Among the blockchain conferences organized by our company, the largest event remains the event in Moscow. But in recent years, our geography has expanded by half the world. We do events in Europe, the CIS, Gibraltar, the Philippines, Australia, India - and this is not a complete list.
Each of these states has its own national characteristics and political situation that affect the preparation and holding of events. In this post we will tell about the most interesting observations accumulated by us over several years.
Cities where we have already held blockchain conferences or will be held for the first time this year (clickable)We work on weekends?
For European blockchain projects it’s hard to work in December. Many speakers and exhibitors are preparing for Christmas and simply do not respond. Especially strictly with this in Switzerland: during the two-week vacation, no one will answer your question - neither by phone, nor by mail, nor in social networks.
Therefore, we held conferences in Gibraltar, Switzerland, Estonia, and other European countries after Christmas.
As for projects in the CIS, the same rule applies. Only instead of Christmas is another holiday - New Year.
The best days of the week to hold a conference are Wednesday and Thursday. People have already tuned in to work, no one has yet had time to get tired - everyone is fully tuned to communicate and networking. And it is better that these days were not festive, because who from the business audience will go to a B2B event on their day off? On Saturday and Sunday blockchain events are also better not to do.
By the time of day there are also features. The time difference with India is 2.5 hours (Moscow time). But it is obvious that Indians start working very early: calls at 4 or 5 in the morning before the event were common (imagine our poor employees convulsively waking up from the call).
Finns also start working quite early: letters from them come already from 6-7 am (according to their time).
Where most like cryptocurrency
In
Kazakhstan, blockchain and crypt are HYIP themes. The country has the "International Financial Center" Astana ", which has become a fintech hub for the countries of Central Asia. MFC was looking for blockchain startups that could develop as part of their organization. Therefore, we invited both to our conference. Asel Zhienbaeva, Director of Digital Technology at MFC Astana, opened our conference in Almaty. In general, the Kazakh authorities are open to dialogue with the blockchain community.
In
Estonia, the crypt is more than positive. In addition, the country has an e-residency program. According to it, a citizen of any country can relatively freely conduct business in Estonia. Therefore, foreign speakers and companies were actively interested in participation.
At the end of 2017, the
Philippines Financial Regulator (Philippines` Securities and Exchange Commission) announced that it intends to introduce cryptocurrency into the legal field. Therefore, foreign blockchain companies immediately began to look more closely at the country in order to move their headquarters there. After all, it is always more profitable to conduct business where it is supported, and not stifled.
Switzerland with its Silicon Cryptodolina did not let us down: both the government and the business community are interested in the crypt and the blockchain. This is one of the most loyal and advanced countries on the use of the blockchain. Cryptoexperts and blockchain companies called themselves and offered their candidacies for participation. The country is definitely interested in remaining a European center for cryptocurrencies.
Gibraltar is a very specific country. It seems that Europe is not Europe, UK is not UK. Right before our conference, new laws on licensing blockchain companies came into force. Now all local companies that provided services for the implementation of the blockchain were obliged to obtain a license from the Financial Services Commission (GFSC). To clarify the details of the business community, we created a separate discussion panel, where experts explained in stages what needs to be done.
With the event in
Belarus, we had to hurry, because shortly before the start of the event in the country, the famous Decree No. 8 was issued. At that time (February 27, 2018), he only ordered to create laws on the crypt. Therefore, the community was set up to discuss all its provisions and the future, which it promises Belarus. So it happened. Although it was not possible to secure the participation of speakers from among statesmen: it seems then they themselves did not fully understand how everything would turn out (by the way, the author of Decree No. 8
will become the speaker of the upcoming conference in Georgia).
The upcoming conference in Georgia will be held largely due to the loyal attitude of the authorities to cryptocurrency and blockchain. At one time, it was a revelation for us that an international financial company can be registered in the country in one hour, and almost every second mine here is due to the low price of electricity. Along with low tax rates for businesses, it became clear that the crypt is a topic for Georgia.
