The GraphQL Summit 2016 was a one-day conference held in San Francisco where over 350 GraphQL enthusiasts gathered to discuss and learn about the technology. The event featured keynote talks, panel discussions, lightning talks, and presentations from various companies and developers, including Shopify, Google, Facebook, and others. The Apollo team's CEO, Geoff Schmidt, kicked off the day with a keynote that highlighted the progress of GraphQL, while also announcing a new commercial product for instrumenting GraphQL servers. The conference covered topics such as using GraphQL with Angular 2, scaling APIs, and best practices for building GraphQL-first applications. The event concluded with a reception on the roof, where attendees reflected on the growth and potential of GraphQL in the future.