Whole Foods, Jeff Bezos quotes, and a halftime show from the Blind Boys of Alabama were the themes at Amazon’s all-hands meeting on Thursday in Seattle.
Thousands of employees filled Key Arena for Amazon’s latest company-wide gettogether.
This morning we're coming to you live from a packed house for our first All Hands meeting of 2018 #BePeculiar pic.twitter.com/7GwzSR4VB4
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 8, 2018
@amazon #allhands #dayone we are going to #bepeculiar at @KeyArenaSeattle and learn about #AmazonGo. pic.twitter.com/7VvLC7HuKX
— Jamie Witter (@jamiewitter) March 8, 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgEcbIjn353/
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in attendance, taking questions from employees as he typically does at all-hands meetings.
Love this. “When the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are always right” on keeping the connection to the customer @Jeffbezos @amazon #allhands #bepeculiar @amazonnews pic.twitter.com/oVhifpiUh3
— Jackie Brian (@BrianJacqueline) March 8, 2018
Bezos was also quoted by other Amazon employees on stage.
Great quote defining optimism in product development at today’s @amazon all hands meeting. pic.twitter.com/bYsv7zNiNg
— Dave Clark (@davehclark) March 8, 2018
The Amazon Go team walked us through the initial vision and five years of development that created #JustWalkOut technology pic.twitter.com/DTiuqjjQbw
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 8, 2018
Speakers included Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, who talked about the grocery retailer’s history and philosophy. Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion last year. Mackey said that “Amazon is improving our lives in so many ways.”
Amazon All Hands: Whole Foods John Mackey on stage, telling the story of #WholeFoods pic.twitter.com/qTvMNnubJQ
— Lina Zaproudi-Ellman (@LinaZaproudi) March 8, 2018
Amazon Web Services VP Dorothy Nicholls spoke on stage about International Women’s Day.
It’s @amazon’s All Hands today in the huge arena in Seattle and a total delight to see the event kick off with an #iwd2018 presentation pic.twitter.com/8I3IqMKm3p
— Talia (@talia) March 8, 2018
Amazon’s new Spheres building also came up.
Yay! We can badge guests into the Spheres now!! #bepeculiar
— Heidi Miller (@heidimiller) March 8, 2018
For a musical treat, Amazon brought out 5-time Grammy Award-winning gospel group Blind Boys of Alabama.
The Blind Boys of Alabama rocking the Amazon Seattle. Awesome! #allhands #BePeculiar pic.twitter.com/G59lBoHfnU
— Sean Olson-Roy (@seanaolson) March 8, 2018
An incredible privilege and honor to meet the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama during their visit to Seattle to sing at Amazon’s all-hands meeting today. pic.twitter.com/I5O503jhUz
— David Zapolsky (@DavidZapolsky) March 8, 2018