Share your favorite community moments of 2023.... and clean up the ocean 🐠

[#1]

December always feels like a great time to reflect on the year past and gear up for the year ahead.  And so for the month of December, we're giving everyone a chance to do just that: we're going to Wave Goodbye to 2023 with another ocean cleanup! 

Tell us your favorite community moments of 2023! Was it an amazing post you read? An event you attended? A new user you got to know?  A milestone you reached? All of the above? For everyone who posts their answer in this thread, we will remove 10 pounds of ocean plastic via Team Seas, the Ocean Cleanup, and the Ocean Conservancy.   (Did my favorite moments include Ocean Devotion and Likes for Trees? They sure did.)

There are 1000 pounds available to be removed, and in order for your post to count you will need to join the Kudos program if you haven't already.  (It's two quick little clicks, start with the word "Kudos" at the top right of your screen.) 

Yes, that's 100 posts, but I feel confident that we can do it.  You can share one post per day. So let us know - what were your highlights of 2023?

[Jimmy Seddon]

Great idea @Monique vdB!

First, I had many great moments in the Community this year! 

But I think my favorite was the Welcome Wednesday post from the end of July.  On July 26th, I posted: 
Welcome Wednesday: Random Acts of Kindness!

Where I issued a challenge to help get more likes for the "Likes for Trees" campaign. 

In addition, I used it as a means to make a significant donation to my own Extra Life campaign supporting my local Children's Hospital.  Not only did we smash that target in less than 24 hours, I had so many wonderful people step up and make their own VERY generous donations to my Extra Life campaign as well!

I loved seeing how everyone really came together to help support wonderful causes and it gave me the warm and fuzzies!

[Amanda Barber]

I love all the opportunities to connect with others from around the world on all of the various "fun" posts throughout the week. It's been so nice to connect with others through these posts! Thanks to @Jimmy Seddon Kristján Geir Mathiesen (sorry I can't tag you for some reason!) and @Andy Gladstone for keeping these posts going!

[Andrew _Zim_ Zimmerman _Appfire_]

Hi @Monique vdB, I think my my favorite 2023 community moment was at the Community Leader dinner at Team 23. It was so fun to meet so many Community Leaders and Atlassian staff in person who I only previously knew by their tiny profile images. It was so nice to connect and exchange stories with others.

[Craig Nodwell]

For me it's the trees.
Ocean Devotion.
Community, a better group of folks would be hard to find.

[Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_]

Here to join the cause 🙂

I've been more or less engaged in the community this year, mostly due to some personal things, but I would surely point out Ocean Cleanup challenge together with reforestation projects and initiatives. It was really cool to see that many people being engaged in such a good cause 🙌

[Roger Hughes]

Great idea, and such a nice way to clean up the oceans.  And thanks to the volunteers who actually do the physical cleaning up of 10 pounds of waste.

[Walter Buggenhout]

Here in the online community, yes, Ocean Devotion and Likes for Trees are amongst my favorites as well. Its those times when it feels like a small effort has a bigger impact and brings people together around something they all believe in.

I was happy and lucky enough to attend a couple of events this year: Team '23 was a blast and I am very much looking forward to close the year at Unleash next week in Amsterdam. It will be the first ever Atlassian event I will attend as part of a sponsoring partner, my new company. Changing jobs, while staying in the ecosystem was probably my biggest personal highlight of the year!

On a general note, all the connections with so many awesome people out here; being able to share knowledge and fun with fellow Atlassian enthusiasts and finding out how this awesome community turns the world into a much smaller place keeps surprising me every day; in a good way!

[Andy Gladstone]

@Monique vdB what a prompt! There were so many its really hard to pick just one. So here are a few, all the result of being part of this amazing online community and by extension the ACE community at large.

• Forging and strengthening so many personal relationships with people I consider to be close friends. These is not meant to be an exclusive list, but some that have really highlighted my 2023 are @Kristján Geir Mathiesen, @Brittany Joiner, and @Jimmy Seddon
• The CommuniTeam support and love I felt after our family went through a period of personal loss in January 2023 - the first time anyone has ever sent me flowers. Thank you @Monique vdB, @Cassie Mayes and @Stephanie Grice for creating and cultivating such an amazing and supportive community.
• Winning a very touching recognition award from my Community Leader peers at the Community Dinner at Team '23. Added bonus was that the seating had me across from @Sajit Nair _Trundl_ and allowed me to create another close personal connection with someone I was only able to admire from afar previously.
• Achieving the badges for 3, 5 and 10 articles written, 300 accepted answers, 5,000 likes, and hitting Level 9 on the Community.
  • Continuing the work of @Meg Holbrook and @Fun Man Andy with Miscellaneous Monday - and hoping I can do an even better job in 2024.

[Sanjog Sigdel]

2023 in short.

I became Atlassian Community Leader on October, started a new chaper ACE Banepa/Kavre and Hosted my First Event in December.

What a wonderful year...

[Laurie Sciutti]

My favorite moment is more an overall summary / opportunity.  It has to be that I finally started contributing back to the Community and in doing so have learned so much more than I had when I was just a passive participant.  Thank you to everyone and thank YOU, @Monique vdB for this great idea!

[Monique vdB]

There are a lot to choose from, but I have to go with @Ditte Simard's cross-stiching the Kudos badges, including the one I now have on my mantel that she mentions in the post! Beyond amazing and creative.

And @Laurie Sciutti you've been a rockstar this year!

