As someone who has been to a ton of NFT and crypto based events in the last year I can say I really enjoyed the work that DCENTRAL 2022 put into their event, held Monday and Tuesday during the kickoff of Art Week Miami. Here is my intimate two-day recap of the event!
The venue had a full parking garage and numerous helpful options for attendees, all within walking distance, which helped a ton as Miami is not known for having enough parking for large events. Outside of the venue, at the James L. Knight Convention Center, were a variety of super cars in all kinds of colors getting photo ops with a ton of passers-by every other minute. One thing that never lacks at these events is the amount of souped-up cars parked outside for show. The bear market isn’t so bearish for some, that’s for sure!
Also, outside when you walk up you come up to a massive DCENTRAL sign that shares a feeling of the grandness the event aims to bring the Miami area. Compared to Permissionless, the registration was cake and extremely fast. It took about three minutes to get my Speaker Pass, which made me VERY happy. The moment any one of us exited the registration area, there was a exhibition map for each of the three levels that the event spanned. I really loved this map, colorful, fun, and well-marked with each specific site for event goers to easily get where they need to be, when they need to be there. The only thing I wished they had above each door was the name of the specific room that coincided with the map as it was hard to figure out what room was what on the fly, and the poor convention hall staff had no idea what room was what when we asked. Also, one thing I LOVED about Permissionless was the work they put into creating a large printed list of each speaking panel title and the time of that panel. That was the most helpful and accessible addition to any event I have been through so I didn’t have to keep looking at a small excel sheet, or skin the website with limited Wi-Fi, and quickly know where I want to be.
A focus on women in Web3
When I arrived at the event I rushed to Minervas Women’s Circle, a space on the first floor right on the water that was devoted to the growth of women in the space. I managed to make the first workshop of the day, hosted by Giovanna Melfi and Esther Ng, co-founder and chief strategy officer of DCENTRAL Global. It was particularly informative about how the hiring ethos in Web3 should be driven and how it can differ from Web2.
After that panel, I stepped right up to offer a 45-minute workshop on Social Impact: How to serve underserved communities in Web3, making lasting change, and being profitable by doing so. This was truly an honor to be among a room full of about 30 women at DCENTRAL who wanted to better identify how they can properly not tokenize underserved communities and what inclusion can mean in terms of marketing and revenue. After my workshop I was approached by so many lovely women in the space who are deep into personalized social good initiatives.
I have to say, DCENTRAL surprised me. It has more social good initiative booths than I have ever seen at any other event. This truly shows me that we as builders in this space are chock-full of meaningful good and want to help communities that we’re passionate about. In my opinion, this is one of the only ways to show Web2 folks that Web3 is viable and not filled with bad actors. The ability to give back was a large focus of the event, and I was very happy to see that.
Later that day I was interviewed by the Fungibility NFT Podcast on social good within Web3. This podcast was founded by AwardPool, an integrated white-label platform that empowers brands and creators with engagement tools. After that I went and scoped out some great chats by fascinating speakers on the main stage and grabbed some lunch downstairs in the gorgeous lobby that included some really fascinating art.
On day two I arrived around 10 am to listen to a panel on Gaming and another from the CTO of Ripple before I scooted over to the panel I was on in the exhibitors hall on the Decentralized Stage focusing on Utilizing Web3 for Impact and Change with @scottspiegel_12, @LuliSulichin. @mrhonesteth and @jgproduct.
We spoke on ways that social good is being realized in Web3 compared to Web2, what companies can do to create blockchain based social good initiatives and what are the benefits, being transparent in terms of giving, and barriers that charities have faced when trying to retrieve their crypto funds — and how we can work together to make that change come to life.
After my panel I was interviewed by Darren Tahbaz of @The_HUSL, which was recorded and when posted I will share here. It was a lovely interview with rapid-fire, fun questions that made me think. I hope I was contribute some insights into what I have been working on in Web3 in terms of what social good means and how we can serve underserved communities, a major pillar of Amberfi.
All in all, DCENTRAL 2022 was great, focused and lived up to its billing as a stellar community-driven event. I hope you like my intimate two-day recap. I look forward to going back net year after we all recover a bit from this bear market!
Check out more events this year here:
