Look. The fact of the matter is this: The Quilt 2026 In-Person Winter Member Meeting is not “just another meeting.” It’s the annual convergence of people who actually run the internet, or at least the parts that matter when things break at 2:17 a.m.

I’m talking about a room full of network operators, research nerds, policy whisperers, and quietly brilliant humans who understand that collaboration beats heroics every single time. This is where handshakes turn into peering agreements, hallway conversations turn into national strategy, and someone inevitably explains something complicated on a napkin like it’s obvious (because to them, it is).

You want big-picture thinking? It’s there.
You want practical, real-world lessons learned from people who’ve been burned before? Oh buddy, bring a notebook.
You want to feel smarter just by standing near the coffee urn? Congratulations, this is your place.

And look, I’m bad with names, but I’m great with vibes—and the vibe here is “we’re better together and we’ve got receipts.” If you care about advanced networking, trust, shared infrastructure, and the future of research and education connectivity, skipping this would be like skipping the last chapter of Les Misérables. Tragic. Unforgivable.

Show up. Be present. Shake hands. Build the next thing.

Everything is connected…especially here.