Wait, WHAT went down at MetaFest Croatia?! 👀
Why we organized MetaFest, how it went & more! 😱
Phew! It’s been over a month since MetaFest. It’s been challenging couple of months leading up to it, extremely challenging 2 weeks & extremely chill 2 weeks following it. We have almost fully recovered mentally but still haven’t wrapped everything up, such as this retrospective post! So here it goes.
In this post:
Bit of history & why we organized MetaFest
How organizing went
MetaFest livestreams
Some nice photos
How it was overall
Bus trip?!
Thank you!
Intro
So, how was MetaFest?
How would I know, I just organized it 🤣
If you’ve ever organized a conference, you’ll know you don’t really get to enjoy the conference you’ve organized.
But, was it meaningful?
Yes, extremely.
To understand this, let’s rewind a bit!
2011 - 2016
peth goes to pretty much every festival at Fort Punta Christo
peth: damn, would love to organize something here…
2019 - MetaGame is born
MetaGame is started (you can go read the post or the myth). What sparked me was experiencing the onboarding issues first-hand when joining DAOs & realizing Web3 as a whole has a huge issue.
First problem is understanding WTF Web3 is even about.
You’re either greeted by moonbois talking about lambos & prospects of getting rich, or by nerds, telling you how blockchains work at the technical level 😬
If you don’t already have a specific kind of worldview & context into how the world works, you are left wondering what all the fuss is about 😅
Is it all just a scam?
What good can it actually do?
Why are governments & banks so afraid of it?
Anyhow!
MetaGame was started to solve this onboarding problem.
Goals:
Help people understand the meaning of this technology
Help them upskill & start contributing to DAOs
Help them build their own DAO if they want to
…
Build a whole alternative socioeconomic system that’s geared towards personal & collective development, betterment of all lived experience & ecological regeneration - as opposed to, you know, maximum profit extraction.
Might not sound so far fetched today - but here’s why it was challenging when MetaGame was started in 2019:
There were like 3 active DAOs
Not even DeFi, let alone ReFi, existed
Nobody was talking about “Web3 legos”
“Network States” not written so Web3 didn’t know about this decades old idea
Web3 not aware of terms like “Game B”, “Metacrisis” & “Metamodernism”
MetaGame was started at this intersection, talking about Web3 as a combination of technologies allowing us to reimagine & rewrite all institutions, starting from money & ownership, to states, services to organizations.
To build a new kind of socioeconomic system, block by block.
Also
peth: oh shit! I should definitely organize a Web3 conference at Punta Christo!
2020 - We all know what happened…
…So we organized a virtual conference instead.
We actually organized 3 virtual conferences (InterCon, MetaFest & MetaFest2) as well as a virtual hackathon (Fork The World) since then.
2023 - Finally! MetaFest Croatia!
By the time 2023 rolled in, all of the above mentioned terms existed in Web3 & there is now a significant overlap between all of these communities.
We honed in on:
MetaFest is about coordination, regeneration & the bigger picture.
MetaFest was finally gonna happen on Fort Punta Christo & it was finally gonna bring together all of these communities together:
DAOists, Regens & Game B/Metamodern people
2023 - March to July
We started slowly working on MetaFest back in November; opening the nonprofit, meeting with venue owners etc.
Quietly rolled out the website in January, before officially announcing it in March with the initial set of 30 speakers & 3 sponsors.
Suffice to day, MetaFest announcement was the most popular tweet from the MetaGame account to date, with the trailer racking up over 32k views.
From that point, it was on.
The next few months are a blur; hours upon hours of outreach to speakers & sponsors, figuring out the legal, financial & bureaucratic side, meetings about the logistical side with the venue owners etc. etc.
…but the ticket sales were low, and that was concerning 😬
August 2023
Shit is about to hit the fan.
MetaFest is 2 weeks away & we’re €10k short of the minimum viable budget 😱
Are we gonna stay indebted to Debt DAO?
