More than Price. More than Tech. Community & Connection.
Meaningful insights gained during my experience at the EOS RIO Community Conference and Rio Blockchain Conference 2019
I had been processing the amazing adventure we had at the RIO EOS Community Conference 2019 for the past 2 weeks, and just today I came to the conclusion that the bonding experience and connection the EOS Community went through in Brasil was probably more powerful than the revolutionary technology we gathered to celebrate in the first place.
I’ll go fast through the ECC Recap and let some pictures speak louder than words. Our first day was at the Rio Blockchain Conference. The EOS Rio team made an excellent job organizing this conference which widely extended the EOS Community and managed to gather the attention of all sorts of technology aficionados from Brasil. The venue was none other than the MUSEU DO AMANHÃ, which is the National Museum of Applied Sciences. The conference was organized to the finest detail and I had the honor to present my team’s project: YOLO.
Here is my YOLO presentation at the Rio Blockchain Conference 2019. A very curious story developed here: The YOLO team and I had prepared a very cool video introducing YOLO for the presentation, but it turns out we had NO SOUND for the presentations. So instead of getting angry or worried, I decided to improvise and “Beat-Box” my way through the presentation. It seems like this was a very funny and memorable moment of the pitch, and it came out even BETTER than if we had played the sound. The RIO crew was still going on over the “Beat-Box Pitch” for days after the RBC →
The RBC was a huge success, and now it was time for celebrations. And what a better way to celebrate than with an All-you-can-eat Meat Dinner hosted by the amazing EOS NATION. There were drinks, laughs, and a lot of hugs between the old and new members of the community.
Day 2: No need to start so early! We took a little tour of the famous Cristo Redentor Statue at the peak of the Corcovado Mountain. It was the first time in Brazil for a lot of us. This was a breath-taking view and a very powerful experience. The view was very cloudy when we got there. But after a few minutes, the clouds cleared away and the full view of Rio was there for us to admire. We also had some Cashasa and other goodies by the tour guides, all of the external activities were coordinated by AMBER, the Aussie social-activities super-woman.
Off to the main event (or so I thought), the ECC 2019 at the notorious Copacabana Palace. Amazing presentations by EOS Nation, EOS in a Box, SHEOS, EOS Venezuela, Luke Stokes @ EOS Foundation, and many more…
The next day we met at the Rio Yacht Club for what was to be (at least for me) the BIG surprise of the Rio Experience: the EOS Unconference Day. A day with No Agenda, No Pitches, No Presentations. Just the EOS Community members brainstorming on ideas we could implement to improve our expansion, our governance, and our tech. The EOS RIO crew allowed anyone who wanted to propose some topics to discuss on the board and then gave everyone some stickers to vote on the topics that each one found most compelling. The result: 5 Work-Groups divided into Topics like Governance, Worker-Proposal-System, New Features, EOS Foundation, and Existential Crisis :-O. I had the amazing opportunity to lead one of those groups: the New Features Group. One of the topics we discussed in the group was DeFi Applications for EOS. I naturally gave the stage to Alex @ EOSDT for the topic. We also had an amazing IDE proposal by Carter @ EOS Rapid, who made a top-star entrance into the EOS scene not long ago.
A lot of great ideas came from the unconference, and I think that if implemented, we can certainly push the whole EOS Ecosystem a few light-years forward. From governance proposals to new technological tools, and also the creation of the new and upcoming EOS Foundation (more on that on a different article).
And off we go! Riding into the sunset for our closing party. We were invited to a Boat Party to conclude what was already a pretty magical experience with the whole EOS community and friends from the local blockchain scene.
In conclusion, what I wanted to stress (hence the name of this article) is the importance of the community bond and the feeling of finding your tribe. We all know the effects of the crypto bear market, and for EOS, this was particularly hard since this was accompanied by the rise of the Exchange-BPs that left a lot of Value-Adding Block Producers out of the paid positions and forced to re-think their strategies in order to thrive and allow for this kind of awesome gatherings to take place.
All and all, even if the Price of EOS was stagnant for the past few months, and the EOSIO platform had a lot of upgrades, but no real game-changing releases (like the so awaited VOICE), there was this loving feeling of connection in the air. It’s difficult to explain, because:
- If you are not here for the money…
- And you are not here for the Tech…
- Then….
- Well, I’m here for this FAMILY. the EOS Family ❤
And that is what finding your tribe feels like. The EOS Community is here for the long haul, regardless of the price of Bitcoin, the incoming and fading FUD, or what the current weather in the crypto space may be…
Want to join us?
Everyone is welcome!
You can keep up to date with everything that’s happening in EOS at the EOS Israel Twitter and you can fall deeper into the EOS Rabbit hole from there :-)
