The eighth annual installation of The Meeting kicked off the winter season in Aspen, Colorado, over the weekend. Filmmakers, athletes, photographers, media, and fans all converged in the picturesque setting of Colorado's famous mountain town for three days of movie premieres, parties, and top notch panels.

This year, Aspen/Snowmass placed a heavy emphasis on the panel sessions and ramped up the caliber of guest speakers. More than ten elite media moguls and business
entrepreneurs shared their insight into three panel topics: Content Distribution, Brand Building, and Building an Audience.

The information garnered from these panels was influential and inspired a collective buzz about the future of action sports, which was palpable throughout the action-packed weekend.

We caught up with several attendees of this year's Meeting for the low-down on what makes this event so damn unique. Here's what they had to say.

John Roderick: Cinematographer, owner of Neu Productions

What did you take away from the panels during the Meeting?

It's always great to surround yourself with the action sports industry professionals, but at this year's Meeting we were able to not only connect with the industry elite, but also connect one on one with some of top advertising and marketing professionals outside of action sports. To gain access to this level of marketing, distribution, and social media knowledge is an absolute plus and helps independent filmmakers like myself bridge my endemic niche of snow sports to the commercial world.

What do you think of the Meeting as an event overall?

Personally, I am so stoked to see everyone's hard work culminate at this event and The Meeting is the premier snow sports gathering for industry, athletes, filmmakers, and photographers who are looking to network and gain knowledge from each other. Aspen does an incredible job of hosting us along with live events, discussion panels, concerts, and activities that keep us all stoked to come back year after year.

What is one standout moment from The Meeting?

The standout moment of The Meeting has to again be the incredible film panel offered to us. Networking and sharing each other's experiences through our film projects helps us to progress not only the sports we're documenting but the art of filmmaking and photography that continues to rise year after year.

Griffin Post: Teton Gravity Research pro athlete

What was the most influential or inspiring idea you took away from the panel sessions in Aspen?

"Don't take 'no' from someone who can't say 'yes.'" Most athletes, brands, or media people in the industry are constantly trying to get their ideas in front of the right people. However, getting through to these right people can be difficult and, many of these people have people working for them that can only say "no," since they don't have the authority to say "yes." If you're serious about your idea coming to fruition, take the time to find the people that can actually make them happen.

What is your favorite standout moment from the eighth annual Meeting?

Truthfully, the entire weekend stands out to me. It's amazing just being surrounded by so much energy and so many ideas; it's inspiring and really gets the wheels turning. All of the positive energy just makes you that much hungrier for the snow to fly.

Julian Carr: Professional skier, founder of Discrete Headwear

What was your favorite standout moment from the Meeting 8?

My favorite standout moment was seeing skiers and snowboarders all hang out in the same space and share the stoke.

What is the best part of Aspen during autumn?

Unreal, beautiful trees/foliage and unreal, beautiful women.

What did you take away from the Meeting?
I love that all the bros are in town hanging out, but everyone is creating, thinking, conceptualizing, etc. all the while. Everyone is professional, yet under the guise of brotown.

What do you think of the Meeting as an event overall?

The Meeting as an event is very cool. As mainstream brands/industries sometimes have budget to tap into the latest and greatest, it's cool for us to learn and apply the same slick stuff to stay up in the global content/distribution game we all play.

Want more Meeting action? Head here to check out the best Instagrams from the wild weekend, and head on over to Powder for our full recap.



Top photo of Aspen courtesy Cort Muller; bottom photo of a panel session courtesy Jeremy Swanson