Steem is such a great interactive and vibrant community to be part of. We joined early on, in July 2016, and immediately took to both the concept and the people in the community like a duck to water. Being tech entrepreneurs we immediately saw the potential of the block chain and cryptocurrency when we started looking at these in late 2015, early 2016, and with Steem it was an easy way to get involved and start using a cryptocurrency.

As tech entrepreneurs we had a number of projects we have launched in the last decade. Being prophets of Steemit we have been creating a bit of awareness of this platform. Having been very involved in the SharePoint community we felt that we should get likeminded people together, with speakers to share information, and time to physically mingle and meet, share stories and make new friends. And just like that, SteemSaturday was born. The first one was held on 29 October at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Sandton, South Africa.

Picture credit

Giving ourselves a little more than 4 weeks to arrange speakers, venue, etc was very tight, and we had to market the event on top of organizing speakers and getting @ned out as the keynote speaker. Regardless we had a very nice turnout of more than 70 people, and meeting @ned, @bitcoinmeister, Lorien Gamaroff together with a great mix of Steemians and assorted tech geeks interested in Steemit, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency was a highlight for many at the event.

@ned delivered a very interesting keynote and many new steemians where born from this event. A number of our attendees have never used cryptocurrency or Steemit, and his talk demystified quite a few aspects of both.

With press coverage limited due to the timeframes, we still had a number of journalists doing press coverage, and we had coverage in local tech publications such as ITWeb.

With ample time to network at the lunch afterwards, the day was not only about talks and presentations, but also about getting to know each other better. Great new ideas were shared and discussed, showing us just how vibrant the blockchain and crypto community is in South Africa, and that it is fertile ground and a great entry point into the rest of Africa.

2017 will be bigger and better with a great new line-up, and far more extensive press coverage. Be sure to watch this space for more information as well as feedback post event.

Please share this post far and wide and follow us @sportspodium for more information.

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If you missed our earlier blog posts, please see the links below:

• New platform launching for blockchain based social media platform aimed at the global sport community
• The need for @sportspodium – What are we aiming to solve?
• Who is the SportsPodium Target market?
• Background to SportsPodium - ICO to be announced!
• Why SportsPodium is such a good idea
• Why was Sports Podium Created?
• Sport Statistics - Soccer
• The role of role modelling as a driver for success
• What is the most supported sports in the world?
• The top 10 most played sports in the world
• SportsPodium is sponsoring Steem Saturday
• Badminton - The second most played sport in the world.
• What Steem Saturday Johannesburg is going to accomplish?
• Steem Saturday Johannesburg – The Venue