Here’s what one excited participant told an OWC committee member after the 2011 conference:

"The young woman … was over the moon. When she was leaving at the end of the night, she said that she felts the day changed her life. She connected with people and will follow those connections to get more into the writing scene closer to her home

She wasn't sure what she was going to do with her life. When she would go to academic workshops with friends and colleagues, they would come out filled with enthusiasm, and she would walk away thinking, 'hmph ... what's wrong with me?' But all day yesterday, she was thinking, 'This is where I belong. This is it!'

I do think we may have changed a life path yesterday. Maybe that's what it's all about—inspiring others to be what they knew in their hearts they could be. I felt so overwhelmed when she was talking to me. It was like, 'This is why we do this'."