Cryptoconferences: yay or nay
We present to you the second think-piece by DateCoin CEO Nikita Anufriev in which he touches upon the topic of cryptoconferences and whether or not they are worth your while at all (previous text here).
Perhaps everyone who has ever delved into the world of cryptocurrencies has heard of cryptoconventions. The knowledge their many expert participants converge to offer must allow you to run a successful ICO that would raise eight figures at the very least, on top of all the big investors and crypto foundations scouting for prospective projects to invest serve as triggers that ultimately lead to purchasing an expensive ticket to one such event.
Currently there are a few relatively large cryptoconventions active at any given time all over the planet, which makes it rather difficult to choose the right one. As a person who’s participated in over 15 such events in the last two months alone, I can confidently attest to the simple fact that regardless of the actual speakers, the panels regurgitate the same ideas dozens of times, often before the same audience because ICO CEOs dilligently travel all around the world in the hope of finding that mother lode of funding (which is relatively scarce with all the projects around).
As a rule, such events don’t gather that many potential investors. Over a half of these cryptoconventions are attended by people presenting their ICO projects, which makes for an interesting situation where salesmen pitch their product to other salesmen that never needed it in the first place because they’re trying to plug their own. A considerable chunk of the attendees are marketing, advertisement and legal people trying to sell their services.
The arguments that I put forth here do not at all mean that I’m in any way against such cryptoconventions. Quite to the contrary, you can and should go to cons. What you have to do is communicate to your potential investors and your social media communities that you’re not sitting tight and instead using all the available tools to reach your goals. This is especially relevant for the regions you haven’t yet established a good enough contact with. Conferences can serve as a good springboard for networking as well as building regional influence. You may as well get lucky and meet an affluent investor who’s ready to throw his support behind your project.
Yet most importantly, don’t delude yourself — only a handful of ICO teams can proudly say they have found funding at a conference. Take most of the projects presenting at any given conference, and ask them how much they managed to raise at the event and if they were contacted by “institutional investors”, the answer you hear most often is that the money came from the internet.
At the same time, participating in a conference is one good way of attracting attention to your project. Whoever is interested in your vision will come up and speak to you personally, and maybe contact you later. The keyword here is “one good way” and “attract attention”. There is always a possibility that people from this industry pick you up and help you advance in the cryptospace.
My key message here is that such conferences should draw expenses proportional to the gains they bring. That’s why you should only buy basic participation packages unless you want to stroke your ego and walk around with a VIP or Business badge, and when the even is over have a few gin and tonics at an afterparty.
These events are oftentimes substantially overpriced and bring very little value to the table. It’s not hard to see for yourself, just compare any regular conference unrelated to ICOs or cryptocurrencies and you will find that the prices differ wildly. Similar packages demonstrate that traditional conference organisers tend to have a much smaller appetite.
By the way, you have a better chance finding potential investors on a regular conference that pertains to your line of business. That would be much more useful. The only exception would be for strictly blockchain projects.
Participation rulebook
Participation in a conference can imply one of the two options: setting up a separate booth or a simple pass on the premises.
So, first about the booth, if you decide to go that way. Yes, you’ll have quite a lot of visitors, and most of them are not who you want them to be — contractors looking to offer their services. Some will even invite you to join their ICO. There will be very few investors, and that’s the problem. You can try to find them without setting up a booth. For that you’ll have to actively seek out and approach people who look like potential investors.
I want to make a strong point here and caution against booking a VIP zone. You won’t see a single investor, big or small, until lunch. None whatsoever. And approaching people while they’re eating is not a good idea. Especially if you’re looking to persuade them. As a rule, the VIP zone is used for talking after a presentation.
My observations have proven that “heavyweight” investors usually sit in the first row and during coffee breaks only speak to each other.
To sum it up I would like to emphasize that cryptoconventions only present a tool that one has to know how to use. Careful planning before you participate is crucial for your success in extracting both new knowledge and profits. Otherwise you will be spending significant resources that you would rather have spent on advertising and other important aspects of your project.
