When @firepower announced the India Steemit Accelerator #2 at Bangalore, I was wondering if I could get in touch with him and arrange a similar event in my hometown of Pune.

I have benefited quite a lot from Steemit and I really want to bring on board all of my creative musician friends to the platform. But then I realised that before I can properly convince anyone else, I need to know as much as possible about Steemit and the blockchain.
I am the kind of person who would want to understand what I am getting into first so that it becomes easier for me to explain to anyone else.
Though I have been on Steemit for over a month now, there are still things which I was struggling to understand.

So I decided to go to Banglore for the event!

Now it is very difficult to get last moment train tickets and flight tickets were pretty expensive. Hence I decided to travel by bus.
Pune to Banglore (or Bengaluru as it was renamed) is more than 800 Km. It takes 13+ hours by road!
Since this was my only option, I booked a 6 pm Bus on Saturday.
Apart from the snoring uncle in the seat next to me because of whom I hardly got any sleep, my journey was smooth. I reached Banglore at 8:30 am and took a rickshaw to the venue: Robert Bosch India HQ.

I arrived at 9 am. Since the event timing was 10:30 am, I was the first one there! But the guards at the gate were kind enough to let me in and I freshened up and waited at the reception. While waiting I jotted down a few questions which I wanted answered about Steemit, the blockchain and other related subjects.

People started coming in at 10:20 am and I met Meghan aka @firepower. He was setting up for the conference and was very warm and welcoming. I immediately felt like I am meeting an old friend.

We waited while others turned up. I met people I knew from Steemit and the India Discord channel like @vj1309, @andreanoronha, @nandan and others.

Btw, people from India, this is a good time to plug in the Indian Discord channel. Go Join : https://discord.gg/UeD5U8Q

We started at 11 am with a round of introductions by everyone and then @firepower began the conference by explaining in detail about blockchain and steemit.
A wide variety of topics were covered from complete basics of steemit and account creation to networking, experience sharing, legalities of cryptocurrency in India and lot of Q&A.

I asked a lot of question but Meghan and everyone else answered them patiently and without getting irritated. Thank you! :)

Post the event we took some great pics which I am sure Meghan will share.

I still had time to spare as my bus back was at 6 pm. So @andreanoronha took me to a moto themed cafe where all the biking enthusiasts from the event were hanging out. @bikergirl @varunpinto @wandereronwheels

Big thank you to @andreanoronha for making me feel at home and part of the group, helping out with the cab and just being generally nice! :)

I've come back (enduring another 13-hour bus ride and another loud snoring uncle) with a lot of things to process from the learnings. And most importantly, making new friends! ✨

I should also say that this entire trip was sponsored by the money I earned right here on Steemit!

Next Steps:

My aim is to get as many Indian musicians I can onto the platform! It's a great way for creators like us to get noticed and have immediate interactions with audience and fans (and earn in the process!).
I will be working on gathering some people who are already interested in the platform and arrange an accelerator event in Pune with Meghan's help.

A big thank you to @firepower and the team for organizing the event!

I hope many more Indians will join Steemit and we can actully have a Steemfest India, say next year? 😁 ✨

Banner image (and the standee design you see behind my selfie with @andreanoronha) by @sjennon.

♨️ STEEM ON ♨️

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