BigBlueButton is an open source virtual classroom platform whose adoption skyrocketed during covid. Started in 2007, during covid it quickly became localized in over 55 languages and helped deliver billions of minutes of virtual classes. This lighting talk will cover how the BigBlueButton project team managed the growth, the project's pedagogical approach to virtual classes (hint: video alone is not sufficient), and the future of BigBlueButton as a platform for empowering educators to deliver effective virtual classrooms that measurably improve learning outcomes for students.