Enjinstarter’s Post

People in #crypto are clamoring for a new narrative to latch on to... What about: "𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑭𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬𝑺 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑫!" Did that succeed in baiting you into reading a lengthy Linkedin diatribe? Perfect. I don't actually think #blockchain #conferences are dead... Although, I do think there is a big conference problem. This past week at ETH CC in Brussels, the main event was overpriced and empty. A glorified marketing exercise where founders of one of the thousand L1s and L2s can lecture to an empty room, while paying exorbitant amounts of money to the organizers for the privilege of doing so. If we have any hope in bringing in "normal people", we need to be more approachable and have less financial gate keeping. Normal people can't and don't attend these conferences costing $1,000 for a two day ticket. People would rather pay that much to go to Coachella. BUT the reason why I think conferences themselves are very much not dead?? Side events. I made the choice to visit Brussels during the conference, and a concerted effort to visit as many side events as possible. Hell we even through a side event with Enjinstarter and Saltwater Games that had more than 300 industry folks in attendance. Side events are great for networking. Panels can be heard on Twitter Spaces during any hour of any day. We need to rethink why people want to meet up and talk shop with strangers, how events can be used to build communities, and why companies pour so much money into speaker slots and overpriced events just to stay relevant. It's a funny business and one that endlessly fascinates me. Anyways, take a look below at the difference between the main event and the Arcanum Ventures "Pints and Pizza for Founders and Funders" event and tell me which one you think was more useful for attendees. Stay tuned for more information on the next events we'll be hosting!