Carsonified is hosting a contest to win an all-expense paid trip to any Carsonified event, and all you have to do is write a blog post about why you want to win the prize and get 25 comments on that post.

I’d say that this post was my entry for the contest, but in all honesty, getting 25 comments on any post on this blog would be a bit of a stretch. So while I’d appreciate it if you could leave a comment so that I can qualify for the contest, I’m not forcing you to comment if you don’t feel as though you have anything to say. The comments on i tell stories are for you, not for me.

I do, however, want to tell you why I’d love to go to another Carsonified event.

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend the Future of Web Design conference in New York. There, I met some wonderful people, saw some amazing speakers, and learned a whole lot.

The highlight of the conference, however, was not the speakers or workshops or even the parties. It was meeting one of my heroes — someone whose work continues to inspire me on a daily basis — after a session: Bronwyn Jones.

I’m not going to gush about Bronwyn here because I do enough of that already. Instead, I want to thank Ryan Carson and his team for facilitating that connection by creating an event where influential people in the industry (like Bronwyn) can interact and exchange ideas with common people like me.

That’s the real reason I want to go to a Carsonified event: to connect with people I would normally never have the chance to interact with on a regular basis. That golden ticket sure would be nice.