Why I Want to Attend STEEMFest2

First, I'd like to thank @aggroed, @steemfestdreams, and @theprophet0 for putting on this game/contest! It is incredible that y'all are making people's STEEMFest2 dreams come true (and I mean this sincerely, not just sucking up in attempt to sway your vote :) ). Also thanks to @roelandp for all you do and helping put on STEEMFest2!

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First a Little About My Steemit Journey so Far

Part 1: My Talk with Ned

Four months ago, I sat in a hotel room in Portland, Maine with a couple college buddies after a long day at the Startup Experience Workshop. It was a Friday night and the brews started to work their magic.

The conversation became lively and took a sudden twist, "Hey Rob, how about that Bitcoin?" Going into my usual "I think blockchain technology is the future, but I do not understand the economics so don't take my investment advice" response, the new kid in our makeshift group for the night spoke up "Hey Rob, check this out!"

The Bates kid (I go to Colby College and Bates College is our rival) pulled out his phone and showed me a listing of the cryptocurrencies ranked by daily transaction volume, "My buddy's crypto is ranked ninth" he slurred showing me Steem.

Yup, I learned of Steem in a hotel room drunk with a stranger from my rival school.

The night commenced and we had a damn good time. I do not remember most of what else happened that night, but I made a new friend and we have kept in contact since then.

The following week, he connected me with Ned. I had been studying blockchain for the previous couple months as part of an independent study and a blockchain competition (which I won!). So, I had a working knowledge of the blockchain and knew a few of the biggest projects, but hadn't yet heard of Steemit. The call with Ned changed my view of crypto. He described this thing called Austrian Economics and the idea of using cryptocurrency to incentivize people to do things they already do. It seemed so simple, too simple. Curious, I signed up for Steemit later that day.

Part 2: The Early Days

At the beginning, I used Steemit to blog about my daily progress on a side project I called (100DaysToICO). Unfortunately finals and crazy math classes soon ate up my time and I was unable to make it through the 100 day project.

However, once school ended, I picked up Steemit again. Not wanting to go back to my old project, I began my dark stage of Steemit. I had no unique content to post and "Shit-Posted" for nearly an entire month, hoping to gain followers, money, etc. IT WAS A HUGE FAILURE.

Part 3: Steeming with a Purpose

Then along came SteemEngine.

SteemEngine became my new side project. SteemEngine is essentially MetaMask for Steem; SteemEngine is a Google Chrome extension allowing easy Steem integration into web applications so developers can give Steem owners a place to use their money. It is similar to SteemConnect, but attempts to solve the same (or a very similar) problem in a different manner. As I started developing SteemEngine a month ago, I began to create unique, original content on Steemit and really begin interacting with this wonderful community.

Part 4: Now

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I am taking the next year of college off to work on some personal things. A consequence of this is I am no longer able to do an internship this summer. However, that has become a blessing in disguise. Now I am able to work on SteemEngine full time and really devote myself to the Steemit community. The progress over the past few weeks has been astounding. I am hoping to release a beta version of SteemEngine by the beginning of Fall 2017.

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Reasons I Want to Attend STEEMFest2

1) SteemEngine Demo

I get goosebumps every time I watch product reveal/demo videos such as:



I have always dreamed of making such a demonstration. I know STEEMFest is not quite WWDC (at least not yet :) ) however, I would love the opportunity to demonstrate SteemEngine, in person, to the Steem community. It would be an incredible opportunity and I would be able to check something off of my bucket list.

2) Community

Over the past few months, I have begun to develop some great relationships with fellow Steemians. Just a few are @good-karma and @matt-a. The opportunity to meet some of these people, @ned, and some of my Steemit idols would be incredible. Even the opportunity to get some in person feedback on SteemEngine, talk with people about some of the ideas I have for the future of Steem and just get to personally know some of my fellow Steemians would be phenomenol.

3) Be A Part of the Now

I have missed some incredible opportunities lately:

• I had a free ticket to Consensus 2017
• I was accepted to the Blockgeeks Lab Hackathon

Due to the circumstances and the location of these events, I was unable to attend. Having now been involved with blockchain/crypto/DLT for over six months, I know it is going to be THE next big thing. I'll be talking about how I was involved in the early stages of the Steemit community and working with this tech many, many years from now. So, even if this turns into the Dot Com Bust (knock on wood), I want to be a part of it. I want to live it. I want to be a part of the now. The opportunity to attend STEEMFest2 would allow me to live in the now and be a memory I'll be able to talk about for a LONG time.

4) THE HACKTAHON!!!

I absolutely love hackathons. By love, I mean hate/love. Hackathons have to be the epitome of hate/love relationships. I'm always so excited at the beginning, I feel like shit 20 hours into it, and then at the end, my sleep deprived self is again having a great time. The opportunity to spend 24 hours hacking away with fellow Steemian would be incredible. I'd love to have some solid dev time with others to solve some of the problems with Steemit! Meeting @charlieshrem is an added bonus!

5) Travel

The last reason, and the most trivial, I have never been to Europe. I have been to Australia and all over Canada, but never Europe. This would knock yet another thing off of my bucket list :)

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How Much I'll Need for the Plane Ticket

Here are the cheapest flights according to Google Flights:

I have cashed out about $200 of Steem and have been cashing out about $50-$80 a week, but that will likely go towards the hotel. So, I will probably need like $800-$1100, or the full cost of the flight above. I am starting a side job in a few weeks, but at that time, the ticket prices will probably rise. I am unfortunately a poor college kid so trips like this are not totally realistic without some help :)

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Conclusion

Over the past four months, Steemit has become my main social media. Now that I have begun development on SteemEngine, it has become my main hobby as well. Attending STEEMFest 2 would be an incredible opportunity that I would be eternally grateful for. I hope you consider me! Thanks for reading, cheers, and Steem on!

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