Reflections - My ETHCC Brussels Experience
Focus.
If I were to define my experience during Europe’s biggest Ethereum Conference, ETHCC, in one word, it would be focus.
Why?
Being my second time attending ETHCC, I was able to be much more intentional about my time there. Working remotely non-stop for five years has made me realize the importance of IRL gatherings and human connection. So, in second place, the priority was to have fun. Yes, fun. Laugh, hang out, connect, and bond with my peers and friends that I’ve been working with for the past three years of this crazy but immensely fulfilling web3 life. I also made sure to leave time and energy for free flow so that the universe could connect me with surprising humans and deep moments too.
This article’s goal is to inspire you for your next Ethereum conference, hoping that you can also focus on the beauty of the time that we’re living in, and how lucky we are to be able to be builders of the new internet and travel the world while doing so. For each section, I’ll share a tip that you can take and consider for your next experience.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
💡 Tip #1: Focus.
Graduation Day at SheFi 🎓
My first stop in Brussels was a very special event and community that I’m very proud to be part of and keep close to my heart: SheFi. Maggie Love and her team produced a powerful, uplifting, and vibing event full of professional, kind, and kick-ass women. I had the honor to speak and share my story, wins, and challenges as part of the ‘From 0 to Web3 Mastery’ panel with Victoria from Mento Labs, Brichis from Ethereum Mexico and Optimism, and Gemma.
This special moment surely felt like a graduation, since at last year’s ETHCC I was a first-time attendee, and later during 2023, I became part of the Season 9 Cohort.
When I joined SheFi, I had learned many things about web3 through decentralized community work, but it always seemed like bits and pieces without a clear structure. As I mentioned in the talk, joining SheFi felt like an oasis in a desert because the guidance, education, and mentorship that Maggie provided helped me organize everything I had in mind—all the concepts that I had learned—in a clear way, plus it increased my level of web3 knowledge tenfold in just three months.
I felt very confident speaking on stage and feel very proud of that. The process of public speaking in a language that isn’t your first one is never easy, but as Maggie says, every time you ‘do it scared,’ the feeling on the other side is immensely fulfilling and peaceful. I totally recommend doing everything scared if you have to.
With this special initial moment, ETHCC Week was off to an amazing start.
During the next days, I attended events focused on education, onboarding, culture, public goods, and regenerative finance. These are my realms and the topics that deeply interest me. I didn’t have this clarity last year for sure. I had feelings of where I wanted to go and who I wanted to connect with, but this year, it was very different. I felt prepared and had clarity in my heart and mind. I was ready for the next phase in life.
💡 Tip #2: Do it scared.
A Week to Remember
This year, before flying over to Brussels, I remembered and acknowledged the overwhelming amount of information that ETHCC week involves. That’s why I took some time two days before traveling to plan ahead and have everything handy on my phone while I was on the move. This included:
Hand-picking the events that I wanted to attend related to my core tracks: education, onboarding, culture, public goods, and regenerative finance.
Adding each event to my Google Calendar and attaching the respective ticket or QR code if needed.
Making a Google Maps list called ‘ETHCC Brussels’ and adding all the venues of the events I wanted to attend, and calculating distances to ensure everything was a maximum 10-15 minute walk from my hotel.
This exercise took me around three hours—a lot of time—but the peace of mind it gave me onsite was priceless.
Here’s the list of events and venues I attended during the following days:
Farcaster and POAP meetup
SheFi Community Brunch
Gitcoin & Tally: Blank Canvas
ENS: The New Internet
Go Bankless Meetup
Mantle Mixer (a surprise event with beautiful views and vibes)
ETHCC Main Event
Boys Club & Optimism L’ Apero
Gitcoin Passport Sybil Soirée
Blockchain For Good Unconference
Zero Snacks
OttoDAO & Web3 Familia Mixer
rAAVE
Bankless Academy Onboarding Booth @ Regen Village
Grants F*ck Up Night
PizzaDAO Brussels
Refraction: Towns
Regen Village
These are the events that I would have loved to attend but missed due to clashes (it felt like everything happened between Monday and Tuesday of ETHCC Week):
Optimistic Gathering
Serotonin Chalet
afk Brussels
💡 Tip #3: Plan ahead.
