Day 1 - LATAM Blockchain Summit - Promoting HIVE!

Once again I took the midnight train to Bogota, got up early and got picked up in a private car at 4 am. Before 10am I was standing in front of the Agora Bogota - convention center where the LATAM Blockchain Summit is being held this week.

We took a different strategy this time than CriptoLatinFest, a smart move after seeing the results of the first day on Thursday, and something I will talk about more in this post.

I got checked in quickly with my presale ticket QR code, thanks to @guiltyparty and @valueplan who sponsored our tickets for this event.

If you can look closely at my badge, my organization is HIVE, and my official title is STAKER - I have also been using the title 'Lider/Leader' with reference to HIVEColombia in the emails I have been sending.

One issue we have on HIVE is a non-traditional organizational structure. I think this helps us more than hurts us, but there are challenges sometimes. So far, people around these parts basically treat me like the CEO of HIVE, even when I tell them there is no CEO. Its kind of fun!

Scruffy from my early voyage, I bopped into the bathroom and did my best to wash up, change my outfit and get ready to mingle! I quickly found @helengutier2 and we began identifying projects that could use HIVE as part of their social media strategies - basically all of them. But some contacts are more valuable than others.

Check out this leader of Colledge, a blockchain education company that we are in talks with. Through solid communication, we at HIVEColombia will be working with Colledge to make a 'Masterclass' on HIVE - something that should greatly help our onboarding efforts and that is strictly in line with @hivecolombia's stated goals.

We also met with some old friends from CriptoLatinFest, like Diana here. Diana and her son @thesebastianxeii are volunteers at this event, and heavily involved in the crypto spaces around Colombia. We have deepened our connection and hope to continue to be in contact, they have offered to help us stay abreast of all that is happening in Colombia - to help each other in our goals and keep promoting HIVE!

When I spotted the brain-eating worldcoin orb, I just had to make a scene. I learned a bit about it, and may even make a separate post, but here in this picture also is the mustachio'd Juan Guillermo from Latblock. He approached me later at the after-party commenting on my funny scene over at worldcoin.

We got to talking and it seems that Latblock has some projects that could really use HIVE blockchain to great effect. I am excited about this one - more to come I hope!

One thing I was not expecting, is that some people started approaching me and Helen, asking about HIVE, interested in HIVE. Here is Victoria from Sumsub, she approached us looking to make a connection and collaboration with her project while me and Helen were shilling at the Bitso booth.

Sumsub is a verification platform with several usecases, it would be really interesting not just to get them to put an official blog up on HIVE, but to see what sorts of services they might be able to offer on HIVE, through HIVE and to HIVE dapps.

After reconnecting with Richy, journalist we met at CriptoLatinFest, he introduced me to Orlando and Cristian. These guys are into real estate and turism, and they were totally fascinated about ECOBANK. Orlando wants to tokenize a glamping type tent on his farm, to help support the cost of installation - and when he found out I had already done something similar, we decided to get some lunch.

I'm totally thankful to these guys for showing me this great burrito joint very close to the convention center - I never would have found it myself and in traditional Colombian style it was indeed - 'bueno, bonito y barrato'.

The day went well and soon we got on the bus to head to the 'ETH' themed after party. I wasn't too keen, didn't know really what it was about, all I knew was that it was way closer to my hotel than the convention center, and it turned out there was a free beer and piece of pizza included! They picked us up in a bus and off we went, me yacking away to two Web3 developers Irwin and Miguel.

It turned out that the after-party might have been the most productive part of our day, we talked a lot, connected with several people and projects, and I even got approached by another wallet start-up who is considering the benefits of integrating with HIVE. I had never heard of him, he had heard of us!

I am happier than ever to be a HIVE ambassador, it seems to be working - we are spreading the good word of HIVE around the Colombian scene and - people are liking it.

Freedom and Friendship