An Introvert’s Survival Guide to Figma’s Config Conference

The best way to enjoy a conference is to not attend the conference at all. /end obligatory “hook” sentence

Outrageous, I know. You paid to be there. Whether the ticket, your flight, your accommodations, and your time–why would you skip out on going to the conference? That’s literally why you’re there, right?

Sure, maybe, but you can catch all the talks online after.

Think of what you can’t recreate or have access to back at home: The environment buzzing with pure excitement. The people. The connections.

If faced with the choice of sitting in a room listening to one person speak, or standing in a circle hearing many people discuss and share–I will now always choose the latter.

This might come as a surprise to some of you: I am painfully introverted. I hate crowds and strangers scare me for the most part.

This was my second year attending Config. Last year was my first time in San Francisco…and my first time ever on an airplane and traveling solo.

Almost certainly that sounds like any introvert’s worst nightmare.

A lot of what I learned about myself, and the conference came from last year. I did feel like I missed out a little because of my fears.

Don’t get me wrong, Config 2023 was also a phenomenal experience in and of itself. We were 8,000 people gathering for the first time for a Figma conference since 2020 (which also happened to be the very first Config).

This year, Config had 14,000 people. And I was better prepared this time around.

From here on out, I want to share with you some of the things I did to help myself get the most out of this experience, and most importantly focus on building strong and lasting connections with some awesome people. With a bonus maybe-not-for-everyone-story-but-pretty-incredible-nonetheless.

Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable.

It is not difficult to find someone here that is feeling a similar way as you are. I’d guess that 90% of the Figma community are introverts and are just as terrified about talking to you as you are to them. So don’t worry about being upfront about being nervous. And don’t forget, you already have something in common: design!

It’s actually quite well-known that being vulnerable fosters understanding and helps create stronger emotional bonds between you and others (source: Psychology Today).

All it takes is for someone to get it started. John Rodrigues shared a Config Networking Guide that can be useful if you don’t know where to start! Try it out next year, and you may be pleasantly surprised at how it gets easier the more you do it.

It’s okay to take breaks.

Look, it’s a lot. You’re probably sweating buckets either from the stress, nervousness, or the three hills you walked up to get to the Moscone center. Last year I had to take a lot of breaks. Partly because of the capacity issues with the rooms that resulted in crowding to get anywhere in the venue…My anxiety was through the roof. I hid in my hotel room a lot.

Lunch, especially on the first day, gave me too much ‘high school cafeteria’ vibes for my liking. Which seat can I take? (barf, I hate myself) I don’t know anyone. It’s so crowded. It’s loud. I’m hungry. I panicked. I left. I went just outside the center and sat on a bench to catch my breath and eat.

And that was fine! Now I knew the situation, and I was able to mentally prepare, and the next day I succeeded in sitting at a table with strangers to eat and chat. And that was fine too! This year I ate outside again to get away from the noise, but with someone else who wanted to as well.

Perhaps if you’re the one sitting with your group and you see someone worriedly looking around while holding their little boxed lunch, invite them to sit with you–you probably don’t realize it, but you just rescued that poor introverted soul from suffering flashbacks to grade 9 lunch by themselves.

Just talk.

I like that Figma sets up a Slack workspace just for Config each year. It makes it easy to chat and connect ahead, during, and after the event. Many topic and regional channels are pre-set-up, so you’re bound to find people who either share similar interests or are coming from the same location as you.

Personally, I find it easy to be active in a digital space like Slack. It may be due to my extensive history in MMORPGs, but posting and responding is a good start if you’re afraid of face-to-face interactions.

Start-up conversations in Slack and then bring them to the real world if that’s easier for you. You can find groups that are meeting up and easily join. Last year I joined an impromptu Marketing Designers meet-up, simply from showing up after seeing the Slack message.

Or you can find yourself talking to someone on the way to the venue. Everyone becomes a walking Config billboard with their bright badges and branded totes. You can easily find a walking buddy at any street corner. Though leave it to the Canadians to find each other and do just that, eh, John Furness ?

Turn it into a game!

Everybody loves games, right!?

What I learned from last year is everyone is looking for someone with a plan. Any event that required an RSVP was booked up months ago and is going to be 100+ people. Probably not your scene either, huh?

The first iteration of this idea happened last year. It was after the end of the first day and there was a mix and mingle type of event just outside of the main stage. I ended up sitting down alone in a corner drinking my dinky glass of wine.

Then I got an idea: Maybe I can make people come to me?

I took a POV photo of where I was. I opened Slack and made a post. I called it ’Introvert Hide & Seek’–I expressed how scared I was feeling (being vulnerable) and asked if anyone wanted to play along and try to find me.

And they did! Soon enough we had our own little group of people sitting and chatting. It was fantastic. Some empathized with me, and some sympathized and wanted to show me some support.

On to this year, I combined the game with having a dinner plan. I made a reservation for 6 at a nearby restaurant and left the last keynote a little early to find my hiding spot.

Soon enough six of us were having a lovely low-key dinner and chatting about the day. I was right that I was not the only one that preferred this type of environment.

BONUS: What do I even title this one?

Okay, this last one might not be a real point because it won’t be for everyone. Perhaps you can take some inspiration from it. At the very least it’s a demonstration of how there are people who you are just meant to meet.

I knew I wanted a tattoo as a memento from this year’s trip. We’d been staring at the conference logo for days now, and every time I saw it my eyes locked onto the beautiful geometric ‘G’ letterform. I knew that was it.

Then I had another thought… if I wanted to do this, maybe, others else did too? To my earlier point, you already have a lot in common with the people here!

So, I made the post. And lo and behold, and still to my shock and awe, there were more than 5 people willing to get a spontaneous tattoo together.

One of my newly bonded tat buddies Jess Cassidy said it in a lovely way in their post: "the people and connections are the reason we gather. The information is secondary."

I think the takeaway from this last one is whatever it is that you would like to do, be it a quieter hang-out, a smaller group dinner, or whatever it may be, in a sea of 14,000 people you are almost guaranteed that there are at least two people who would love to do the same. So put it out there and see what happens.

Thanks for reading.