We have just completed the first stop of the SteemPH Meet Up Caravan as we wrote about in SteemPH Meet Up Caravan #1 - Bulacan. We know that we have reasons for spending our time going around the country, reaching out to existing communities, and trying to help everyone we meet in making their Steemit journey more enjoyable. The truth however, is that these reasons only became clearer to us after the first Meet Up we organized on behalf of @steemph. We had these reasons in our thoughts, but couldn't put them to words then. This post is all about the "whys".
Organizing Meet Ups is not an easy feat. It requires exerting effort, building networks, and raising funds. Now that the goals are clearer to us, we feel more motivated to go on.
To Advocate Steem & Steemit As Means to Build Communities & Enrich Lives
"Are we in Steemit to make money? Absolutely! No one should be ashamed about wanting to make money through Steem."
This is the first part of our opening statement. We opened the Meet Up this way to make a very important point, we are not having a conversation with everyone to sound righteous, or to portray ourselves as philanthropists. We want everyone to feel that they are free to express their thoughts even around the topic of rewards. The first statement was quickly followed by this:
"What we think is wrong is to see the platform, and think of it as all about the money. Because it is a lot more than just being about that. Steem can help build communities, and enrich lives for the marginalized, it is that belief which gave birth to SteemPH."
We then showed some eight slides of the projects SteemPH has done or supported over the course of the last seven months we've been in the platform.
Here are some reference posts we used to show the projects of @steemph:
- SteemPH Outreach for Typhoon Vinta Victims in Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
- UP Machine Design competition Winners, Congratulations Kids
- SteemPH Meet Up Caravan
- Art Charity Project in Davao, Philippines
- Project Alinaga, Torch of Light on Steemit
To Advocate Powering Up
The more you give, the more you get. The less you think about the money, the more it comes"
We spoke about the benefits of powering up, and referred to an analysis I made in Is Powering Up More Profitable?: A Data Analysis. We told everyone about how we think Steemit to be still in its infancy, that there is less then a million registered users around the world, and how only about 20% of the existing users are active.
This means that the active user-base can grow a hundred folds over time in the Philippines alone. On one hand that growth will have to be supported by Steem Power holding within the Philippine community, on the other we left the participants with the question about how much one will be willing to pay for Steem Power when that growth happens.
To Help Existing Steemians Improve the Quality of Their Contents
"You look at my analysis for @utopian-io and you see pending payout of $100 or more, what you don't know about is the amount of time it takes me to create those analysis."
In this section of the presentation we tried to deliver the message that the community values ones work depending on the value it brings to the community. In a great majority of time, Steemians value the effort exerted in contents.
Here we covered some basic text and image formatting, and tips for specific niches. We used the lesson one, two, and three from @steemnest. We are pleased to see newer posts from the attendees already applying what they learned from the session.
To Help Steemians Encourage Their Friends & Family To Join The Platform
"We have students in Cebu who's got nearly a Million Pesos worth of Steem Power posting in Steemit in their free time. Imagine what the platform can do for students in Bulacan who are struggling to pay for college fees."
We had two sets of souvenirs. The one shown in the photo here was meant for Non-Steemian attendees. This was a clear opportunity for the first stop of the caravan. We only had four Non-Steemian attendees when we originally meant it to be 1:1 ratio between Steemians and Non-Steemians. I will create accounts for some four Non-Steemian attendees today with these conditions:
- An initial 20 Steem Power temporary delegation (this is more than the 15 Steem Power delegation when signing up the usual way
- The account would have to post at least 3 times a week and use #philippines and #steemph tags
- All SBD rewards will be converted to Steem and Powered up for 30 days, so the account can build its own SP.
- Half the delegation will be recovered after 30 days, and the remaining delegation after another 30 days. The account will then have a total of 60 days to build its own Steem Power.
We are working with our contacts for the Cavite Steemit Meet Up which is the next stop of the caravan around making sure that we drive maximum participation from Non-Steemians. This way we can really grow the Philippine user-base while helping our friends and family members at the same time.
To Disambiguate Steem & Humanize The Steemit Experience
"Everybody who's in Steemit should spend time understanding the blockchain. I don't mean at a developer level or perspective. When everybody understand the real value of what the blockchain can do, what problems it can solve, how well it can perform in comparison against other blockchains, no one will be selling at its current price."
"I'd like to think that all of us who are here today are friends now. This is merely the first step for a collaborative community in Bulacan. We hope to do an even bigger get together three months down the line, and wish to see everyone again then."
Here's a groupie with the attendees. We are keeping in touch to discuss the potential of setting up an official community in Bulacan within the bigger @steemph community. We are pleased with the enthusiasm from the attendees around promotion and community projects powered by Steem - The Currency of Love.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone who contributed in making the first of many planned events from SteemPH Meet Up Caravan. We will see you in Cavite soon. These are your hosts @dandalion and @steemitph saying thanks a million:
Credits
Cover Photo Background Image - @ninjace
The Hosts Presenting - @enjieneer
Vinta Evacuation Area - @steemph
Meet Up Participants Having Snacks - @dandalion
@steemnest Logo
The Souvenirs - @dandalion
The Hosts - @ninjace