[Craig Nodwell]

Illness and death plagued the first half of 2023 for me.
The members of the community really stepped up with kind words, messages filled with warmth and light in a cold and dark time.
When our little guy Gizmo our near 14 year old Yorkie passed suddenly back in March the door bell rang, Flowers in sympathy for our loss.
A group of finer people would be hard to find.
A tree should be planted for them!

[Brant Schroeder]

My favorite community moment was attending teams again this year and the community events at the conference.  After missing teams in 2022 due to an accident that made walking a real struggle I made it a goal to make it to 2023.  Making it back to Teams was a personal milestone and a great opportunity to learn and connect.  

[Brittany Joiner]

Getting to go to my first ever Team!!! I already can't wait for Team 24!

That was my favorite, but there were many honorable mentions that were just as amazing - such as when i got to join @Billy Poggi AUG NOVA_ DC and @Mark Cruth for their DC event and talk about Trello and sign copies of my book, and  @Andy Gladstone came down from NYC to join the party!

[Dan Breyen]

Going live on JSM was the #1 highlight for me this year. It's not specifically a Community thing, but certainly an Atlassian Highlight

[Monique vdB]

@Dan Breyen that certainly counts!

My Team FOMO is strong with everyone talking about how great it was; I hope I get to go to Team '24! 

[TC Wang]

My fav community moment was to become a Community Leader this past Aug! I also enjoyed monthly coffee chats and 1-1 w/ other Leaders!

[Dreamsuite Mike]

I'm going to be greedy and have 3:

1. Becoming a community leader in May 2023 and being able to serve in particular the Trello community and its users
2. Collaborating with @Brittany Joiner on Trello articles, sharing ideas on how we can get more out  of Trello and give more to the Trello users
3. The environmental initiatives that @Monique vdB has done a great job to set up.  Being someone who spends a lot of time in countries that are ground zero for the fight we have today, it is very close to my heart.  While I am sceptical about how much companies the size of Atlassian will really commit to putting sustainability on a level par with financials growth, the most heartening part of these initiatives was to see how many people in the community got involved, how much people are already contributing and how much those who were less aware of these issues were willing to learn and change habits for the better.  Change for the collective good is the true meaning of community so this made me proud to be part of this community.

[Monika Rani]

I love to learn and connect with people here in the Atlassian Community. It gives me an idea about my videos how and what the people are doing things with the products and what kind of challenges they are facing. I am not a community leader but I am an Atlassian Content Creator :)

[Dan Breyen]

Throwback Thursday questions are always fun to answer.  It's something to look forward to every Thursday.

[Ditte Simard]

Firstly, thank you for the shout-out @Monique vdB!!  I am excited to restart my Kudos cross-stitching journey later this year.  :)  I recently visited my grandmother in Denmark and gave her two of my Kudos badges as a gift (she loved them).  She also taught me a few tricks I will incorporate into my future designs.  ;)

I have several memorable community moments from this past year:
- Attending Team'23:  This was my second year attending a Team Event and it was just as great as my first one.  Every year I am blown away by how well the event is run and everything I discover.  I am super excited to attend next year's Team event as a Community Leader and see things through that lens.  I am hoping that I will get to meet many of the Community Leaders that I have had the pleasure of interacting with online this year.  :)
- BECOMING A COMMUNITY LEADER!!  The Atlassian Community Leaders have been super welcoming and helpful since Day 1 and I am so happy that I am now part of this community.  I can't tag everyone because that might break the internet, but thank you for being amazing!
- The Kudos Saga:  Recreating the Kudos Badges as Cross-Stitch pieces has been a fun adventure.  I appreciate the love I have gotten online and I am looking forward to creating new pieces soon!  The "Wave Goodbye" badge has jumped to the top of my list because it is SO. DANG. CUTE!!!

[Monique vdB]

We've cleaned up 180 pounds of trash so far! And I'll share another one so we can get to 190 - I loved the great reception to Bite-sized Learning and getting Leaders involved in creating new ones (shout-out to @Andy Gladstone @Brittany Joiner @Amanda Barber and @Dreamsuite Mike). Excited to publish the latest one this week. 

                         

[Bianca]

I love the launch of the Bite Sized Learning options! They're helpful, easy, and quick - plus BADGES. I mean, what's not to love about them? Thanks, team :) 

[Summer Hogan]

Great topic and idea @Monique vdB. For me it's the following:

1. Celebrating a year as an Atlassian Community Leader and being part of a great leader team! 
2. All the great Miscellaneous Monday, Welcome Wednesday, Throwback Thursday and Friday fun posts. Thanks @Andy Gladstone, @Jimmy Seddon, @Kristjan Geir Mathiesen - Origo, and everyone who posted awesome Friday Fun posts! 
3. All the community events such as Bite-sized Learnings, Ocean Devotion, Likes for Trees II and all the other great events! 
4. I would also say Team '23, but I unfortunately had to cancel my trip at the last minute. Now, I can't wait to experience my first one this year! 

Thanks to all the community members, leaders and managers for making this a great year! 

[Tiffany Scolnic]

@Monique vdB Thanks for starting this thread! 

I had quite a few memorable Community moments but the one that sticks out the most is attending the Vancouver Community Led Conference and getting to see @Brendan Byers in action! We had two Atlassians join to speak and Brendan did such a fantastic job leading the session. I've attended a few events in Austin and it was so much fun to see how they are run in other cities (and countries!).