A number of weeks in the past in October, a lot of the Ethereum neighborhood got here collectively in South America as we reunited for Devcon VI in Bogotá, Colombia!
At the moment we wish to say Thank You(!) to each attendee, volunteer, and contributor that made Devcon VI a hit. On this weblog put up, we’ll recap the highlights of an extremely enjoyable occasion, and reminisce about Group Hubs, the Highway to Devcon, insightful talks and panels, superbly designed presenter rooms, and far more.
Watch the Recap Video to refresh your reminiscence and benefit from the Devcon VI vibe!
What Devcon is all about
For these which are new to the Ethereum household, Devcon is the one annual convention held by the Ethereum Basis, and it dates again to a small meetup in Berlin (ÐΞVcon-0) a couple of yr previous to Ethereum’s first blocks. For some members of the Ethereum ecosystem, Devcon is a household reunion of kinds, whereas for others it’s a big stage on which to talk to (and find out about) the newest breakthroughs on content material starting from technical analysis to software releases and extra.
Through the years, it has turn into clear that Devcon serves the neighborhood in different methods too. As we deliberate for Devcon VI, we labored to outline these targets. Now we wish to describe them as soon as extra and mirror on how we tried to perform every of them.
1. Collaboration & data sharing
Devcon shouldn’t be solely a convention that options shows, however it’s a novel place to get some work finished with so many essential builders in the identical rooms. This yr, we needed them to have house to speak, to drag as much as a whiteboard, and get to work collectively.
At Devcon VI we hosted workshop rooms, devoted co-work areas, bookable assembly areas, and a hacker basement the place folks got here collectively to fulfill and work. We additionally provided a co-working house after the occasion within the venue.
The hacker basement – Photograph by Shintaro Yoshimatsu
2. Educating, speaking, and producing new concepts
Devcon is an opportunity to study, and to show. Individuals traveled to Devcon to grasp the innovative within the Ethereum house, and to share what they’ve discovered during the last yr with a big viewers each on the occasion, and on-line.
Over the 4 days, 60,000 viewers around the world watched the Devcon livestreams (21,780 on the primary day alone). Offering high quality dwell streams and movies was essential for Devcon Satellite Events – academic meetups around the globe organized for many who couldn’t make it to Bogotá. The neighborhood organized Devcon Satellite tv for pc Occasions in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Malaysia, Portugal and Turkey.
Group Hubs had been devoted areas powered by the neighborhood for the neighborhood. Whether or not you began your day with a cacao ceremony within the Regens Hub, you went anon IRL by crafting a mask in the Temporary Anonymous Zone, witnessed the launch of the primary Token Engineering Fundamentals program, or visualized your values about decentralization within the Design Hub, we hope that you just felt extra like a member of a various neighborhood than merely an attendee.
This was additionally the primary Devcon that featured “Affect Cubicles”, which had been areas reserved for groups and efforts making a constructive affect on Ethereum and the ecosystem at giant. Nice issues occur when purchasers, rollup-teams, and different impactful teams come collectively in a single place. Allegedly rivalrous rollup teams became friends, others received a rare Gitcoin plushie by revealing their favourite public good, some snagged a pair of the primary ever socks.sol swag, or accepted the problem of exchanging as many ENS POAPs as they may with different attendees to climb the leaderboard.
The Latin American neighborhood had its personal inventive house: a Colombian Chiva Bus. There, contributors hosted dialogue rounds, podcasts, and stored the music going till nicely after shows had wrapped for the night time.
The ETH Latam staff in entrance of their Chiva Bus
3. Use our largest stage to ship a message
Devcon is a vital alternative to speak with the world about Ethereum. As the biggest convention in our trade, the broader know-how house and mainstream organizations take note of Devcon.
Devcon VI was the primary after The Merge passed off in September of this yr! 🐼Ethereum Mainnet now makes use of proof-of-stake for consensus, and Danny Ryan talked about how busy the previous few months have been for the Ethereum core devs, what difficulties they confronted after they merged the consensus and execution layers, and what it implies that they exist as one chain – Ethereum.