Panic mode
>Announce the issue to the community
Within a few hours, a bunch of people reached out & 3 beautiful things happened:
An anon who’s “been watching MetaFam projects for years” & is not even coming to MetaFest, sent a $1k anonymous donation
Grace Rachmani introduced me to tomi (which is actually a very cool project launching a very cool DAO), who bought a $5k sponsorship pack!!!
Also, ticket sales started picking up over the final 2-3 weeks (some people literally flew in and THEN bought tickets, like WTF 😂).
In the end, all costs were covered & there were more people than we planned!
wagmi
14th of August
Shit is really about to hit the fan.
We had 48h to prepare the fort. Wipe clean all the facilities & chambers, install all the equipment for the main stage; lights, the projector, audio, streaming, as well as the stage itself; place hundreds of chairs around the venue, decorate it, set water stations, the merch area, the workshop area, kitchen etc. etc. etc.
Luckily, at this point there was 5 of us, rather than just 2 😆
Soon, there was 10, then 15 😱
Great!?
We expected there’d be 5 of us, so we didn’t prepare lists of things to do & not-to.
What happened when there was 15 of us, can be described as…
*checks notes*
pure chaos.
There were 15 people who desperately wanted to help. This great intention combined with a lack of a clear plan & guidelines resulted in randomness, moving things forth & back, time spent on irrelevant work, lots of facepalms & even a bit of yelling 👀
The venue owners were not pleased with us at all 🤣
15th of August
15th was much better. Few of us arrived to the venue half an hour before everyone, surveyed the site & came up with a list of tasks that still need to be completed.
As volunteers arrived, we were able to effectively delegate, & things ran smoothly.
16th - Meta/Regen Day
Shit is really really about to hit the fan.
Despite all the work done in the previous two days, of course there were still many things to do, so we rushed until the very opening.
Meta/Regen
In terms of content, the first day was dedicated to the bigger picture & regeneration. Talks & workshops included anything from Death of Machiavelli & the Political Philosophy of Crypto to Regenerative Agriculture, Sustainable Living & Yoga.
Check out the main stage playlist:
17th - Coordination/DAO Day
Day 2 was the Coordination/DAO Day, where talks, panels & workshops all revolved around the art of DAOing.
We had a full track of talks & panels about the present & future of DAOs as well as the full track of workshops for people who want to start DAOs 😱
Here’s the main stage playlist:
18th - The Unconference Day
Last but not least - the unconference day.
There was nothing on the agenda & all of the sudden, there was everything.
As the first two days were overflowing, with some sessions raising more questions & even more not being able to fit, people rushed to fill the unconference day.
The topics on the unconference day were a lot more colorful thematically & even included sessions like “Cliff Jumping”, thanks to one of our patrons - Sky.
🔥 Fireshow - I’m sure someone recorded it but it wasn’t us 🤷♂️
So, how was MetaFest?
So far, feedback generally ranged from “one of the best conferences I’ve been on” to “top 3 conference I’ve been on” to “the best conference I’ve been on”.
To me, MetaFest was extremely meaningful.
We finally managed to bring together a diverse group of people from all of these different communities - almost 200 people flew in from all over the world to attend our one-of-a-kind event at this epic location.
Why was it great?
First, all of you who came from all over the world!
But the most often cited reason for MetaFest’s greatness was “the vibe”.
I think there are a few reasons; the epic location which blended with nature, there were no sponsor booths, no crypto finance bros & no people who came there to sell shit or “network”.
It was a standalone event & it was on a fairly remote location, meaning all the people who were there, really wanted to be there. Some flew from as far as western Canada or Australia, taking 24h journeys.
This combined with the fact there were only ~200 people, made it feel cozy & relaxed. Overall, MetaFest was the least Web3 of Web3 conferences.
