Steem Saturday in Johannesburg - I am pumped!

(Steem Saturday - Opening address by Ned Scott)

On Saturday I attended the very first Steem Saturday in Johannesburg. For me, the reason for attending this day was threefold;

Firstly, like many other “members”, it is a good idea to validate that Steem is real. What I mean is that I wanted to see things like a road map for where it is going and see the commitment in what we are busy building. Personally I am more interested in the Steem infrastructure than the fact that there is a new social network busy to evolve.

(Steem Saturday - Lorian talking about the Gartner Group Hype Cycle and the Gartner Group prediction of the Bitcoin on the Hype Cycle)

Secondly, I wanted to learn from the early adopters what the possibilities for using the platform are. I am planning to not only use Steemit as a blogger (but watch this space), but also as a basis for some applications I have in mind.

(Steem Saturday - Ricardo talking about his Billboard and SteemSports iniatives)

Thirdly, I wanted to do some networking as I noticed that this is very important ingredient for successful participation in the Steemit community.

(Steem Saturday - Delegates socializing during tea break)

What I have learned:

Steem and Steemit is very real, and Ned Scott ( @ned and Co.) has some definite plans for the future. Although, during lunch, I was part of an informal discussion of how one specific group (I decided not to mention what they are planning or busy with as I think they would like to do their own announcements – @kiligirl I am looking at you for these announcements!) plan to use this infrastructure to solve the world energy crisis (yes, you heard me right!), and I could see that Ned was pleasantly surprise of how other people see this new environment evolved. He made comments that this new knowledge will clearly help him and the team to prioritise certain enhancement developments planned for the short and medium term.

(Steem Saturday - Many people wanted to talk to Gavin ( @gavvet ) during the tea break (and lunch and ...)

The talks by the early adopters (specifically Ricardo Goncalves ( @thecryptodrive ) and indirectly by Lorien Gamaroff ( @gamaroff ) was much more of an eye opener to me that what I hoped to get from this. Ricardo’s implementation of @steemsports gave me clear guidelines on how I can use the Steem and Steemit infrastructure to build my planned enhancements – all I now need to do, is to sit down, do the re-design and then do the actual implementation. Exciting times ahead! Or as Adam ( @bitcoinmeister ) put it during tea break when I noticed him being so fixated in his tweeting that he does not go out to socialize with the other delegates , “I am totally pumped”!

The third goal was most likely the one that I did not fulfil as I wanted to – but that is down to personality. I am more of an introvert, so for me it is not so easy to leave a lasting impression on first contact. Nether the less, it was good to meet so many enthusiastic Steem members even if they will not remember me, I surely will remember many of them and will try to keep contact with them – after all, Steemit is a social network.

(Steem Saturday - My friend Linsey Dyer ( @kiligirl ) talking to Lorien Gamaroff ( @gamaroff ) during tea break)

(Steem Saturday - My friend Tim Beck ( @tim-beck ) humoring me - my way of socializing)

(I could not resist asking Ned ( @ned ) to pose with me for a photo)