It “s 5:15PM on Friday, June 3rd. I “m in Redwood City, CA, roughly 12 miles away from the Quora, HQ in Mountain View.
Plenty of time to get there by 6PM, I think.
WRONG.
At 6:25PM, after negotiating my way through the Friday evening Peninsula traffic, I managed to find parking around the corner from the Quora offices. I walked up to the address and find the doors locked.
Hmm. Something “s not right here.
I “m an engineer at heart, though, so I figure, they must be somewhere nearby. I walk around the building and find a table of girls at the entrance, with name badges.
They say “You here for the party?”
I say “Yes! I “m a Top Writer!”
They “re like, “Great! It “s done by first name. What “s yours?”
I told them my name was Heather, so we start looking. And looking. And looking.
Not there.
Hmm.
They say “Oh, don “t worry, you won “t be the only one. There “s a bunch. Well, not a bunch, but a good many. Well, not a good many, but some people without printed name tags. You won “t feel like you “re standing out…”
Ok… Um. “Thank you?”
I walked in and the Q&A was going on. I didn “t have any real idea of who was talking and couldn “t really hear the questions, so I decided to just get a drink and some food then sit off to the side until such time as it was over.
As I sat down, I met a very nice gentleman who is a Top Writer in Astronomy, and works for SETI. Fascinating. (Sorry I can “t remember your name!)
There were a few more drive-by “s like that – people talking about their topic, wondering about mine, and then I spotted Mike Xie. I was like “OMG it “s you!” And thankfully he didn “t think I was a total stalker.
We basically just bonded for the rest of the night, moving from one area to another. People added and subtracted to our little circle, as we moved from the standing tables to the bar area to the snacks to the arcade, etc.
Hovered near Marc Bodnick and Jonathan Brill for a bit without actually saying hi – cuz I “m crazy shy and they seemed to be swamped anyway.
Awesome time geeking out with Miranda Marcus – I would love to have you do a Tedx Talk out here on Plastic Welding. That would be amazeballs.
I loved seeing Leonid S. Knyshov get both curious and amusingly annoyed at the terrible phone service in Silicon Valley while managing to never lose his smile 🙂
And eventually I floated away into the night, because I was tired and it was after midnight. To those I didn “t meet, next time!
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-was-your-experience-at-the-2016-Top-Writers-Open-House-in-Mountain-View-California
Originally Posted On: 2016-06-06