Devcon 3!!! | Ethereum Foundation Blog

Note from ED:

A huge thank you to the attending development community, speakers, internal teams, sponsors, enthusiasts, volunteers, events team, students and other stakeholders who came together for another phenomenal Devcon3!

First of all, yes, all session videos from the Main Hall and Breakout Hall will be posted on the Ethereum Foundation YouTube channel as soon as the post-production team finishes the videos. This year, I signed a contract with a post-production team and brought them on site so they could begin on-site work as soon as the original footage was delivered. With two halls instead of one, there were nearly twice as many presentations to process, so staff had to spend four days (last year’s three days) to cut, edit, render, and upload DevCon presentations to the web. I’m working hard. .

A tweet (@ethereumproject) will be posted in the next 7-10 days!

Second, as promised, we have invested the time and resources necessary to engage vendors who can provide free live streaming of the main stage presentations so that those who cannot attend the venue can view the main hall presentations live. By all accounts, live streaming went well for those with good internet connections.

Third, photos taken by Devcon 3 official photographers are available! They are currently preparing the album to be shared online early next week.

As Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, one of my responsibilities is running Devcon. We are excited to plan and execute our annual developer conference. Additionally, by participating as an event host, I was able to communicate with more people. Our development community has accomplished more than ever before during the year.

Meeting the high expectations our attending community had for Devcon3 was a tall order. That’s why the planning started 10-11 months ago. When we finally had the event, everyone felt that the time, effort, and effort it took to plan such an event was worth it.

I personally traveled to Cancun several times to respond to public demand, quadrupling the size of the event and accommodating as many people as possible. Fortunately, we were able to safely and effectively increase capacity, and Cancun ended up being the most popular location we have ever been to. After increasing Devcon’s capacity several times, the number that could safely be accommodated was close to 2,000.

This was not without substantial efforts from all event teams, including providing an event with 2.5 times the number of attendees compared to last year and increasing physical space from a banquet hall to a conference center that can utilize and occupy three floors at any time. Over 78,000 square feet of rooms, outdoor spaces, auditoriums and halls.

Devcon was the first to offer: Second presentation hall, allowing for 40% more sessions; a press room with live viewing of main stage presentations; Various meeting rooms and open spaces for networking; Larger custom sponsor “booths”; Presenter workspace; devcon and internal team workrooms; And there are two scheduled breakout sessions: one on the topic of zk-SNARKs research with Eli Ben Sassoon as a special guest speaker, and another on P2P technologies hosted by the Swarm team.

We had originally considered a location in an American city, but we received quite a few emails telling the foundation not to hold Devcon in the United States because they would not be able to obtain a visa. Current unwelcoming immigration policies and the long delays travelers face when connecting flights or staying in the U.S. haven’t helped. I hope things improve in the future.

Nonetheless, we are pleased to say that not only was there no security incident at the Devcon3 venue, but many attendees shared photos and stories of their gatherings, trips to world-class beaches and fun, trips to Mayan ruins, and their time at sea. Outside the venue, you can enjoy the Caribbean sun and warm blue sea. The Cancun Hotel Zone was ideally located to provide the region with the services it needs to host a conference like Devcon, including lodging, lodging, internet access and amenities. Devcon is expected to grow to some extent, so locations are likely to remain in developed areas and/or more urban areas.

I’ve been working in the cryptocurrency industry since 2010, but it wasn’t until I ran Devcon1 that I realized why the Ethereum community is so unique and valuable to the larger blockchain ecosystem. It became clear that the Foundation’s R&D-focused programs would best benefit developers through curated R&D-focused programs that allow developers to come together face-to-face in real time at least once a year.

The Devcon experience naturally embodies a kind of cohesion despite the areas typically communicating virtually/remotely and asynchronously.

After all, the energy and excitement of DevCon isn’t really felt unless you’re physically present. For those who couldn’t attend, this year we provided split bandwidth for live streaming. As a side note, we were informed by the venue last year that reliable live streaming was not available in China at any price, but this is a fraction of the cost of holding an event in a given country and we believe it is still worth it. Last year in particular was an important year for us, supporting the interest, growth and momentum coming from our growing Chinese community.

