Lily Snyder

I meant to write about my week in Seattle in my last post but got carried away writing about why working remotely shouldn’t be complicated instead. Whoops!

I went to Seattle to meet up with members of my team, Mat and Tony. I was in Seattle for a few days back in October for the Immerse Summit but stayed in the Meybayer Center in Bellevue the whole time.

It’s a little surreal to go back to Seattle because I lived there for a year and a half for my first job out of college. So much has changed in that time, but it feels good to be going back knowing how much I have learned and grown since then.

Co-Working Spaces in Downtown Seattle

Most of the week was pretty heads down with Mat and Tony working on Doghead Simulations. I did enjoy the co-working space at Galvanize (we won a free trail as part of winning the IBM Pitch competition).

Glavanize is a multi-story building with exposed brick walls and hardwood floors. Glassed in offices hug the walls with open tables in the middle of the floor. There are kitchenettes on the 4th and 5th floors stocked with coffee, tea, and beer. I personally frequented the candy jar on the receptionist’s desk.

The roof has an amazing view of the Seattle Ferris Wheel, the Puget Sound, and mountains. The top of the Space Needle peaks out from behind the surrounding buildings.

Of course it rained all week but apparently it rained all week in Georgia too so I didn’t miss out on much. We ate lunch at places like the Purple Dot Cafe and The Londong Plane. Breakfast was Starbucks to go, of course. Although I did find it amusing to see five coffee shops on a single block.

Wednesday: Meet Amber Osborne

Wednesday I had the opportunity to meet Amber Osborne. She is so cool. We talked about our plans for Doghead Simulations as virtual reality for the future of work.

I think Amber is spot on when she said, “This type of VR business tool is not only the next step in how we can use VR but is the future of work itself, truly exciting to see such a great team building a solution for all of us who work from home and with remote teams.”

We need a better way to connect with our co-workers who are spread across the globe. Two dimensional web and teleconferencing tools are an outdated experience. It’s time we innovate to use the tools that give us that three dimensional human connection back.

Amber also told us about how she came out to Seattle from Florida and talked about how she started awareness for Meshfire through social media. One story she told, which I thought sounded to funny, is that one time they were posting Post It notes on the window of their office to track ideas, work, etc. The offices that could see their window started putting up Post It notes as well. Soon it turned into an all out Post It window decoration war. Hilarious.

Thursday: Coterie Worklounge

On Thursday we went to Coterie Worklounge (a high class co-working space in Seattle) for Fresh Toast’s launch party. JJ McKay asked Mat to bring virtual reality games for party entertainment. We set up the games from Cowboy Arms Collective. People had a blast.

What made it even more fun for me was that I got to meet Eva Horth in person! We’ve been Tweeting at each other for a while now. It was an honor to meet up with the gal who started the VR scene in Seattle.

Now I’m back in Georgia. The sun is shining and there’s a warmth in the air even though it’s only February! I’m working on presentation for my local PMI chapter about virtual reality and project management.