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Good Afternoon my fellow Steemers.

First of all - I am not an artist, a DJ, a photographer, and on my best day, Im not even a good writer. I am however passionate about Steemit and like most of you want to see it grow and thrive. I have been an active member of the community for well over 3 months now and have over 340+ posts. I like many others continue to share content in the hopes that both my writing skills get better and that some of my posts are appreciated.

This post serves as both my way to contribute to Steemfest and Steemit itself and as well as maybe get the help of the community to help supplement some of the expenses for the trip for me and my fiancee to Amsterdam for the event. I am in no way expecting anything and will still try my best to go, but would appreciate any help in the form of upvotes and support.

I have been thinking of ways I can both contribute to the event as well as do my part to spread the word about Steemit. What I have come up with is the following:

What is it?

I have worked with a local designer, fabricator, and distributor to create lapel pin which acts as both a souvenir and marketing brand that I expect to give away for free to all participants during registration at the event. I expect to provide these whether I am able to attend or not - but I'm hoping to attend. I have paid for both the design and fabrication of the pins through some of my Steemit earnings as well as my own pocket. It's a small price to pay for the future growth of the platform.

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They will be delivered in the next 5-10 business days and I will post an updated pic of the actual pins as soon as I receive them. I expect to hand carry them or ship them to @roelandp for distribution during registration.

Why a pin?

I think there are several reasons that a pin is significant.

1. It's a marketing tool. The pin alone promotes the Steemit logo as well as the event itself.
2. You can easily identify fellow Steemit community members.
3. It's a Souvenir that you can take with you as a token of your visit to the first ever official Steem event.
4. A lapel pin is dignified. You see most heads of state wearing them during conventions, summits, and international conferences, which in a way is somewhat like the event we are attending[Image Source]

I was initially contemplating having several different types made, so that Steemfest participants would be forced to interact and meet with each other in order to trade and collect them all - Similar to what is done during the Olympics where pins are traded so people from different countries can interact and get to know one another - I'm still contemplating this.

I hope and plan to bring the pins myself, but as I mentioned previously, my attendance is still up in the air. I am currently responsible for expenses for both my grandmothers passing (which I made a post about previously) as well as relocation expenses on my pending move back to the US and my wedding. Because I don't want to overshadow the contribution part of this post my ask for any assistance is last.

It may not be much, but when you add the hotel costs and the flight costs all together in addition to the expenses listed above, it can be much and unfortunately I must consider my priorities.

skyscanner.net price comparison

I hope with the communities help, I can supplement some of the expenses for the trip and finally meet some of you in person, especially the many content developers and contributors that I follow and highly respect.

Thanks You in advance for any upvotes and support!

I hope you enjoy my contribution even though it may not be much.

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As always Thanks for reading and keep on Steeming!!

Please let me know what you think in the comments below