Please make sure to include your name / IRC handle so that folks can find you to discuss your thoughts.

[edit] From 2009

• That regardless of our different projects that we all share the same high levels of passion and care for our communities. - chippy
• That hundreds of people from all over the world, that have never met before, have things in common and can find something to talk about. - ap
• Talking to a random person in the hot tub can fix some of your problems faster than spending hours searching the internet.
• There is no trip where a bathing suit would be useless
• Women open source hackers have received death threats for hacking on open source projects. WTH? - ruaok

[edit] From 2008

• That unconferences really work!
• That there is a tremendous variety of people and projects who share the Open Source passion!
• That there are more hackers interested in education, social justice and other topics around ethics than I'd thought. Life is good. - LH
• Etherboot has excellent ideas for successfully participating in SoC - Schultmc 14:29, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• Chocolate has an amazing effect on people :) - PhW
• GSoC can have a far greater impact on the open source and higher education communities that I had previously thought possible - Philip Johnson
• Open sourcers are reproducing! Ian
• I'm not alone. For any gripe or issue I had about anything, someone else was in the same boat. Getting together in person is a really effective way to deal with things. I've come home with a lot of ideas and energy and am looking forward to tackling these issues. - rlaager
• Yeah! I am not alone! -- Steffen Voss, zikula.org
• Silicon Valley is cool and I want to go back! Secretlondon 23:38, 30 October 2008 (UTC)
• That we're all learning as much as our students are. Austin__
• Hacking on software you care about can change the world. - DukeLeto