 Rounding out our day is Laurel Farr, the CEO and founder of Distribute Consulting. Laurel is a beacon in the world of remote at scale, guiding leaders and organizations to engaging more thoughtfully, collaborating more effectively, and hiring more inclusively. What I love about this session is the so what angle that Laurel takes. You've heard from all of these organizations and you've seen what they're doing, but how do you apply these to your own day-to-day? Laurel will show us what's next as well as how to activate on all that we've discussed. Hello everyone, I hope that you have enjoyed this conference as much as I have. It's been a very surreal experience for me because it seems like just yesterday we were this very small but mighty tribe of remote work advocates that was banding together to beg the world to take remote work seriously, to consider us credible businesses and credible professionals. And now here we are, workplace flexibility is the new normal and we have heard of businesses and seen every industry and every market and every continent not only understand the benefits of remote work but experience them firsthand. You know, when I started Distribute in 2017 I named it what I did because I wanted to distribute opportunity and sustainability and accessibility by continually leading and expanding the remote work industry. I had the dream of rescuing communities from declining economies and and helping disadvantaged individuals find sustainable employment by equipping other operational executives to understand this mantra of our community of, you know, work is something that we do, not somewhere that we go. And at that time it felt a bit like a pipe dream to be honest but that's exactly what has been happening for the past few years. We even learned from Kate, you know, an iconic figure and pioneer in our industry that the majority of work forces in urban hubs will permanently have access to workplace flexibility in just a few years. The majority of work forces. That is a mind-blowing statistic that frankly none of us really expected to see in our generation come to fruition. So this in a lot of ways seems like the moment that we've all been waiting for that we are ready to celebrate and say here we are, we have arrived, the world recognizes and has embraced remote work. But my friends it is not quite time to rest on our laurels just yet. As we all know hybrid teams are the most common model that is being embraced right now and it is the most popular and frankly the most economically responsible choice for the majority of businesses out there. But we also know that from historical case studies and research that hybrid is the most high risk and high reward model that exists in the world of remote work. The complexity of balancing employee experience between on-site and off-site time or on-site workers and off-site workers is a challenge to say the least. And we've even seen that in emerging surveys and reports that they all contradict one another. After going remote one company is absolutely thriving and another is completely diving. So we know that successfully managing a distributed team is not instinctual. It's intentional. And we within this remote work community know the secret X factors that are required to make it work. We know how to build these practices and how to implement these principles. We know about the success of location irrelevancy because it's based on people. This is like Sid talked about in his opening keynote, right? That the more that we focus on the objectives of trust and autonomy and connection and communication the more that we can thrive regardless of our workplace location. These are just principles that we've needed in the business world for years. But in 2019 when we were having these conversations as a remote work community we were just getting to the point of having those conversations together and helping to share information and resources with each other. So we did not have time to build the foundation of education and awareness that the entire world would need in order to understand these principles and practices in 2020. So that's exactly why the theme of this entire conference is what it is remote at scale because employers like GitLab and think tanks like Distribute have been working feverishly along with all of these speakers that you've heard and the vendors that you've seen. We have been working as hard as we possibly can and that is not an exaggeration. The past year has been incredible as we have worked to meet the demand for resources like this to help people understand how to successfully adopt remote work at scale. But it's still not enough and it never will be if we continue to only work as brands and individuals. So before the pandemic we came together as a community to strengthen our voices advocates and that is how we were heard enough to be able to help the world a little bit in 2020. So that's exactly what we need to do again. We need to come together as a community to help resolve the incredible challenges of remote at scale because it's not all sunshine and rainbows. We haven't cracked the nut. Our work is not done. There are still problems to solve. Problems like preventing discrimination between blue collar workers and white collar workers as those who have accessibility to flexibility and those who don't. Problems like the effect of international payroll structures on global economies. Problems like writing and passing laws in our governments that will help protect both employers and employees in a variety of workplaces. There is so much more work to do. So we need you. We need your ideas. We need your passion. We need your sacrifice to help us make remote work not only adopted but sustainable at scale throughout the world. So starting today what are three ways that you can help us in this industry build our future of remote work? Well the first is that you can help collaborate. Look I know that there is a lot of opportunity out there for companies that are selling and marketing for remote work. We're building products for remote work. We are writing content for remote work and I know that it is just SEO heaven. I get it. I understand. However, greed is not going to help our community thrive. We really need to prevent our industry from self-destructing by looking for opportunities to be inclusive for each other and for newcomers to our community. So please stop making terms for yourself to help drive your stake into the ground and say this is how we do remote work and this is how we do remote work and we're going to build a product that's better than yours. Look, there's enough work for all of us and it is going to take a village to make this successful and I promise a rising tide really will raise all ships now more than ever. So please look for ways to collaborate instead of compete in order to strengthen our community. The second way that you can help build the future of remote work is similar to the first. We need to care about choice. So not just within the other vendors in our community but specifically for employers. Our entire world seems to be polarized right now on just about everything including the world of remote work. So some people think it's the best and some people think it's the worst and some people like home offices and some people like being nomadic and some people want to be 100% virtual and others want to be hybrid. Like everybody has their camp and I understand that. But if we are truly advocates, the worst thing that we can do is to pick sides. We need to support choice because guess what? That's what all of this is about. It's about giving employers the ability to give their employees the trust and autonomy to work in the way that is best for them. So we need to extend that same trust and freedom and autonomy to the employers themselves to work in a way and to adopt remote work in a way that is best for them. So we need to stop this language of how we do remote work is the right way and the only way because it's not. Every company has their own right way and we need to be able to give them the opportunity to choose instead of conform. So please listen with empathy. When somebody gives you their opinion, that's their opinion and it might be the best for them and it may not be the best for you and that's okay. Let's embrace innovation. And then last but not least, speaking of innovation. The third way that you can contribute to the future of our industry is to literally contribute to the future of our industry. We are dangerously empty handed as a community and as an industry when it comes to resources and research and case studies, we can't manage what can't be measured, right? The classic idiom is very, very true in this circumstance as well. So we need more measurements. We need more metrics. We need more data. So if you have any data or stories or funding that can help us really build the future of understanding these patterns and best practices and behaviors, we can use them. So please talk to me, talk to a leadership member of GitLab as quickly as possible. If you have something to contribute to this future of remote work, we will take it with open arms. We have so much catching up to do and it will take everything that you have to give and we will generously and gratefully accept your sacrifices. So ladies and gentlemen, as our work as remote work advocates, it is not over. As innovators, we are just getting started. So please raise your hand, offer to help in the ways that you can because it is going to take each and every single one of us, speakers, attendees, sponsors, vendors, even your dog that probably barked in the middle of this conference, it's going to take all of us working together to help remote work thrive at scale. And remember, our new goal is not to get the world to do what we have been doing for all of this time, but to build on that history to invite new members to our community to pioneer a whole new future of workplace flexibility and virtual organizational development. I don't know about you, but I have had the hardest year and I am feeling absolutely burned out from trying to create awareness and advocate for this entire platform that I feel so, so passionately about. But I am just getting started. And I think you are too. So will you please join me? And together, we can help the world adopt remote at scale.