after a long conference day.
The Event — Day 4
On the final official day of the conference, the morning commenced with a kung fu class, and then it was off to cultural excursions such as kayaking and diving or a nature walk.
After lunch, it was time for the final round of sessions with two panels, including the panel I was on which focused on how to grow a business when working remotely. It was a great panel on a topic that has little to no coverage compared to other remote working topics, and it was an incredible experience to share the stage with Jacqueline Jensen , Taylor Coil , and Kyrie Melnyck!
There was also a panel on Remote HR and Operations which was enjoyable. However, during the panel, news started to spread about the large volcano that had just erupted only 50 miles away.
The night before I had briefly observed lava flows in the distance, for just a moment as the clouds lifted and then returned. The nearby volcano is active but had not had a significant eruption for many years.
Hundreds of Guatemalans unfortunately lost their lives in this event. For the conference attendees, a number had flights delayed or canceled for a few days, but we were far enough away from the volcano to be otherwise unaffected.
In the evening, everyone went to town to have one last amazing meal together which went until we were the last people awake in San Marcos La Laguna.
The Journey Back — Day 5
The next morning it was time to pack and depart, with time for a quick meal at Moonfish, and then the trip in reverse. This time I stayed in Antigua, and as we approached Antigua, we were able to see the first signs of the volcano with ash covering everything in sight.
Antigua itself was covered in ash, closing the swimming pools and leading to a very large cleanup effort. Even with the ash, the beauty of Antigua’s architecture was amazing, with classic Spanish architecture throughout the city.
Some of the us from the conference spent the evening having dinner at Selina, a hybrid hotel, coworking space, and social area that is a really interesting and upcoming idea in the travel space.
The next morning I took a very early shuttle to Guatemala City airport and would return home refreshed, having met a wonderful group of people, learning and sharing thoughts on remote working, and more.
No event is perfect and there were definitely some rough edges with organizing an event in such a remote area, but overall I had an incredible experience that I will remember fondly for years to come. Hopefully there is another Remote Work Summit in 2019!
Thanks to the team at Remote Work Summit, Rachel and Summer, for organizing this event, for putting their efforts towards charitable causes, for bringing this exceptional group of people together, and for the wonderful chats and insights!
