We made 100 A4 full-color prints for the event. This included Spanish and English versions of the first five DCR Comics (Politeia, PoW, DEX, PoS and Privacy).
We had no booth, so we just handed them to whoever we talked to till we ran out of comics.
- Choose your own conversation:
- Having five different DCR Comics allowed us to briefly present how diverse Decred is. After skimming through the comics, people usually asked about a particular topic and what Decred is doing.
- In other cases, when we were the ones choosing the topic, having the comics allowed us to show we have points in common with a particular project. This is how we engaged with Zcash (Privacy), Signatura (DCR Time), Blockchain for Humanity (Politeia), Slush Pool (PoW / Ticket Rick), and other projects.
- This is a gift
- We also gave comics to some of the key speakers of LABITCONF. We talked about education with some and discussed how to approach the next generation of crypto users. Jimmy Song got a comic and was happy to see Stakey, Andreas Antonopoulos got a copy of each comic and liked them, Bitcoin Argentina NGO loved the idea of introducing 14-30 yo to crypto using cartoons.
- Asynchronous conversation
- Even in a hurry, the comics allowed us to present a variety of Decred developments. If someone had to go, we kindly gave them comics to keep and read. At the end of each one, they have an link to the docs o the blog, our social media handles and Decred's site.
Loose comics worked wonders, but it could be better. DCR Comic will put together a small magazine, fanzine or decredzine. This will include every comic up to that date and we could consider printing some great DCR blog posts, articles or even charts.
Not having a booth turned up nicely. At the event, we were the ones actively talking to people, no matter if they were walking around or at their own booth. This also gave us freedom to stay and talk where people were. Be that the first floor, the second one, or next to the main stage.
I strongly suggest ALWAYS considering this kind of approach, unless there are planned activities for the booth like lightning talks, Decred 101 or QA. The booth should not be there waiting for someone to come, most of the team should be walking around engaging with others.
Specially at costly events where the booth cost could be compared to hundreds of hours of development.
LABITCONF is dominated by community projects. There may be some corporate participants, like exchanges, but its organizers have a strong sense of community and like to give space to social impact projects. It is a great community that could be quite receptive to Decred's principles.