At Pluralsight, we often talk about the size of our library-the 3,700+ courses on hundreds of topics. But behind those numbers are people-500 of the tech industry's top minds, the virtual mentors who help you excel in your career.

These are our course authors, and once a year, we gather as many of them as possible in Salt Lake City, Utah for a weekend of learning, teaching and connecting. There's no other group of professionals like it on the planet, and it's a chance for them to network with each other and get to know the Pluralsight team.

This year's Author Summit took place at the end of February, and if you follow us on social media, you probably saw it was quite the party. There was laser tag, skiing and snowmobiling, a casino night and other revelry, but believe it or not, we got some serious work done.

Nearly 150 authors attended, and when you get that many bright minds together-all aligned around a mission to democratize professional learning-big things happen. We had a few scheduled presentations, including a powerful keynote from Nancy Duarte, a visual storytelling icon and owner of one of the largest design firms in Silicon Valley. But for the most part, we used Open Space to let the authors set the agenda for what was most important. The majority of the sessions centered on how to do two things: improve as teachers and create more courses.

That's where things get interesting. Yes, the Author Summit is for authors, but it's also about you-the people who learn from their collective knowledge. After a gathering of the minds like this, a renewed passion for what we do is inevitable. You'll see this reflected in your interactions with us, the training you watch, and in ways we don't even know yet.

There's something truly magical about the Author Summit, and it keeps getting better every year. And you know what would make it even more impactful? Having some of you there. After all, we're all on this journey together.