I'm writing my first SteemFest a day after it ended as I had just landed and got home. I need to wrap my head around all this and I will in this Chronicles series but for now I can only say that it was such a different weekend, for me.
For those of you who do not know, I was part of @firepower 's crew that helped everything run smoothly behind the scenes. That was initially a source of anxiety for me, before arriving. But in fact turned to be a source of joy.
It was really nice to check-in everyone, get to meet them as they arrived, hand the t-shirt to those who got one and just chat a bit before the big event. Also, being part of such a diverse team was huge learning experience.
I must say that @firepower lives up to his name. HE is pure energy and I feel that he helped us all give it all. Somehow he also managed to party more than most. No idea how.
@roelandp is exactly as I imagined and I hope @ned and the HQ really know what luck they had when he joined Steemit! This Fest would have never happened without him. Period. He deserves a GoldenSteem.
Well, a photo is worth many words so here's one. Roeland's style is rather awesome.
I won't sing praises to the rest of the team because I already kind of did in private...but you guys were awesome! There will be photos though in the next post.
This first day was really intense and overwhelming. There's something unique to talk with a person that it's really a stranger but you also feel that you know. This dichotomy can be very bewildering at times and I got this feeling constantly with every steemit friend I met. I had to readjust and re calibrate the way I see them and also what we talked in the past became more nuanced to me. All this was really exhausting yet kind of exhilarating.
After manning the front desk for about 11 hours, I had a drink with the rest of the people in the lobby of the awesome Volkshotel and then it was an early night for me as Saturday we had to be up early and get everyone to the boats. Of course, I had the key...
I'll continue the chronicles during the week. Stay Tuned! :D