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Blastoff Rails 2026 - Closing Remarks by Travis Dockter

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Travis Dockter opens his closing remarks by acknowledging Andrew as the true architect of the event's final message, expressing full agreement with everything said during the preceding talk which served as an inspiring call to action for all attendees. He emphasizes that while he has little additional content to add beyond what was already shared, it is crucial for everyone to leave the conference energized and equipped with new ideas or plans to sustain their momentum upon returning home. This sentiment of inspiration sets a positive tone for his subsequent gratitude toward specific companies whose financial support made the event possible on such an exceptional level. A significant portion of Dockter's speech focuses on thanking these sponsoring organizations, which covered travel expenses for speakers from their respective companies—a gesture he admits was financially questionable but felt morally right to execute. He explains that while most conferences cannot afford to pay for speaker accommodations and flights due to budget constraints, his desire to make the experience as easy as possible led him to rely entirely on this corporate support to alleviate the financial burden placed on presenters who dedicate immense effort to their talks. By highlighting how these companies enabled speakers to focus purely on delivering value rather than worrying about logistics or costs, he underscores a core philosophy that elevates the role of speakers above mere participants in any conference setting. As the event draws to a close, Dockter encourages attendees still present for tomorrow's sessions to utilize social planning tools like Slack to organize group activities and explore local attractions such as the highly recommended tram ride with its scenic views at the top or dining options nearby. He notes that while there are alternative venues available later in the evening, finding tables can be challenging on a busy Friday night, so forming groups beforehand is essential for maximizing enjoyment regardless of where people choose to gather. Furthermore, he expresses strong confidence that this conference will happen again next year, noting his tendency to refine ideas after each iteration and believing that repeating an event twice helps determine whether its success was merely a fluke or a replicable achievement. In his final moments, Dockter reflects on the overall success of the gathering with genuine enthusiasm while playfully vowing not to cry during this emotional goodbye despite feeling deeply moved by the experience. He reminds everyone that they have approximately forty-five minutes remaining before needing to depart around 5:30 PM due to venue flexibility limits and reiterates his hope that both he and the audience enjoyed their time together as much as possible. With a heartfelt thank you for making this significant event happen, he concludes by shutting off the microphone after delivering these final words of gratitude and encouragement to keep the community spirit alive beyond the conference walls.
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5 4 3 2 1 We have liftoff. That's it. I would Anybody have some talks I could throw together for tomorrow? I was just starting to have fun. Um yeah. Uh, honestly, Andrew's talk was the closing that I could never give. So, um, I just have to, yeah, uh, agree with everything that that he just said. And that that was a great call to action, um, for everybody in the room. And I I hope you leave with some inspiration and some energy and maybe some ideas and some plans uh for when you leave here to to keep this going. Um whatever you got here. Um yeah, and uh yeah, I don't really have a whole lot to add beyond that. That was uh that was everything that I wanted to say um uh but done really amazingly by Andrew. So um I do want to call out uh these companies because uh they paid for the travel of uh the speakers from those companies uh that are here. So please give a round of applause to them. So this was a this was especially important because uh I did something uh that was financially questionable but um felt right uh which was to pay for the entire hotel and flight for speakers and not a lot of conferences do that but I really wanted to do that um because speakers put so much into conferences and they are the conference essentially like I just get up here for two minutes in between each one and like they're who you're looking at on the website and think oh I want to see that talk and they're who you're talking about afterwards like they are the conference and and we don't pay them uh because we can't uh but um yeah I I really wanted to make it as easy as possible for uh speakers to get here um and uh I cannot give them back time. Um, but uh sometimes we can we can ease the financial burden and uh the only reason I was able to even come close to doing that was uh because these companies helped out with that and paid for their uh the employees, their speakers that came here. Um so big thank you to them. Um don't forget about that feedback uh form on the website. I've gotten a couple already which is awesome. So, uh, today, tomorrow, if you think of something, I'm probably going to leave it up for a couple days, uh, maybe a week or so. Um, so if you think of something, throw it in there, and then if it's, uh, gone by the time you think of something, uh, just send me an email. Um, and, uh, keep the conference going. If you're staying uh, tonight, if you're sticking around tomorrow, make some social plans in the Slack. Um, figure out uh, yeah, figure out what you want to do. I know that uh I think Ephot posted about going uh to the tram tonight, which uh is highly recommended. Um there's a there's a restaurant at the top. Uh I I've never eaten there, so I can't vouch for the for the food, but the view is what you're paying for there. So, um yeah. Anyway, and it's it's uh incredible. A little cooler up there than down here if you uh have been sweating a lot as as all of us probably have. Um, so yeah, and and uh figure out what you're doing tomorrow and invite people uh to go do it with you. Um, yeah. Uh, and let's probably do this again next year. I'm like 95% uh yeah, I'm going to do it next year because I keep thinking of things that I'm like, "Oh, okay. I'm I'm going to do that different uh next year." And uh I also say that you don't really uh you can't really draw conclusions from doing anything once. Uh so you kind of got to do it twice to see if the first time was a fluke. Uh, so yeah, let's do it twice and and see if this one was a fluke. Um, because I don't say this almost ever, but this went really well. Uh, I feel like so yeah, I I really really enjoyed it and uh I hope I hope you all did as well. So that's it. Uh, that is the conference. Um, I'm gonna shut off this this mic and we have another half hour in this room. They said they're a little bit more flexible about that five o'clock time to be out. Um, so but uh definitely no longer than like 5:15, 5:30. Um, there is another uh I put on the schedule another night at um Sawmill. I know that last night it was like a little difficult because there's so many people there. Uh, and it's probably going to be just as crazy tonight because it's Friday night. Um, it's really nice because you have all those choices, but it is hard to find a a table and I was racking my brains this afternoon and I did not come up with a good alternative. So, um, yeah, if we want to go back there, we can, but if uh people have other plans, like it would be really cool to take a group up to the tram. Um maybe some people uh want to stay here and and go to um Sawmill, whatever it is, but make some plans, get in a group and uh we'll we'll make the the best of it that way. So yeah, another another half hour, 45 minutes and we got to be out of here. But um keep it going and uh yeah, one more time. Thank you so much. I'm gonna do this without crying. Thank you so much for being here. Um, yeah, it just uh it's a big deal that this happened. So, yeah, I'm going to stop there.