It’s true that WDS probably wouldn’t appeal to everyone. And if folks feel that “World Domination Summit” is elitist, well, I guess maybe it’s not something that is for them. There’s enough diversity to go around, I reckon.

And thank you for an *awesome* talk – absolutely an A+! What I personally took from your story was a message of patience – slow and steady change inside and out. As I’m bubbling over with inspiration, enthusiasm and action plans right now, the message of patience – my achilles heel – is an awesome one to remember. Thank you for taking the stage!

Though I wasn’t at WDS last year, I knew so many WDSers from online, and knew that this was the ‘real deal’. It really bothered me that people were so negative here in the comments. Thank you so much for staying involved with WDS anyway, for posting about WDS here anyway. You rock!

Very much looking forward to WDS 2013! So many thanks!

Katie

Thanks for your talk at WDS and this write-up about it.

I was a loyal reader of your blog, back when you were still in debt, but then stopped reading as I wanted to change my focus from personal finance and frugality to travel and entrepreneurship.

So it was a huge surprise for me to learn what you’ve been up to these past few years and that you’ve made WDS happen!

I just want to say to other GRS folks that, for me, the path started with valuing my money and now I’m trying to bring that awareness to my time–how can I live my days richly? If you define ‘frugal’ as spending on what you love and not spending on what doesn’t matter, then WDS is a great place to meet people who are frugal with their time–how to spend time on what brings you joy rather than what doesn’t matter.

Here’s to WDS 2013!
Bettina

1. Are there links anywhere online to listen to all of the speeches and to hear some of the content from the various sessions? I’m glad that you decided to publish your speech – I look forward to reading it.

2. Before this event gets branded even more, I highly suggest changing the name. The name is severely undermining your effectiveness and the message you send to anyone who is not an insider. First, it’s really male sounding. Would I be correct to guess that the founding group was disproportionately male? The name is male and aggressive and a turn-off. The name is also colonial and sort of against everything that the conference really stands for. Before you keep developing this brand, please consider changing the name into something that represents you better, isn’t distasteful, and isn’t aggressive/domineering/male/colonial/obnoxious. Using irony for the title of a major event is elitist (clearly excluding the majority from the meaning) and ineffective.

You did a fantastic job speaking! Thank you for sharing your story with us. I was especially moved by your support of immigration and immigrants. I love that you’re using your new Spanish skills for something good (teaching personal finance). I do refugee immigration as my job and I’m so passionate about our immigrant population here in the US. It was great to hear that someone else shares my passion!

R-O-W-D-I-E!

We met at the party on Sunday in the Lola room (I’m friends with Alfonso, the PF blogger from Spain). I thought your talk was great. Part of your appeal is that you’re NOT a professional speaker. I thought all the other speakers were great as well, but that’s what they do for a living. And really, that’s what makes them seem kind of inaccessible. Your keynote felt so real and personal, and very easy to relate to my own life. Like Chris said, you’re a master storyteller, and that’s why I look up to you as a writer. I’ve been following this blog for four years and your story has inspired me to achieve some of the goals that I thought were out of reach before.

I have my ticket for next year’s conference already, so see you at WDS 2013!

Heidi

(By the way, you gentlemen need to figure out a cool creative way to promote networking in the long lines for the womens washrooms – that was where I had some of my most interesting introductions/conversations!)

Last year the first round of tickets were available in Sept, so I would check out the website over the next few months to see if anything new is posted.