Highlights of the Week
Having attended the amazing events listed above, here are a few important moments that I will cherish for years to come:
Finally getting my first official ENS card!
Meeting new Bankless family members at the Go Bankless event.
Using Farcaster to add frens IRL and recognizing several of them while collecting POAP memories.
Meditating with Lori Ann from On Air Onchain.
Participating in a workshop session at the Gitcoin & Tally event.
Catching up with the ETH Milan fam at the Mantle Mixer, enjoying the stunning views of Brussels.
Discovering all the activities at the main event, including my preferred talks: the Regens Unite workshop, Caolan’s presentation about Public Goods, Account Abstraction by Coinbase, and Web3 Writing by Corey Janssen.
My favorite moment: jumping and playing in the ball pit with Didier, Lefteris and his lovely daughter.
Meeting new girlfrens like Lixie living in Milan at Boys Club L’Apero
Dressing up and masked at Gitcoin Passport’s Sybil Soiree, and meeting Humpty from Crypto Sapiens after three years of being a BanklessDAO alumni.
Engaging in fantastic and deep talks at the Blockchain For Good Unconference, learning about Open Source Education, and connecting with new people.
Catching up with the Zerion fam while relaxing at the park, and learning about privacy from jimjim.eth at the LottoPGF meetup.
Dancing like there was no tomorrow at my first rAAVE.
Hosting an onboarding booth with Didier Krux as part of Bankless Academy’s contribution to Regen Village.
Receiving my Regen Village NFC Citizen Wallet, claiming $REGEN tokens, and exchanging them for regen swag. I also got a copy of the latest book from Kevin Owocki, Onchain Capital Allocation.
Stopping by PizzaDAO to give a big hug to Snax and being surprised by the Go Kart. Dancing a bit more at the Refraction DAO event.
Chilling out at Regen Village on Friday while waiting for my turn to go back to the airport.
Meeting local frens from Brussels that onboard new people through WaffleDAO and eating the 5th waffle of the week. Thank you so much, Regens Unite, for creating such a lovely space!
The Layer 0: The People
Before web3, part of my daily life involved organizing weekly events for 300 to 1,000 people and producing music festivals with up to 12,000 attendees. The amount of work, resilience, patience, and time sacrificed with family and friends that goes into preparing these events is unprecedented. I mention this because I want to highlight the most important part of every conference, gathering, or highlight from last week: the people.
None of these magical moments would be possible without the great humans who have decided to change their careers, take the risk of working in this field, and make things happen.
Before anything else, it’s us. Behind every project, community, protocol, or whatever, there’s a human making huge efforts to do their best work, and I find that nothing less than honorable.
If you attend a conference on behalf of a company, it can be different than attending on your own. That said, if that’s your case, please make sure to take time to rest, enjoy the moment, and most importantly, have fun. Remember that blockchains are trustless, but we are not. Trust is part of our essence, and there’s nothing more motivating—at least to me—than being able to build trust with so many people around the world with different backgrounds, nationalities, experiences, and beliefs.
💡 Tip #4: Cherish relationships
Some Special Thank You’s
Before wrapping up this reflection article, I would like to express special gratitude to a few friends that made my ETHCC Brussels experience one to remember.
Didier Krux for being an amazing fren and colleague, this ETHCC experience wouldn’t have been the same without you. Love learning, exploring and dancing together!
Dayana Aleksandrova for your love, support, and for taking the amazing picture capturing my essence while speaking at SheFi. I am so proud of how you’ve found your place in the space, your thrive to keep going and your amazing content! This is only the beginning.
Cori, Jimi and the Regens Unite family for giving space and importance to onboarding and education, and supporting our work at Bankless Academy.
Conclusion
ETHCC was a powerful reminder of the importance of focus, courage, preparation, and the incredible people that work and are building the new internet. I am incredibly grateful and honored to be part of this movement, and lifestyle. Every event and connection deepened my appreciation for our web3 community and the work we're doing.
The real magic of web3 lies in the people behind it. Thanks to everyone who made my ETHCC unforgettable. I hope the tips shared here can be useful for any new and also OG frens in web3. Here’s to many more conferences filled with learning, growth, and amazing connections. Let’s continue BUIDLing the future together.
See you at the next one!
