At our next BXB meetup in Berlin, we will have a very special guest: @roelandp, the main organiser of Steem Fest. The meetup will take place at Oak & Ice Café in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg, it will start at 6:30 pm. Here is a short interview with Roeland.
What is Steem Fest?
It's a two and a half day conference set in Amsterdam on 11, 12 and 13 November for Steem users, by Steem users. Friday night everyone will gather in the official conference hotel Volkshotel for opening drinks. Saturday will consist of 15 - 20 minute presentations by content creators of Steem. Think of it like TED talks meet Pecha Kucha, as diverse as an average daily Steemit frontpage. It will be a mix of writers, chefs, DJs, album presentation, panels, talks and workshops. Sunday will be the 'unconference' day, with more touristy events in and around the oldest part of Amsterdam.
Who are the speakers you are especially looking forward to?
I'm particularly looking forward to @mauricemikkers Micrograph Stories, which is not a talk, but a laboratory setup in the conference venue in which he will make a unique picture of one of your crystallised tears.
What has brought you to the decision to organise it?
The whole Steemit start and vibe reminded me of the early days of Twitter, where you got to know so many new people in such a short time, but only online, and when we finally met in person it was epic. I still have many friends and acquaintances from that period. This idea of a global conference to enable steemians to meet up kept bugging me and I started talking to some people from the community on Steemit chat how they would feel about this. Overall the response was: "Great! when can i book my flight?" So i knew I hit a nerve here...
How is the event funded?
It is mostly funded by the wealthy users and Steemit, partly by ticket sales and other sponsors. Most people buy a ticket which is actually 1/4 of the cost price of the event, which is 111 Euros or 144 Steem Dollars. Such an event normally costs around 400-500 per person to produce and then conference organisers asks somewhere in the range of 800-1200 USD for a ticket. The idea here is to keep the price as low as possible, staying strict on the budget, sometimes creative but never compromising. Thanks to the help of 'whales' and Steemit HQ this event can take place in this way. Steemit HQ donated directly about 40% of the budget, as well as the gift of 1000 Steem Power for every attendee showing up in Amsterdam on the event with a ticket.
What were the biggest obstacles to overcome?
It was my own 'go / no go'. It started out with an idea doing the dishes. Then I became enthusiastic. Then others. Then all of a sudden I was meeting @cass (Steem's designer) and I was doubting whether it would be feasible and I would take up on the challenge. Although I was already at 80% it was him who helped me definitely go for it.
What is your background?
I am educated in hospitality, then turned into a developer when doing my hotel school The Hague Bachelor in the 2000's. I made advertising campaigns, discovered twitter, iphone / android, made many apps and then discovered Steemit.
What are your other activities in the Steem world?
I've made some fun apps around the Steem blockchain and I have set up the Steem App Center called SteemTools.com
Where can I buy tickets?
You can buy them here. Be quick as they are nearly sold out.