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Hey everyone! I just attended my very first Steemit meetup or event in Bangkok, Thailand. I am into my 4th month on Steemit, and there was so much more to learn and discover about Steemit platform. I bet there is even MORE that I have yet to learn and explore. Well, learning is such, ain't it? A big thanks to @maverickfoo and @deborism for today's event! Not only that it was an enlightening experience for me, I had the opportunity to meet other bloggers that are based in Thailand too.

It took me about 50 minutes to reach the venue, and I managed to get a quick lunch and coffee (of course) before walking into the venue. The first person that I met was Sam, @travelling-two at the lift area. We walked into the venue on the 13th floor, and I must say that the venue was a pretty relaxing co-working space. Loved the bean bags and different forms of chairs. Bright yellow and orange colours complemented the dark brown and black space around it. I then discovered from @nichanank that the said venue is one of the well-known co-working and meet-up spaces in Bangkok.

The start of the presentation

I managed to steal some time for a quick face-to-face chat with @deborism before the start of the presentation. We have been chatting only via text messages on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger before this. 95% of our conversation was not about Steemit. xD

Introducing Steemit

Then, it was show time! We started off by sharing our individual intended takeaways from today's event. There was new and current Steemit bloggers among the audience, and it was definitely good hearing what they expected to learn from today's event. All in all, we were on the same wavelength to discover more things about Steemit platform. Our speaker, @maverickfoo first talked about the differences between Steemit and other social media platforms. We saw few statistics on the number of blog posts produced on different platforms, but sadly, without real earnings unlike Steemit. Many of us spend hours on these social media especially Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and we obtain huge numbers of likes, shares and comments... but without getting a single penny. Nothing, but personal fame - which is good but why not have that AND some real earnings?

Then, we were introduced to TRIPLE Es describing why Steemit platform is worth our time and effort. Easy to use. Early adopter. Earn real money. As I listened to his explanation, I couldn't agree more to what has been shared. When I first started my Steemit journey, it was quite easy to navigate on the platform as well as to write and post my contents, although I needed some help with the tags. Just like you, I started off with zero followers, and I had a super short briefing to what Steemit is all about. My introductory post was a simple one, but I saw the value of my post. I thought to myself, why are these people giving me the money or upvoting my post...? Then, I just decided to keep posting happy contents before eventually I learned to make it more valuable and lengthy to be curated, and stay connected to few communities that I truly appreciate. Having said so, I am very grateful to be part of the early adopters on this platform, aside from earning real money. My wildest dream would be to have sufficient to, perhaps, settle a part of my wedding expenses someday. I am not a big whale here on Steemit, but I can stay faithful with what I have, and just keep writing my stories here whilst participating in different contests.

Steemit Basics

Then, came the basics of Steemit. Steem Dollars, Steem Coins, Steem Power, Reputation, Upvote, Comment, Resteem, and Wallet. The diagram you see in the picture above helped me to better understand how both author and curator rewards work for each post. The terms were clearly outlined in simple, layman's terms for all of us to differentiate. One of my biggest hobbies here on Steemit is to upvote and comment, as much as I can (even if my upvote worth almost nothing) and I remembered that I did it way too much that my bandwidth was badly affected for weeks. I also found out that 2% of my voting power will be deducted for every single vote I used, and 20% of my voting power will recuperate on a daily basis. Mmmm, these numbers got me thinking a lot about how I will utilize my number of upvotes. I remembered staring blankly into space, imagining if I am a real whale on Steemit platform, I am very sure I will be the most bankrupt whale ever. LOL

On top of that, we were encouraged to also give quality comments, not generic ones, because we can also earn some ka-ching ka-ching from it! How awesome! The discussion went on a high note, until one of us asked about scammers on this platform. AHA! Just like many other social platforms, we will have scammers and other irritating bloggers. Our speaker explained about the art of downvotes, and some serious consequences of plagiarism on this platform with reference to one funny illustration of NSFW content (I'm going to skip this part, oh poor Flo). It was quite a meticulous explanation and we even ventured into special agents we have here on Steemit to maintain a positive ecosystem among the bloggers. Thanks to @cheetah and @steemcleaners for chasing irresponsible bloggers everyday. I definitely can relate to them in my profession as a teacher. I do not support and encourage my students to copy and paste their work directly from any sources with paraphrasing, summarizing and adding its relevant citations.

Steemit Ecosystem

Total transparency. Yup, these two words perfectly describes the ecosystem of Steemit. Literally, anyone can view everything about what a specific user has been doing. All transactions, rewards, upvotes, comments, and delegations. Talking about delegations, this is another huge aspect of Steemit that I have yet to explore since I am a super tiny plankton here on Steemit. Nevertheless, I am glad to know that there are many delegations made to support other bloggers, especially new ones with super quality posts that have yet to be noticed and recognized. I feel that delegations, when used appropriately, it can surely benefit us in the Steemit community. Pretty much a win-win situation.

Towards the end of the presentation, we also explored different established Steemit bloggers, and even bloggers that are based in Thailand. My jaw dropped when I saw two introductory posts that were worth thousands of SBD! Call it impossible, but it was for real. Mine did not even make 1% of that! Anyway, we ended with few more Q-and-As from the audience, and it's a wrap!

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My top 3 takeaways :)

1. Create quality contents or posts faithfully and truthfully

Drafting and writing quality contents or posts may be time-consuming for many of us. Well, at least for me. With great positivity, integrity and consistency, it boosts our reputation, and we can subsequently gain more followers. The possibility of being curated is higher too. Surely, there are Steemit users or bloggers that appreciate amazing contents and posts, so don't give up guys! Like I have said, I am four months into Steemit, and it will still be a quite a journey till I become a fish (let's not even talk about a whale).

2. Stay connected with different communities

I cannot exactly recall how I've got myself into two most supportive communities here on Steemit, #teammalaysia and #steemitbloggers. I have only virtually met the awesome peeps behind these communities, and I am sure that these communities have come a long way to right where they are today. They were once a mini plankton, just like you and me. They started off with the same reputation like us, at 25.

3. Be open-minded, giving and supportive

There is just so much to explore about Steemit, and thus, keeping an open mind is essential, especially to improve our writing. And yes... I will be a little wiser with my upvotes (meh, I will try!). I really admired how @maverickfoo emphasized on giving away the profits earned through his events and workshops for charitable purposes. Truly a heart of gold. It is definitely more rewarding to be able to give than to receive.

Last but not least, of course we had our coffee date after the session! :)

Thank you for reading my post today! Hope you enjoyed it.

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