Four PR lessons we took away from New York Blockchain Week
Journalists, crypto pioneers and new projects. How often is it that you get all three under one roof?
New York Blockchain week and Consensus New York is a staple in the crypto conference calendar. And by default, a hotbed for some of the most important conversations in the sector.
From the PR point of view, it’s interesting to see how the industry has evolved. Here are four observations we walked away from the conference with:
1. Projects are more focused on BUIDLing the narrative together, instead of on their own
Across various conference sessions, panellists and speakers alike placed a greater emphasis on coming together to build the technology’s narrative together.
From crypto wallets to mining, we witnessed as industry leaders across the board came together to share insights and debate with the goal of building up the sector together.
What was most clear across the board is that the projects still standing today can now see the value accurate, transparent and clear storytelling can bring. In an industry so filled with noise, this is what will help to cut through.
2. Blockchain’s coming of age can be seen in how the language around it has evolved
In 2017 and 2018 many of the terms used in the space — like HODL, ICOs, BUIDL and more — could be considered navel-gazing.
Since then, we’ve seen the sector evolve to one that seeks to be more friendly to the traditional finance sector. For instance, a common thread for this year was DeFi or decentralised finance solutions and instruments.
3. Tuning in and being a part of the right conversations still matters
In-person interactions in the crypto space happen much less than other industries. So, when the opportunity comes about to meet IRL, you take it.
On the media front, it was fantastic to initiate introductions and connect our clients to interviews with reporters on the ground.
YAP Global’s own Samantha Yap was even interviewed on the evolving crypto narrative.
There were also multiple individuals who gathered at the edges of the conference, from the hotel lobby, to the side events, to the many, many parties.
Overall, we saw more in-depth and quality discussions taking place and even helped to support events hosted by our clients.
4. Keeping in touch face-to-face helps with growing meaningful relationships
New York Blockchain week was a much-needed opportunity for us to put aside crypto Twitter and Telegram chats and actually have meaningful discussions about how we can develop this industry better.
While the cryptocurrency industry often gets a lot of flak for talking about “decentralisation” as a concept, most of the industry has quite literally put it into practice geographically.
For example, all three of us at YAP Global have been working remotely from Singapore, London and Melbourne.
It’s important that in the midst of all the hustle and BUIDLing that we stop to stocktake and celebrate all the milestones we’ve hit together as an industry.
That’s why we at YAP Global decided to hold our own event alongside MEW & Changelly and I’d have to say we might have thrown one of the week’s best.
Rachael De Foe, Account Manager and Media Strategist at YAP Global — A PR professional with expertise in fintech, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Prior, Rachael was part of the financial services team at FleishmanHillard. In her previous position, she worked on the firm’s first cryptocurrency project and also supported the press efforts for the inaugural Asian edition of the Money20/20 conference.