Things that were great:
Exquisite vibe
Starting time at 2pm
Great food & lots of it
Right amount of people
Very chill instead of overwhelming
Great topics, performances & activities
Venue itself, the view & the fact it was near the sea
Didn’t feel like a business setting, no shilling & bizdev
Everything in one place, no side events fomo, rush or anxiety
What to do better
Of course, not everything was great!
Too much food wasted > be more careful about the amounts
Yet too few vegan food options > more vegan options
2am closing was rushed > stop music & announce closing 30min earlier
Not having clear instructions for volunteers, leading to chaos & venue owners being pissed > write & print all role instructions
Lack of communication regarding rules & guidelines > announce & print
Skipping the opening ceremony & context setting > never again!
No unconference planning > plan in advance
2 of us organizing for the most part > get more people involved earlier!
Not… Err… Accidentally delete half the workshops recordings 😳
Bus Trip
Oh, and the bus trip?
The bus trip was great!
Tho not really a bus trip - we had 2 vans & 2 cars, which was disappointing initially but ultimately made it more awesome as it allowed for a lot more flexibility.
We spent 5 days driving & walking around beautiful sceneries of Croatia, National Park Plitvice, crossing over to Bosnia & back down to Dubrovnik, topped off with a 1h mountain hike for the last night’s accommodation in Montenegro 🤯
Besides the accommodation, there was very little planning happening in advance. Most of what happened was a result of organic emergence of coordination.
Some notes on this, thanks to Rob Morris
A diverse group of ~20 individuals came together & forged a strong, effective bond through adaptive & cooperative coordination without designated leaders.
Members voluntarily contributed to group tasks like cooking & cleaning, allowing for a seamless & efficient operation. Over time, the group's adaptability & efficiency grew, while leadership naturally emerged when needed, often working concurrently.
With ample time to bond, the group exhibited a loving, thoughtful & caring demeanor, characterized by generosity, tolerance & forgiveness. The overall atmosphere remained cooperative & good-natured, despite a small hiccup.
This experience epitomized high autonomy & emergent cooperative coordination.
🙏 Thank you!!! 😍
First off, a massive thank you to Yalor, who raised half of our budget & couldn’t even attend the event. Next, a huge thank you to METADREAMER, who flew in all the way western Canada, only to spend most of the time manning the livestream.
A big thank you to Misanth for saving us on day 1, as well as to Watson, Hiromi, Thom, Cris, Alexandra, Polimyl, Lanski, Lucile, Eve, Lydia, Simon, Unipuff, Samuel, Terexitarius, Gabriel, Gustavo, Dan & WhyIdWanderer for showing up early to get things going & helping throughout the event.
Thank you to Saša, Matej, Oliviero & ? for making sure the audio was smooth & visual content was captured, as well as all the performers, DJs, the kitchen crew, guards & the venue owners for providing extra entertainment & the crucial tactical support.
Thank you to our patrons Samuel, Sky, Ven, DisruptionJoe, Mills, Phil H, Rob Morris, Christine & Jack for making sure we can make it happen, as well as everyone who helped promote it; Anastasia, Vanessa, Davi, Yalor & many more!
Of course, thank you to all the sponsors!!!
Our golden sponsors; Union Finance, MetaCartel, MetaFactory, MIDAO, Unlock Protocol & tomi.
As well as our bronze sponsors; SupremeDAO, Canto, Rob Morris, Liberland, Debt DAO, Holochain & Hunters Workshop.
Finally, thank you eowulia for sticking through & organizing this thing with me!
It goes without saying - all of the above hands came together to make MetaFest possible & to make it into an epic experience that it was. Thank you, thank you,
thank you!!!
Also, in case I forgot someone - I’m sorry and thank you! 🙏
🐙 Onwards!
I hope this is just the beginning of a beautiful MetaFest IRL chapter & I hope to see even more of you next year!
Meanwhile, feel free to hop into MetaGame discord for the same mix of topics.
If you attended MetaFest, please fill out this feedback form 🙏🙏🙏
If you missed most of the talks, check out the YouTube channel (& subscribe 🙃)