Different talks which are extremely advisable to (re)watch are Aya Miyaguchi’s speak about Executing with Subtraction in the Infinite Garden, Kurt Opsahl’s speak The Value of Cryptocurrencies in Supporting Human Rights, and Pia Mancini’s speak The Future is Collective.
Other than our suggestions, we additionally wish to let you recognize what had been a number of the favourite picks by members of the neighborhood this yr:
4. Utilizing tech constructed on Ethereum by means of “dogfooding”
“Dogfooding” is the follow of utilizing one’s personal services or products. Devcon is a convention made by and for our neighborhood, and we wish to make use of instruments constructed by our neighborhood the place attainable and helpful to attendees. Devcon desires to allow attendees to study and experiment first-hand with merchandise constructed on Ethereum.
Starting with ticketing, 268 folks participated in the on-chain raffle and auction earlier than the final ticket sale started.
Smart Token Labs helped to make Devcon VI ticket attestations a actuality, which allowed attendees to attest that they had been Devcon VI ticket-holders with out a pockets tackle or different private figuring out data being made public. By means of their platform, separate third events provided permissionless perks exclusively for Devcon VI attendees.
Talking of dogfooding, how did you e book your lodge in Bogotá? Attendees had been in a position to pay for his or her rooms utilizing crypto, because of Winding Tree.
Now you can watch all talks and panels from Devcon VI on extra open and strong platforms too – Swarm and Etherna helped us to make the Devcon Archive extra decentralized by internet hosting the movies from talks and workshops. Take a look at the Swarm team’s recap for extra data on their work at Devcon VI.
Many environmentally acutely aware attendees offset their flights with the carbon offsetter by Discarbon. As of now, contributors have contributed to offset the equal of 403.9 Tonnes of CO2. Voters on the snapshot proposal selected to retire these credit from the Cordillera Azul Nationwide Park REDD+ Mission in Perú.
And it goes with out point out that everybody collected lots of POAPs alongside the way in which.
Panel: Signing in With Ethereum: the Most Powerful Protocol in Web3?
5. Rising the Ethereum Ecosystem
Devcon is a chance to achieve, excite and have interaction extra native Ethereum communities all around the globe. This yr, the Latin American Ethereum neighborhood paved the Highway to Devcon by organizing about 14 neighborhood occasions round Latin America, all main as much as Devcon VI in Bogotá, the place the leaders of the Latam Ethereum neighborhood organized ETH Latam Day in the future earlier than the primary occasion began. Watch their recap video here.
We consider Ethereum can have real-world affect in South America, and it’s wonderful to see how sturdy the Latin American Ethereum neighborhood has turn into.
EF’s Government Director Aya Miyaguchi recently said that she “strongly consider[s] it’s vital for builders to go on the market and see all completely different components of the world they’re attempting to vary.” Some Devcon attendees used the chance that the occasion offered to discover South America slightly additional after Devcon. They got here to know a neighborhood and a part of the world that was beforehand international to them, or they arrived earlier and adopted the Highway to Devcon.
The Highway to Devcon map
Devcon can also be a possibility to achieve blockchain-related groups and newcomers from different industries. UNICEF was as soon as extra a visitor and speaker at Devcon, in addition to Arkadiy Kukarkin from the Internet Archive, and geopolitics and know-how creator Bruno Maçães.
Ethereum Basis’s Next Billion team organized a one-day event for Devcon attendees, authorities officers, non-profit and civil society organizations, and “anybody taken with studying about how we are able to use Ethereum as a public good destined to assist billions of individuals coordinate and thrive.” The occasion centered on the ‘real-world’ elements confronted by those that use Ethereum to create affect.
