Thursday, July 9, 2015, 8:55AM–Touchdown! Minus the exclamation point...the plane had landed, but I was still barely awake. Walking off the jet bridge, I stepped on to the tacky, oft-Instagrammed PDX carpet, and began my way into the city. After a quick MAX ride, a painless check-in at the hostel, and a sunny walk downtown, I was at the Gerding Theater. The anticipation of the last 8 months since I had bought the ticket was almost over. The 2015 World Domination Summit was finally here.

If you’re unfamiliar with the World Domination Summit (or WDS as it is often called), it is an annual conference in Portland, OR hosted by author/adventurer/all-around-good-guy Chris Guillebeau, and is billed as a gathering of those that want to live an unconventional life in a conventional world. As a result, you get one of the most open-minded collectives of creatives, entrepreneurs, travelers, digital nomads, and those simply looking for a weekend “reboot” attending this event. The extended weekend is full of world record attempts, meetups of all sorts, and inspiration talks from renowned speakers, artists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. If you’re not leaving with some sort of intense energy high, you were probably at the wrong conference…or you may have just been lost inside of Powell’s for the course of the weekend. Either way…