WIN experience at ETHBarcelona

7 min readJul 14, 2022

Nobody talks about markets going up or down;
Nobody experiences FOMO;
Everybody wants to build.

These could have been all the insights fully reflecting the general mood of the conference in Barcelona. But there have been too many inspiring conversations both on the stage and on the sidelines, to keep this article that short. So we will keep on writing and you keep on reading, and sharing with frens!

Vincent and Vladimir from Winding Tree (WIN)

To begin with, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to the organizers, volunteers, and speakers, who made the first blockchain conference in Spain a perfect event both for newcomers and old-timers. Local media have heavily stigmatized crypto and blockchain technology.

ETHBarcelona tackled this and advocated the ideas of Web 3.0 to a broader public to enlighten people about the limitless opportunities that are being born in front of us.

Visual aesthetics

The International Barcelona Convention Center for three days became the place of Solar Punk dream, where hundreds of visitors could learn, build, work, relax, dance, enjoy fresh air, and network. The entire space was split into zones, where visitors could get the vibe of the Web 3.0 community.

Co-working

Comfortable and spacious co-working rooms were very busy during the conference. Remember the third bullet from the beginning of the article? People want to build. There were enough tables, chairs, and plugins for everyone who wanted to work alone or with teammates.

NFT exhibition

The exhibition of NFT and digital art was an indispensable part of the conference because Barcelona has always been a city of creative and artistic people. It was also the entrance to the Metaverse, which one could enjoy through the oculus virtual experience.

Relax room

To build a beautiful and sustainable future we need to take care of our souls and minds by finding harmony and genuinely enjoying the process. One of the ways to get closer to mindfulness is yoga backed up with meditation.

Every attendee of ETHBarcelona could try it in a special room under the supervision of an experienced tutor. Or at least have a power nap on a huge pillow. Who is this sleeping beauty?

Terrace

It was another very important place to hang out, talk, dance, and enjoy amazing sunny summer weather. After each talk on the stage, the crowd would rush to the terrace to share ideas on topics discussed and make new friends.

Stage

Probably the most important place at the conference like that (after coffee spots of course) is the stage. At ETHBarcelona there were several of them. So people had to really pick the talk they wanted to listen to.

Most of the speeches were life and the stream some of the streams are available for you to watch, listen to learn and share.

Didn’t attend? We got you

We’re not ready for the next billion

Language is confusing

If even the large companies all have different names for the ‘seed phrase’, ‘secret recovery phrase’, or ‘recovery phrase’, potential users get too confused and back down.

Lack of information

The information that is provided is either too technical or hard to find. Easy access and effective Q&As still have to develop.

Learning curve

Where do you start and when do you understand concepts sufficiently to make your way through? These are questions that every new user has when they enter Web3 and stand in the way of growth.

Losses & Liquidations

The fear of making losses or losing it all is one that might be the most important hurdle to overcome. Nevertheless, the illusion that Web3 is the same as Crypto also doesn’t help.

The first 100 days of a DAO, what you need to know

If you’re thinking, of building or starting a DAO, you might want to read about William’s advice:

Provide temporary access to the DAO

a) This is a great way to test who is an active community member or who is not, preventing slowly dying channels.

2. The onboarding experience is everything

a) Guiding members that are new is essential when DAOs want to thrive

3. Intentionality and diversity beat expertise.

a) Take a pro-active role in making members aware of the vision and ensure demographics are diverse.

4. Ask the tough questions

a) Create dedicated channels and sessions that specifically address tensions or concerns.

5. Be explicit about your call to adventure & compensation plan

a) Reward those who initiate and lead the community to the future.

6. Build it if it doesn’t exist yet

a) We’re all super early, if there’s a tool you miss, build it.

7. Proposals shouldn’t pass with 100%

a)Encourage robust debate about your plans; passing with 100 percent is a flaw, not a feature.

Onboarding in Web3

There are two types of onboarding you need to teach new members of a Web3 project.

Social onboarding

Make new members familiar with the fundamentals of your project, such as vision, mission, values, culture, and people. But most importantly, the community where they can build a relationship.

Technical onboarding

This is where you introduce a new member to understanding what excellence means in your project and provide goals to help them get there. This is where you also show what tools to use and procedures to follow.

Exupery (1900–1944) wrote: “if you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

WIN Dapp

The only room we miss pictures from, but which gave us a lot of information and insights was the shilling sponsor’s room. There we were getting in touch with frens, educating about decentralized travel platform, and building new bonds.

Let me remind you, that Barcelona was the city, where we managed to onboard to Web 3.0 six accommodation providers. Which was quite a challenge for July (one of the peak months). But, we received only 2 reservations. That was a bit painful, to be honest.

With help of the SURVEY 👈 (fill out please — it is only 2 min short) and mutual communication we learned that most of the blockchain community is aware of the public good the Winding Tree team is building. They now WIN Dapp. But why haven’t they booked? The two answers we can give you at the moment are the following:

distance: the hotels we onchained for the conference were to far from the venue;
didn’t book themselves: big teams have already outsourced travel planning.

These insights will help us to improve the product we want to deliver both to the travel community and accommodation providers. For the letter, we organized a workshop in Barcelona which we will cover in the following article.