The programming observe Opportunity & Global Impact featured many extra fascinating talks and panels discussing how Ethereum can overcome “gaps in illustration throughout cultures, nationalities, and financial lessons.” (Next Billion)
Devcon VI welcomed many individuals which are newer to the Ethereum ecosystem and that attended Devcon for the primary time. With different programming tracks like Governance & Coordination, and Cryptoeconomics, and with plenty of crypto artwork and music alongside the way in which, we hope they felt impressed by our wonderful neighborhood by the week’s finish.
Rising the Ethereum ecosystem additionally means supporting those that “have the potential to make a constructive affect on Ethereum and its neighborhood, however who had been unable to attend with out monetary help.” The Devcon Scholars Program had its second class this yr, and 50 people acquired assist to attend Devcon. Learn some of their stories and their perspectives on Devcon VI here!
6. Enjoyable!
Playfulness has at all times been a part of Devcon and of the Ethereum ecosystem at giant. That is why Devcon swag is colourful, Jonathan Mann is singing The Merge Song on stage, and the opening video options animated dancing bears merging right into a panda representing Ethereum.
Calling Devcon a convention misses the mark in gentle of the colourful phases designed with love for element, the grownup playground with video games like large Jenga, and the hacker basement stuffed with digital artwork to discover.
Ix Shells and Rosendo Merel Choy – Photograph by Shintaro Yoshimatsu
Lots of the enjoyable issues Devcon VI provided had been dropped at life by the neighborhood itself. The music stage within the Chiva Chillout was a neighborhood initiative that was born from a Devcon Enchancment Proposal (DIP) by The Fellowship of Ethereum Musicians that became a bigger undertaking. You may watch a video with highlights from all four days here. Every day, attendees may be part of a graffiti tour organized by CRYPTOMURALS, and the groups of Social Dist0rtion Protocol and daedalus industries puzzled out the Treasure Hunt Problem “Time To DAI” for you.
7. Suggestions & Continued Enchancment
We’re at all times attempting to study and enhance as nicely, and we thank everybody who gave us helpful suggestions (you can still give feedback via our attendee survey and earn a POAP.)
There are some things we discovered this yr. Wi-Fi was a problem once more, particularly on the primary day, and we all know there’s room for enchancment, and our SIM playing cards for attendees had been extra important than ever! The meals may be much more versatile – together with higher vegetarian and vegan choices. Feminine, Transgender, Non-Binary and different genders made up 20%+ of Devcon VI’s attendees. Nonetheless, we are able to do extra to make each Devcon and the ecosystem extra consultant when it comes to gender variety & inclusion in a still-male-dominated house.
As our occasion has grown bigger and with over 6,000 in attendance, we acknowledge that the possibilities are higher for rivalry between some attendees. The primary rule within the Devcon Code of Conduct is to “be glorious to one another”, and our dedication is to create a cushty surroundings for all. We are going to evaluate our CoC and take into account enhancements based mostly on what we’ve got discovered this yr.
What’s Forward?
We’re assured we received’t have to attend three years for the following Devcon. It’s already time so that you can get involved by proposing ideas to improve Devcon.
Aya’s speak about subtraction made us rethink the phrasing of DIPs. Devcon Enchancment Proposals are actually meant for collaborative neighborhood enter on what ought to be modified (subtracted, added, or modified) for the upcoming Devcon7.
The place will Devcon7 happen? In brief: We don’t know but. However the selection shall be exhausting, as we’ve got many unbelievable suggestions for Devcon7 locations from members of the Ethereum neighborhood.
We hope that you just’ll be as excited as we’re after we share extra data within the weeks to return. For now, thanks as soon as once more to all of our attendees for becoming a member of us in Bogotá, to the presenters, the Affect groups, Supporters, Group Hub organizers, DIP contributors, and volunteers that made Devcon VI attainable. ❤️🦄
Till we meet once more, you possibly can try extra photos by the Devcon team here, and discover extra photos by Shintaro Yoshimatsu here.
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EF Devcon Crew
