Staff Picks: Medium Day Sessions We Can’t Wait to Attend

Overwhelmed by Medium Day options? With more than 150 sessions to choose from, that’s only natural! We polled our team about what’s piquing their wide-ranging interests. Here are the Zoom rooms we’re headed to on Medium Day, September 19th. All times are listed in EDT, and you can find a full schedule here. It’s not too late to sign up, and the whole thing is free!

Gustavo Chavez, Senior Data Scientist

There are a lot of sessions I want to check out, but my absolute not-to-miss three are these:

1. I’ll be starting with Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s “Tiny Experiments For Writers.” (10AM-10:30AM) I’m already a big fan of her work, and I really enjoyed her recent book Tiny Experiments. It is a rare mix of practical advice and profound ideas. I’m excited to see how she brings that same mindset to the writing process.
2. Next for me is Harriet Gaywood’s “How Writing About Ultramarathons Changed My Life.” (11AM-11:30AM) As an endurance sports enthusiast myself, I’m drawn to stories of grit and transformation. I’m curious to hear how Gaywood turned her ultramarathon experiences into writing and what she has learned along the way.
3. And last but not least, I’ll attend Colin Myers’s “Are You Closer To Podcasters Than Your Friends?” (2:30PM-3PM) I like the provocative title. As a heavy podcast consumer, I know how voices in your ear can feel closer than people in your life. I’m curious how Myers used data to validate that cultural intuition.

Christine Leverett, Software Engineer

1. Where Neuroscience Meets Storytelling: How Curiosity And Everyday Life Shape Design. (2:30PM-3PM) Bc i love learning anything about neuroscience
2. Women Want Change (12PM-12:30PM) for obvious reasons.
3. Discover Your Voice — And Your Confidence — As An Essayist. (10:30AM-11AM) I have a few things I’d like to write about but really don’t know how to start. Excited to maybe get some pointers from this session.

Cassie McDaniel, VP of Design

1. I’m very excited about Zulie Rane’s series, Write A Story In 100 Minutes (12PM-12:30PM). Such a neat, productive idea and a very clear way to MAKE TIME TO WRITE. I would actually love to revisit these sessions after the event as a template for making fast progress.
2. Letters to Your Thirty-Year-Old Self (12PM-12:30PM), also a writing session to help me make time to write. Might have to catch that one on recording though bc I’m volunteering during that time. I love things that are potential lifelong practices though, this seems like it could be that. Same goes for Write Your Eulogy: The Prompt That Changes Everything (3:30PM-4PM).
3. Giving It 1% Effort (4PM-4:30PM) because frankly I would like to learn how to give a little less! Boundaries. Getting started. Quieting the voice of perfectionism, etc.
4. Finally, I expect I’ll be inspired by Joe Drake in Thriving With Parkinson’s Disease (5PM-5:30PM). My mom has Parkinson’s and I write about that sometimes. Gonna get her to attend this session with me. She’ll be happy to because she’s a Medium member as well — maybe she’ll be inspired to write about her journey!

Brik Olson, Events and Employee Experience Partner

1. Leveraging Brand As A Growth Strategy (8:30AM-9AM)— I love all things branding and marketing so this is a no-brainer for me.
2. How We’re Using AI In Medium’s Codebase (4PM-4:30PM) — An obvious choice I think!
3. How To Learn A Language Online — And Actually Stick With It (8AM-8:30AM)— Can’t wait to one day speak to everyone on the French team in their native tongue!

Devin Bambrick, Brand Strategy Lead

1. I’ll be starting the day with Michelle Wiles’s Leveraging Brand as a Growth Strategy (8:30AM-9AM) session because — well, because that’s my job! Brand strategy isn’t a standardized practice, and I’m always fascinated by how different practitioners embrace certain models, tools, and frameworks. Also, I think Medium’s an underrated place for brand building, and Wiles is going to talk about that too.
2. Next, I’ll head straight into Women Laughing: Finding Creativity and Voice in Cartooning (9AM-9:30AM), led by New Yorker contributor Liza Donnelly. Donnelly posts thoughtful news roundups on Medium along with her cartooning work, and I want to know more about what goes into filtering current events into pithy, punchy illustrations.
3. Later on, I’ll be joining Building a Ritual That Makes Writing Inevitable (12–12:30PM) with Lindsey Trout Hughes and Matt Trinetti. I used to think it was silly when people asked famous writers what their “process” was (In the morning? With juice? In a special notebook?), but now I’m far more open to how small behavioral shifts can help get my fingers on the damn keyboard.

Jon Wong, Senior Product Designer

• “Should I Draw The Line?” Trading Words For Comics In Case Studies (2:30PM-3PM) by Carin-Isabel
• Let Music Guide Your Writing (10AM-10:30AM) by Terry Barr
• Turn Your Idea Into A (Published!) Book (10AM-10:30AM) by Sophie Lucido Johnson

Jacob Bennett, Staff Backend Engineer

1. Narrative Processing Through Trauma (John Gordon Sennett) (2:30PM-3PM) — my partner is a play therapist that works with kids/youth often after trauma. I’m interested in this speaker’s take on how JCPNP works and how effective it can be.
2. Drafting The Future of AI (Dr. Misty D. Freeman) (7PM-7:30PM)— curious for the speaker’s take on shaping equitable AI in different contexts.
3. How Important Is Natural Talent? (Anne Kullaf) (3:30PM-4PM)— not my normal cup of tea, but I want to listen to this to round out my left-brain content.

We hope these suggestions helped suggest a path through Medium Day’s rich landscape. Still feeling some decision paralysis? Here’s the good news: there’s no wrong way to Medium Day. Recordings will be available for the vast majority of sessions so you can catch up with anything you had to miss.