This article appeared first on LinkedIn Pulse: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/startupweekend-impact-local-communities-awesomeness-munteanu

Just a little bit of history. I've started with attending my very first Startup Weekend in 2013. I got hooked up so bad and learned so much that I wanted to see what's on the other side of such an event. So I've been helping make Startup Weekend happen in two of the cities in the Western part of Romania, Timisoara and Oradea. And that's how I got completely hooked up. But that's not all. I was always curious about meeting new people and seeing how other startup communities are working and evolving so since 2015 I'm a Global Facilitator and have been to 3 legendary events in Olsztyn (Poland), Limerick (Ireland) and Aarhus (Denmark).

They were all so different and still manage to have a core of common traits: great people (from participants to organizers, mentors & judges), great learning opportunities and an awesome vibe.

Even though it was the first event in Olsztyn the feedback was great. For the first few months 4 of the teams were still working and the community got a chance to grow stronger. One thing that I was amazed by was Krystian, a 14 year old kid and his idea. He pitched his game sharing idea and ended up leading the team that worked through the weekend on validating it.

The event in Limerick managed to bring together a lot of participants with a wide background in product development. Lots of prototypes were built during the event and from this perspective the validation process went a lot smoother for the participating teams.

In Aarhus, one of the most mind blowing details was the internationality of the event. There were participants from 16 different countries all gathered up to learn together in a great University building in the harbour area. They worked together on ideas solving issues related to food, money, waste and refugees.

All in all being a facilitator really brings an insight into the different issues people are facing in different communities and the way they approach them. It's just amazing to be there and be part of it.

Looking forward to what 2016 has to offer :)

Thanks guys for an amazing year as an SW Organizer & Facilitator!