Paul: Wow.
So SHUX happened. Our first ever convention collected together hundreds of wonderful people for a weekend so amazingly positive that I’m still trying to process everything. I’m sat here looking at a blank page, trying to work out how to express how it was so much more than I could even have imagined it would be. It’s not so much that I’m lost for words as I’ve almost entirely forgotten what words are.
Matt: I know what words are! They come out of a mouth and are sometimes good or bad. Normal service will resume shortly, but today we’d just like to share some words and pictures.
It’s been an exhausting but life-affirming weekend for the team, filled with laughter and unbelievably kind people. I know people say that sort of thing all the time, but honestly I can’t shout this any more sincerely. Imagine I’m a fat profiterole filled with sincerity instead of cream. It was an incredible event, and that’s almost all down to our amazing volunteers and the wonderful people who chose to attend it.
When I first read the comments on Shut Up & Sit Down, I was mystified by the quality and kindness of the community – this weekend was the first time we truly came face to face with that community, and honestly we couldn’t be any more proud. We won’t gush any more because it’s frankly embarrassing, but as a team we’re ABUZZ WITH LOVE. Thank you. Cheers!
Paul: Thank you all for coming and for contributing to something that was so warm, welcoming and wonderful. It was… indescribable. It was actually indescribable. As I said on the last day, I just can’t quite articulate how I feel about everything. The most astonishing wave of happiness broke over us that weekend.
Matt: At one point I was so tired I thought I might die, but I honestly didn’t care! This isn’t even really a joke! Hooray!
Paul: But don’t worry, as soon as our heads stop spinning with joy, we’ll have the site up and running again! I’ll kick the motor into life, Matt will mesh the gears into motion and together we’ll drive forward to the cardboard future. Quinns is jetting off to a well-earned holiday, but the site’s in safe ha-
Matt: Paul there are raccoons everywhere.
Paul: What?
Matt: I ordered ten raccoons as editorial assistants but my handwriting is bad and there are 100 of them here, and I didn’t get any cages, and I don’t think they understand editorial principles and also THEIR CLAWS ARE REALLY SHARP.
Paul: Don’t raccoons have tetanus or something?
Matt: No that’s snails. Don’t eat crusty snails. Can you call the raccoon police please Paul I’m quite scared.
Paul: If you have any photos you’d like to share, please comment below! We’ve sourced these from public posts on Twitter (from the #shux2017 and #shux17 hashtags, if there’s any you’d rather we take down, let us know and we will). You can email us your comments, your ideas for next year and any questions about, well, almost anything at [email protected]. Again, thank you all so, so, so much, and once again I want to make sure we thank our astounding volunteers, magnificent guests and, of course, our business manager, who contributed an incalculable amount toward making this a reality. HEROES.