There are currently many events in the Ethereum, cryptocurrency and blockchain space, catering to a variety of sectors and special interest groups, including events for enterprise, insurance, banking, fintech, financial services, investors/VCs, energy sector, government and education. There are a lot more events being volunteered. and related hackathons, presentations, etc. As Ethereum moves toward greater adoption, it becomes increasingly valuable to stick to the Foundation’s Developer Conference (Devcon) covering the platform, base layer development, and research.

The work our developers and others do at the platform development and research level is critical to informing the work done by application developers, entrepreneurs, executives who support and innovate new technologies, inventors, technical systems designers, and other forward thinkers. . Alternatively, businesses and organizations use the Ethereum platform. Our R&D projects have grown steadily from about six development areas two years ago to about 20 tasks and sub-projects today. For reference, please see the regular summary on the Ethereum blog.

It is no secret that the demand for Ethereum developers far exceeds supply. For this reason, we don’t have the resources or time to easily attend events like Devcon, but we contribute to academic research, thinking, and research while also benefiting the community and ecosystem at large with a healthy pipeline for developers. We are delighted that Devcon3 has the largest and most international exhibition for students and college students to date.

Of course, there is always room for improvement and the best events can only get better. Next year we are looking at using RFID passes used at events such as Comicon to improve registration, possibly increasing the capacity of the second hall and adding an additional “track”. Location will be determined by a number of logistical factors, and like last year we welcome feedback, but because our community is international, no single location will be prioritized.

Devcon has come a long way over the past three years. Devcon0 was an internal group of about 50 developers gathered in Berlin. Devcon1 was held in a ballroom in London that could accommodate 300 people, but the attendance was closer to 400. Devcon2 could accommodate 700 people in the grand ballroom of a hotel in Shanghai, with nearly 800 attendees. This year we had 2000 participants!

To reduce the carbon footprint of these large-scale events and support the local economy, we sourced everything from printing, manufacturing and production of event items locally and gave priority to local people for volunteering opportunities. Many Mexican residents and volunteers from neighboring Spanish-speaking countries would not have been able to participate if their only option had been to pay American or European prices for the event. The average monthly income in the Yucatan Peninsula can be found out how much a heavily discounted student card costs.

Devcon3 volunteers were students, community developers and organizers, researchers, or Ethereum enthusiasts who went through a review, approval, and interview process to join the event team. It was thanks to their help and the collaboration of the attending community and internal teams that together we were able to deliver another great result.

Despite how challenging, unique, expressive, and dramatic the cryptocurrency world is, Devcon, the non-profit developer conference, has been a special event that amplifies the best that our community and organizations have to offer.

Acknowledgments:

In no particular order, many thanks to all the teams and individuals involved in planning and executing this year. PR and external relations, graphic design and art direction; webdev, A/V, photography and post-production team members; Trustees, legal staff, officers and administrative assistants; Program and Agenda Team Members; Local Mexican and Spanish-speaking volunteers who helped with translation and communication with Mexican suppliers, volunteers who worked with the press, performed emcee duties, helped with internal security, and handled t-shirts and registration; Mexico Venue and Supplier Team Leader and Key Contact.

Of course, we would like to thank all the team leaders, researchers, and developers who presented about their projects at Devcon3, shared their work, thoughts, and time, and helped coordinate teams for panel and group presentations. We would also like to extend a huge thank you to all of the speakers on the agenda who provided information, insight, commentary, and clarification on their Ethereum research, development work, projects, and efforts. Special thanks to Toya, who devoted the most time to supporting overall Devcon3 planning and execution.

We would also like to thank all of our Devcon3 top-level sponsors and community sponsors who went through a fairly complex process to participate and support the event. The small business and startup participation program, which has been running for two years, has become so popular that there has been an overflow of subscribers several months before the event. If we continue to provide sponsorship next year, we will increase the number of community sponsors to allow more startups and young companies with limited resources to participate.

Last but not least, the attending community interested in Ethereum development and research, which not only represents the majority of Devcon’s attendees, but also becomes part of the positive, constructive, high energy that Devcon brings together. Our events are a great addition to this community that is growing, evolving, and gathering more momentum each year (all three)!

“With love from Cancun”

ED (Executive Doge)

Ming Chan