WHEN ETH COMES TO TOWN
Reflections on Devconnect from the local community
Maarten explores blockchains, started the NFT-exploration project Is it Copernicus? and is a member of Blockdam, an Amsterdam community of blockchain enthusiasts. If you have anything to add to his reflections on the fascinating world of Devconnect, let him know!
1) Devconnèèèèèèèct
And then suddenly the Ethereum swarm lands in Amsterdam. A collection of curious minds haunt the streets of your own city for eight days. A week of wonder, fun and special people. A week to remember. And a week to learn too.
Reflections on Devconnect from an Amsterdam perspective.
2) The Impact
Devconnect is the first of its kind. The Ethereum Foundation aims to further grow its ecosystem and look beyond the developer-focused Devcon. So, as a result, the Devconnect concept was created: ‘a week, built by and for everyone’.
After the announcement at the end of 2021, Devconnect seemed to be nothing more than just another event in Amsterdam. Great for the Blockdam community of which I am part of, a group of about 25 blockchain enthusiasts that has its own coworking meetup on Wednesdays in the Beurs van Berlage over the last five years. After a number of bear market years with oftentimes the same faces at meetups, and two Covid years even without socializing, it is special that the Ethereum Foundation has chosen our city for this… So bring it on!
When the information began circulating at the end of March, the whole circus, with no more than 20 events on the official event page, did not seem so exciting.
But from the beginning of April things suddenly moved quickly. A tsunami of affiliates events and parties began to kick-off until the start on April 18, so large that even the Ethereum Foundation seemed overwhelmed.
‘Decentralized organizing’ for the advanced.
With thousands of visitors (rough estimates go from 5.000 to 8.000), more than 60 official events and more than 150 unofficial (‘non-Ethereum’) events, expectations are exceedingly met.
A special mention and thank you to the central co-working space in the Beurs van Berlage. A beehive with a capacity of about 1,500 places from which visitors were able to reach just about any event in surrounding venues within 10 minutes. A quiet — and ad-free! — place moreover, to return to and work or to meet people. And that is free for everyone (well, an entrance fee of 1 euro). A brilliant find!
Add to this the enormous diversity of quality speakers, the opportunity to meet and collaborate with enterprising dreamers from all over the world, parties at the most beautiful locations in the city (as a local, I did not know that Amsterdam has so many rooftop bars), everything to visit on foot or for the longer distances on the special Devconnect bicycles, and all this with lovely weather (sunny spring vibes at 18 degrees).
It delivered an extraordinary Devconnect experience. One, that looking at the overall price-quality ratio, i.m.o. easily leaves a recognized Amsterdam tech event like The Next Web behind.
3) The Learning, The Ideas, The Network
So many curious people together turned out to be the biggest intellectual candy store I could have imagined. Where can you learn in one week from the leading experts about the scaling of Ethereum (@ETH-Day), DAO governance (at the Global Governance Gathering) the ins and outs of Decentralized Finance (@DEFI-Day), the latest state of IPFS, Ethconomics, Decentralized Identity etc? The deluge of knowledge and new ideas on the first Devconnect was truly unparalleled.
On top of the knowledge and ideas there is the created network. On one hand, with the inspiring but somewhat more fleeting connections with people from all over the world, but especially with the newly established local connections. The group of crypto-curious people in Amsterdam turned out to be much larger than expected. In the Amsterdam scene, for example, there is already talk of creating a permanent blockchain co-working space (such as in the Beurs van Berlage) after all the connections that were made at Devconnect!
4) The Vibe
That is perhaps the most important personal take-away from Devconnect. Contrary to public opinion (environmental pollution, drug dealers, bad art blah blah blah), I have always been impressed by the vibe at blockchain meetups in Amsterdam.
Devconnect was certainly no exception.. The participants were extremely relaxed, cooperative and welcoming. The Ethereum community also proved to be a very diverse community. Looking to build a better world and having a lot of fun whilst doing it. That WAGMI vibe in full force and in my opinion the greatest treasure of Devconnect!
As contradictory as it may seem, this also brings us to the list of points for improvement.
5) On a critical note
Because it wasn’t just sunshine. There are also some points for improvement and tips for the organization, especially from the local community perspective. For the education and entertainment of the Ethereum Foundation and the crypto community that has the pleasure of hosting the following Devconnect in its city:
Make it slow
In principle, there was enough space between announcement (end of December ’21) and execution (end of April ’22). In principle. But because no one fully seemed to grasp the scale in which the event was developing, many activities were only planned at the last minute. Too late to organize well and to communicate well to the right audience.
In my Amsterdam reality, this led to a lot of unfocused action. Communities that quickly set up events without knowing exactly who they did it for and befriended venue holders who — bewildered by the opportunistic crypto ethos — wondered in which Wild West they ended up in (‘I have an organization here — a protocol ?!? — that wants a reservation in 8 days and for 350 people and the budget is no problem. Who TF are these people!?!’).
While this is part of the crypto ethos, getting the — mostly voluntary -community meetups right just proved too short. Opportunism also proved difficult to fit into the agendas of the more traditionally oriented venues.
Tip to any local community that gets to host Devconnect: be prepared and don’t underestimate the scale of what’s coming to your city. Have your surfboard ready for when the waves comes!
Open up
The only 10 to 15 Amsterdam students who were (voluntarily) involved in the organization and the (almost) missing attention for Devconnect in almost all Dutch crypto podcasts, bring us to the second point: the great atmosphere within the Devconnect bubble deserves to touch a larger part of the host city/country.
Crypto still has quite a few hearts and minds to win in terms of adoption and although it is questionable whether Devconnect is intended for that, the opportunities that do exist can be seized better than was done in Amsterdam.
Devconnect creates a unique momentum for the local crypto community. Involving local universities and colleges, properly informing the media, inviting policymakers, involving the venues in a timely manner, etc., etc. The opportunities that Devconnect offers to increase and strengthen the local communities are countless and deserve (better) to be caught.
Stay permissionless
And then the most heard criticism, the (hotel) prices. These were simply ridiculous, viewed through the eyes of participants who are not from the Western world. Although a large part of the crypto scene takes Amsterdam hotel prices for granted — sometimes well over 500 euros — the democratizing nature of crypto is jeopardized when the swarm settles in such an expensive place. Here is i.m.o. a major task for the Ethereum Foundation.
This is not even about access to the events themselves. They are mostly free to enter or a friendly smile and genuine curiosity are your entrance ticket. It is much more about being able to attend an entire Devconnect week for everyone who is interested, especially when it is held in the center of a city like Amsterdam.
The solution does not necessarily have to be a different city. A central location, great infrastructure and safety are also worth something. But with scholarships or hotelships, people with a small wallet also get access to an event like Devconnect. The tsunami of knowledge, ideas and networking must remain accessible to everyone. In fact, the tsunami also benefits from being accessible to everyone.
Devconnect is said to be ‘a week, built by and for everyone’. But is it?
6) Devconnext
After such a week, too much emphasis on criticisms doesn’t feel quite right. Devconnect was hands down awesome!
Moreover, it could also be our Blockdam community that the scale caught us by surprise, as not permanent followers of Ethereum events. It was also the first Devconnect, so nobody knew exactly what the event would involve. But with what we know now we know that, at least it can’t be an excuse for the next Devconnect 😎.
Wherever the swarm is headed, hopefully with the next Devconnect the local community will have a better idea of what’s coming their way. Can even more people be involved and the Ethereum swarm therefore has an impact that is (even) more instructive, more fun and more sustainable!
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