As we all sat in a somewhat semi-circle last night at the Cambrian Hall for the Etsy West Coast Tour, I couldn't help but wish we all had paper airplanes we could shoot out at each other (like in their virtual lab auditorium) as we waited for the event to begin.

It was a pleasure to meet up last night with the crew from Etsy as they included Vancouver in their Etsy West Coast Tour. Meeting people face to face really makes all the difference, and for them to make the effort to come to Canada, really shows the type of company that they are. Of course I've always been an Etsy fan (I think that's obvious - as a blogger); and I totally get Etsy, it's a natural progression of the handmade movement, a place for people to be able to sell their wares in their own online shop and a great place to buy and support handmade. And listening to Maria, Anda and Matt speak last night, it was obvious, Etsy gets it too. They are very aware of where the company needs to go, what drives the company and what they need to do to make it work.

I didn't take notes last night at the meeting, but noticed someone across the way who was and I found a link to her coverage on last night's event via Twitter. Her name is Alex and she did a great write up on the meeting on her blog, Leader of Men. A good read if you weren't able to make it out.

It was fun meeting up too with some Etsians I've communicated with online but had never actually met in person. They included, Valerie from cabin + cub, Sasha from Track and Field, Jeanette from the The Beautiful Project, Becka from Bliss in a Teacup, Melanie of A Farmer's Daughter, Sam of Sam Made, Kris from A Cagey Bee and Colleen of Colleen Baran Jewellry. And by the looks of it (reading the tweets) I missed many others, but hope to meet you all sometime in the future.

All in all it was a good meeting to go to, meet up, be a community with like-minded people, to find out who these people really are behind Etsy, and to find out something I think many of us already knew, that Etsians are in good hands. Thanks Etsy for coming out (and for the awesome flag) and to the people who helped organize it, Ebb and Flo and Pomo Mama Design (I hope I haven't missed anyone).

Maria, CEO of Etsy speaking in Vancouver

Note: They have two more stops on their tour, Portland, July 16 7pm at the Doug Fir Lounge and at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco, July 18+19.