An Uneasy Lunch & Teaching Students To Start Posting On Steemit

First slide of the presentation

About a month ago, I shared here about a plan to get some of my students on Steemit. These students could lose their funding and were planning to work part time to pay for their daily needs. I was hoping to form a community for Steemit among some future teachers at a university.

The Process

It was particularly difficult to get the students to come. One of the reasons was because their schedule was packed. These university students have back to back classes from 7.30am until 4pm. In the evenings, they have practice for an upcoming drama performance. Furthermore, most of them were not able to get their accounts approved.

A few weeks went by until finally, some of them received that confirmation E-mail from Steemit. After much planning, a time was finally decided. However, I had only two hours to introduce and talk about the benefits of Steemit.

The Uneasy Lunch

On the day of the presentation, half of them were not able to make it due to prior engagements. Thus, I was left with about 10 students. Lunch was provided by me and had to be paid in fiat currency. It's unfortunate that @danielwong did not open his burger store near my locale, or else the burgers would have been from his store and paid in Steem.

It was a rather awkward lunch I have to say. I suspect some of them thought that I was going to sell them something like one of those dodgy salesman. It was likely that some of them thought that the food was a bribe before my sales pitch. There was a sense of uneasiness in the room before the sharing begun.

The Sharing Session

In true primary school classroom style, most of the students decided to sit on the floor. Apparently it was more comfortable than the sofa.

I started by reassuring them that I was not there to sell them any product, nor was I going to ask them to find more clients like a multi-level marketing scheme. I started by talking about their future predicament, touching on their very busy study schedule while having to work part time. From there, I spoke of how Steemit could potentially help alleviate some of the financial issues that they may face.

Some of the students were concerned that they would have to find time to create content. However, I assured them that all they needed to do, was to change the platform they use. Many of them are Instagram and Facebook users. Thus, it was merely a switch to a better platform that rewards them for their creativity.

As the session went on, many of them grew even more interested. That was because they were listening on a full stomach at 2pm in the afternoon. It was the perfect time to nap, yet many of them were listening attentively. There was a buzz and a sense of excitement with regards to the potential of Steemit, especially the monetary aspect of it. Many of them were particularly interested in Steepshot as well as Dlive. Steepshot was of interest to them due to its similarities with Instagram, whereas Dlive peaked the interest of some gamers present. Many had the idea of streaming their Dota and Counter-Strike gameplays.

The Way Forward

I sat down as many of them were literally looking up to me =)

After some questions from the students, I pointed out that the best time to start posting is now. As a teacher, old habits die hard. Thus, they were given a homework to complete in the form of an #introduceyourself post. A sample was given and guidance was provided for them to start.

Charting ahead, I will be introducing the students to the larger @teammalaysia team, especially the @teammalaysia Sabah group. Steemit is all about community and engagement, as such, I look forward to the future projects with the local community. Once the students have familiarized themselves with the workings of Steemit, there is a plan in the works to build a community, partnering @steemiteducation and @teammalaysia in education related projects.

I am looking forward to what this awesome group of students will do. Before I end, I do think that these students should have a name to the community that they will be part of. Can you think of a cool name for this new community? I look forward to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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