I am sitting here after missing Day Two...Oops (slept late, had engine trouble, took care of it, took a needed nap).
But let's take a look at Day One...
(My comments are in italic)
I'll start with the presentations, and then add a couple of notes. The Day One schedule can be found here
Larry Morrison (@larrymorrison), the CEO of College Loan Freedom, welcomed us to the conference
Elizabeth Powell, Managing Director Steemit Inc, provided some stats...
- There are over a million Steemit accounts
- There are 40,000 daily users
- Steemit, Inc. has cut overhead by 60% (I got confused on this point, as I brainfarted while writing this down...it could be 40%...either way, good numbers)
IJ Maha, the founder of Global Block Builders, discussed mass adaption
- Technology does NOT drive mass adaption of new concepts
- Human interaction DOES
- He noted that Facebook was largely successful due to the relationship status feature
- IJ also discussed Global Block Builders' penetration into the Asian market
Ken Melendez, Director of Communications for Global Block Builders ( @kenmelendez)
- discussed how hardship in life prepares us for greater things
- made the point that people don't usually don't use the notes they take at conferences
- made us do two sets of Bollywood line dancing...I am glad I used my gym deodorant ;>
Lea Thompson (@steemonboarding, @coruscate), made her presentation on How to Have a Meaningful Conversation on Crypto
I am not sure whether she, or Rick Tumlinson of SpaceFund, had the better presentation of the two, but they were the two best IMO.
She asks, Why is crypto so hard to explain?
1, Because there is more than one concept involved with it
2, Because there is an "ink blot" phenomenon associated with how people perceive it
3, Because we as enthusiasts get both a little overeager and too deep in the weeds when trying to explain it.
She goes on to give an example pathway to halping people understand crypto in terms that answer questions of need for THEM
1.Understand that crypto is a LOT of different things
2 Try and decide which aspect of crypto to explain
3 Ask a question such as, How much time do you have?, in order to gauge the interest level of the listener
4 Explains what excites YOU as the explainer...her personal example was that crypto gave her an avenue to freedom
5 Don't overwhelm people with enthusiasm or too much detail. make your explanation comfortable to themShe points out that conversations compound...in other words, it usually takes 7 conversations to get a concept through to a listener
Change comes from people telling stories (which is a reinforcement of IJ's earlier point about human interaction)
Alex Jacome, CEO of Achievion Solutions, discussed...
- Critical factors for successful blockchain development teams
- He made the point that crypto is just one part of block chian capability
- I'm going to give his very good presentation short shrift here, but if you're interested in his presentation, let me know and I'll share his notes. This was more of a dev presentation, as interesting as it was.
Danny Tamez, the founder of ilmatic.com
- Another great presenter
- Crypto = freedom (hmm, sounds like that was said earlier ;>)
- Pointed out that Facebook was a good example of overreach and violation of privacy
- Gave us the scary example of China using facial recognition to buy toilet paper...I was hoping this was just a joke...
- 90% of money is digital
- Bitcoin is the "Model T" of crypto
- 3 functions of money (medium of exchange, as a store of value, and as a unit of account.)
- Problems of crypto in functioning as money ( custody keys, security vs. complexity, design)
Erik Saberski, Head of Data Science, XYO Network
- Very enthusiastic and humorous
- Life = data
- More data = better chances of prediction
- Noted that he had a friend that practiced dataism...worship your data ;>
- While discussing the value of new technology, he also pointed out the threat it can present, although he was optimistic
- Privacy Threats through Ultrasonic Side Channels on Mobile Devices
- Full data can provide an immutable history of the world...I refrained from a digression into control or misrepresentation of data
David Forman, Co-Founder of SpaceBridge Logistics
I'm going to hold off and combine my notes of this presentation with my notes from the presentation of Rick Tumlinson with SpaceFund
Joseph Savage, Founder of SteemBasicIncome (@josephsavage, @steembasicincome)
- Steve Disclosure - I use and have a great opinion of SBI; also I may mix up some details of his presentation with the discussion we had afterwards...
- Discusses why Universal Basic Income concepts can be reagrded as "bad"
- Where does the funding for it orignate?
- Issue of control (he who controls the money, controls the universe!)
- Proof of Stake on Steemit is part of the reward mechanism
- SBI is not a "pension"
- Some conflict on Steemit with the Proof of Brain concept
- Unpopular content should not be punished
OK, this brings us to the lunch break of the conference, the 5 minute reading estimate for a blog post, AND my impending dinner now, so I'll end this now and pick up with [Part Two](to be updated ;>) later tonight.
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