It’s a month after the 2nd Annual Witness Success Conference, and I am still thinking about and reflecting on the wonderful experience. I had the honor of facilitating a workshop and attending phenomenal sessions and keynotes. The theme for this year was Grit and Grace.

Leslie Gestautus and I began working on our content in March. A three-hour workshop needs to be engaging and provide real tools that attendees can use during the workshop and beyond. We felt a tremendous responsibility around creating content that could be applied immediately. But we also felt an urgency to share knowledge to help Witness Success attendees advance their careers.

Leading up to and after our workshop, we talked with other Witness Success presenters. While the theme for the conference was Grit and Grace, the theme for the presenters was how can we help women in technology advance in the career path she desires. Other presenters felt the same deep sense of responsibility and urgency around the content they were developing and presenting.

At larger tech conferences with broader themes, it is difficult to tailor content for the room. For Witness Success, the mission is to “Empower, support and invest in Salesforce Women in Tech user group members & leaders.” Each speaker developed their content with this focus. Each attendee experienced this. I left the sessions I attended empowered and supported. I’m confident others felt the same by the conversations I had in between and after sessions. I was also proud that Silverline invested in the conference and invested in my colleagues and me by sending us to the conference.

A month later, I’m still bursting with gratitude for the opportunity to speak at and participate in Witness Success. Leah McGowan-Hare suggested in the opening keynote that to achieve grace from grit you need gratitude. I’m thankful that the organizers work so hard to pull together this amazing conference. I’m thankful that each presenter approached the conference with the mission in mind. I’m thankful each attendee showed up 100% to participate and experience this conference. That is what makes this conference stand out from the others. Each attendee, speaker, and organizer is there to empower and support themselves but also to empower and support each other.

I can’t wait for next year’s WITness conference! In the meantime, I hope to see all the women in technology who will be attending this year’s Dreamforce conference from September 25-28! Follow the Silverline blog to continue learning about our philanthropic initiative, Silverline Cares, and to stay informed on what we’ll be doing at Dreamforce.