In
Azerbaijan, the authorities quite recently softened their categorical position on cryptocurrencies. If last year it was said that this sphere will not be legalized, now both banks and the government declare their desire to develop operations with cryptocurrencies. How they will be regulated, while it is not clear - the business has stopped waiting for clarification. Accordingly, the first events associated with the blockchain in the country appear only this year.
Regardless of the country, exhibitors and speakers will happily stay on afterparty - for informal communication.
For officials need to run
The presence of government officials at the event is very important, since all participants of the blockchain events are interested in information about cryptocurrency regulation. And officials - the source of such data.
Traditionally, it is much more difficult to work with officials than with businessmen: to get to them, most often you need to go through a filter from several secretaries or deputies. You call one, negotiate a call with another, you are redirected to the third, and as a result (if you are lucky) you talk to someone who is needed. It happens that no luck and reset.
And in such structures as the European Parliament, you must first write to the department of public relations - it takes weeks. But in case of luck, you can expect a big "exhaust". But you should not relax: once a high-ranking European official agreed to participate in our event, and a few days before the start he had urgent business, and he could not attend. This, too, must be prepared.
It's easier with businessmen. They see the benefits of participating in both the exhibition and the conference. But it also happens that you have to wait for answers for a long time. Sometimes someone agrees, and then “flies” a week before the event - the situation is infrequent, but not exceptional.
In terms of communication,
Georgia was surprised. All speakers respond to messages throughout the day. It was not such that the question asked in the morning remained unanswered in the evening. Georgian businessmen are ready to communicate even in messengers, even by phone. At the same time they say what topics would be interesting to hear at the conference.
Willingly go to contact in Switzerland. There we initially planned a demo zone for one number of participants, but in the end it had to be doubled. The business audience is interested in the blockchain, so the projects do not refuse to participate, and some even take the initiative on their own.
In the
Czech Republic, most speakers and exhibitors are also interested in participating. This is facilitated by the loyalty of the authorities to cryptocurrencies and blockchain. At our event in the Czech Republic, Dimitrios Psarakis, adviser to the European Parliament on capital markets and financial technology regulation, acted as a speaker. In general, the crypt in the Czech Republic - a very common topic. In Prague alone there is a dark cafe where you can pay with cryptocurrencies. There you can even buy real estate for the crypt.
(See our cryptocurrency guide to Prague )Participants of the Gibraltar event responded mostly within 2-3 days - this is quite fast. But there are pitfalls here too: two opposing law firms divide the market among themselves. Representatives of the one and the other side is better not to try to bring together.
Book reviews: collect feedback
To improve our events, we collect feedback on events from all participants: speakers, exhibitors and visitors. As it usually happens, the most feedback is polar: from those who are delighted with the conference, and those who did not like it at all (we are very pleased that the former prevail).
Most of the participants leave reviews in the first week, but due to the employment of some speakers, this time sometimes increases. By the speed of feedback, I especially want to highlight events in the Czech Republic and Estonia: the events have barely ended, and the participants have already sent a lot of responses to our mail with words of gratitude.
From country to country, speakers do not repeat. But if someone from the speakers really likes the public, we can attract him to the event next year or in another country - as a rule, already with a new topic of the report. There are even surprises here. So, the legal adviser of the company Nir Porat & Co. Avia Arika delighted the audience at the event in Switzerland, but in Belarus the public met the report much more coolly. Perhaps the fault of language barriers.
Panel discussions, which are now available at many of our blockchain conferences, also emerged from the work with feedback from participants. Discussion of the most pressing issues by cryptoeksperty invariably causes a stir. Although in terms of organization, this is one of the most time-consuming parts of an event: from the selection of a topic relevant for a country to a stubborn and complex search for specialists who not only understand the subject, but can also interestingly tell about it. And yes, panel discussions are not in vain at the end of the day and before the coffee breaks: the public does not let the speakers go for a long time and continues conversations with them in the corridors.