It's the end of another CMX Summit, and we feel like it was the best one yet.It was inspiring to see more than a thousand community professionals come together this year in Redwood City, California, and virtually from around the globe to hear thought-provoking sessions and connect with peers and industry experts, all while celebrating the industry that we love.The theme for this year's summit was Thrive, and this was a gathering that truly embodied that theme. From the moment you arrived at the venue until you left, it was inspiring to see so many people come together with one goal: supporting each other in their journeys as community professionals and helping each other to thrive.The community space continues to thrive, and we would like to thank everyone from our incredible speakers—to the fantastic community of attendees. Thank you for helping us make this year's summit such a success!If you were unable to attend our summit, keep an eye on our newsletter and blog—we will be sharing recordings of the sessions with you soon. In the meantime, here are some unmissable moments from the CMX Summit 2022:

We were excited to have Priya Parker, acclaimed author of The Art of Gathering and the host of the New York Times podcast, Together Apart, as the opening keynote speaker at CMX Summit 2022: Thrive.Priya's talk helped us look deeper at how we create collective meaning in modern life, one gathering at a time. From the mistakes we make when we gather, both in person and virtually, to how the pandemic has made us re-think our approach to gathering—Priya's insights were sure inspiring.

In her session with Derek Andersen, CEO and co-founder of Bevy and Startup Grind, Laura Nestler—VP of community at Reddit—shared insights on creating true community and teaching attendees that "no" is your greatest productivity hack.Speaking with Laura, we got an inside look at Reddit's communities—including what trends she has seen over time and which are set to grow. Some notable trends include "niche is the new normal" and the desire for authenticity and realness.

John Cantarella, VP of Community, Equity, and Scaled Partnerships at Meta, took the stage to discuss the value of community across businesses, brands, and creators.During his talk, he highlighted examples of companies that are helping to drive innovation and economic opportunity by focusing on community-first. Not only does this yield incredible value for the company itself, but it also builds relationships that can be leveraged over time.

The CMX Summit 2022 returned in person, and it was an amazing experience for us all. We gathered at Fox Theater in Redwood City, California, to learn, share, and grow as a community.In addition to the live event, we had a new format that allowed participants to attend virtually through the Bevy Conference Platform—which meant that we had community passionates from around the globe join us!

Our sponsor, Orbit, had a booth with temporary tattoos and candles. Attendees could get all sorts of fun designs, which was really fun!

At the CMX Summit 2022, our emcees were truly the stars of the show. Not only did they take on their roles as hosts with joy, but they also embodied the CMX Summit's spirit in every way possible.Savannah Peterson, who took over the theater stage, was not only incredibly warm and welcoming to all of our speakers, but she also showed off some wonderful outfits—including butterfly wings! Her passion and energy were contagious and helped us all thrive during these sessions.

Our Virtual MC, Ilker Akansel, also deserves a shout-out for helping all of our virtual speakers feel ready to take the stage despite being away by thousands of miles (and time zones). And a huge thank-you to our other two excellent emcees, Eva Miranda and Jamie Johnston—their hard work made this event unforgettable!We also want to extend a special thank you to our chat moderators and volunteers: Heather Wendt, Ronald Williams, Ray Liu, Nandini Diagarajan, Akshay Mandliya, Micah Buuck, Penny Schnarrs, Muhammad Ali Tariq, Mayank Sharma, Carolina Araujo, Margareth, and Martha Essien! Thanks for stepping in when needed and making sure everything ran smoothly!

Our sponsor, Discourse, gave out amazing swag to attendees at the summit and had Sarah Hawk, COO of Discourse, tell us all about the "Community Operations: The Key to Scaling for Sustainability"!

"Are you ready to nerd out about Community Data?" Richard Millington, Founder of FeverBee, started his session at the CMX Summit 2022 with this question. And if you're a community manager or someone interested in improving your community, then the answer is yes!Richard explained how to set up a system for converting data into valuable insights and how to use those insights in order systematically improve your entire community. He also shared with us new methods we can employ when working on our communities and introduced the concept behind "Community-Driven Impact."

Our sponsor, inSided by Gainsight, provided a table full of cool swag and gave out awesome goodies to everyone who stopped by!

We couldn't be happier with how many of our sessions and panels had female leaders or were led by women. It's important for us to make sure that we are supporting women in the industry, and we're so happy that this was reflected in our lineup!

In the session "Live From Ukraine: How Communities and Groups Mobilize to Support People During Crisis," Yurii Lazaruk, Community manager at CodeControl, and George Gabriel, Global Lead for Strategic Initiatives & Innovation, Community, at Meta, discussed the work communities are doing on the front lines around the world and their ability to move at a pace that is unmatched by others.During this session, we have learned about the challenges facing "First Responder Communities" and the leaders behind them—as well as how these communities can be integrated with ecosystems set up to protect people in times of crisis.

One of our sponsors, Common Room, had a nonprofit tip jar battle where they pledged their swag budget to nonprofits!

During the "Growth and Deeper Engagement through Diversity " session, we had the pleasure of hearing from three exceptional community professionals who have built thriving communities through their unique approaches to diversity and inclusion.The panel featured Abbiola Ballah, Founder of Phern Education Studios LLC; Nikiya Crisostomo, Head of Community at OpenSpace; Venia Logan, Founder / Community Architect at SociallyConstructed.Online; and Krystal Beachum, Community Engagement Manager at Bevy. They've each shared three ways to make your space more diverse and inclusive, as well as how to foster diversity and inclusion in the communities.

Our sponsor, Khoros, welcomed attendees with a great booth and gave us an exciting session about "Keeping your Community by Measuring Value, not just ROI" - with Jonathan Wishart from Khoros and Brian Oblinger of Brian Oblinger | Strategic Consulting.

At CMX Summit, we were lucky enough to sit down with Claire Carter, EMEA Consumer Marketing at Lenovo; Jessica Mara, Head of Global Communities- Gaming, Education, SMB at Lenovo; and Rob Fawkes, Head of Marketing at Standing on Giants for an inside look at the company's winning community.

Our sponsor, Hivebrite, had a booth filled with cool swag and gave us a fantastic session, "Don’t Settle for a Seat at the Table – Build Your Own Table," with Morgan Wood, Head of Community at Hivebrite, and Melissa Kilby, Executive Director at Girl Up.

One of the highlights for attendees at this year's CMX Summit was our photo booth! Guests were able to get a fun picture with their friends and colleagues, as well as choose from an array of fun hats and accessories!

Our sponsor Orbiit provided a table filled with snacks for the attendees of the CMX Summit!

At the CMX Summit, virtual attendees had several opportunities to network with other members of the community. From Community Operations Space and Cat&Dog Lovers to Burning Man Decompression—our networking spaces had them all!

When attendees were looking for snacks, they often visited the WorkOutLoud booth—where they could choose a snack and learn more about the platform!

We were so happy to see so many familiar faces from past summits here this year! It's always so great to reconnect with people you've known for years and years but haven't seen in a while.We were also thrilled to meet new people who were at their first Summit—and even more excited about what they're bringing back to their communities!

Thank You, CMX'ers!

Thank you so much for coming to CMX Summit 2022: Thrive, and we hope you had a great time.We'd love for you to fill out our attendee survey to understand better how we can improve our conference next year. Everyone who completes the survey will get a FREE digital gift bag, courtesy of Orbit and Discourse!Thank you again for your support and for being part of this community—we hope to see you next year!