What Devcon is all about

Now that we’re well into the new year, our Devcon team wanted to share some of our thinking on what’s to come for Devcon this year. With new goals driving this year’s effort, we’ve learned from successes and challenges in recent years, and we’ll provide some early details on what’s ahead.

For those that are new to the Ethereum family, Devcon is the only annual gathering held by the Ethereum Foundation, and it dates back to a small meetup in Berlin (ÐΞVcon-0) about a year prior to the launch of the network. For some members of the Ethereum ecosystem, Devcon is a family reunion of sorts, while for others it’s a large stage on which to speak to the latest breakthroughs on content ranging from technical research to application releases and more.

Over the years, it has become clear that Devcon serves the community in other ways too. As we plan for Devcon 6, we’re working to define those goals, and to ensure that Devcon accomplishes each of them:

1. Collaboration & knowledge sharing

Devcon is a place where a lot of work gets done. It’s a chance to be in the same room as everyone else in the community working on a specific problem. It’s critical that attendees be able to find meeting space, a space to talk, to pull up to a whiteboard, and get to work.

2. Teaching, communicating, and generating new ideas

Devcon is a chance to learn, and to teach! People travel to Devcon to understand the cutting edge in the Ethereum space, and to share what they have learned over the last year with a large audience both at the event, and online.

3. Use our biggest stage to send a message

Devcon is a critical opportunity to communicate with the world about Ethereum. As the largest conference in our industry, the broader technology space and mainstream organizations pay attention to Devcon. Let’s show them what we’ve accomplished.

4. Using tech built on Ethereum through “dogfooding”

Devcon is a conference made by and for our community and it should make use of tools built by our community where possible and beneficial to attendees. In the spirit of educating our community and supporting Ethereum-based projects, Devcon should enable attendees to experiment first-hand with products built on Ethereum.

5. Growing the Ethereum Ecosystem

Devcon is an opportunity for each of us to engage with those from other teams and communities, both from Ethereum and blockchain related teams and newcomers from other industries. In past years, we’ve collaborated with UNICEF and the Internet Archive on stage, and brought the zero-knowledge community into the fold. Many people unfamiliar with the Ethereum ecosystem attend Devcon, and while this is a developers conference, they should feel welcome and inspired by our amazing community by the week’s end.

Listening and Learning

Our ecosystem has matured and is constantly improving, and we know that Devcon should keep pace. On this, the entire team wanted to first pass along a thank you for the constructive feedback that we’re confident will help lead to the best event that we’ve held to date.

Specifically, planning for Devcon (dc⟠vi) has honed in on 6 key areas to make for a better attendee experience.

Specifically, we’ve aimed to find a venue with:

• modern WiFi infrastructure and connectivity
• improved crowdflow, meeting space, and stages
• in-house and easy catering options for attendees of all needs and diets

We’ve also taken a hard look at internal processes and are excited to speak to these topics soon:

• an improved programming and stage selection process
• fairer and more diverse ticketing systems
• more ecosystem integration (dogfooding)

Addressing some of these in brief, a high-speed and modern WiFi infrastructure will smooth up streaming capability for a worldwide Ethereum user-base that deserves to watch each stage live, and workshop experiences for attendees. No matter how many friends are on-site, they’ll have ways to connect.

Over the last two years, the Devcon speaker application process decentralized through a multi-track process and over 50 reviewers. This year, we’re aiming to improve the experience for all applicants, to gauge attendee preference for help with stage selection, and more.

Our goal is to provide the best possible experience for all attendees, while remaining true to Ethereum’s roots. This year, we think we’re well on the way to making this a reality, and we hope that you’ll all be involved.

What’s Next

We’re well underway in planning for the first Devcon in which eth2’s beacon chain is live and ether is staked! In addition to the improvements listed above, we’re planning for an event with continued dogfooding, a smoother ticketing process and more — all to be outlined in coming posts.

As for this year’s region, the Devcon 6 search began prior to Devcon 5 with an understanding that the further ahead we are in terms of planning, the smoother the process will be for all attendees. After listening to community input, undergoing a thorough site-search in over 10 cities, we’re confident that we’ve landed a region and venue that are truly deserving of the event, and that accomplish every goal laid out above to help make this the best Devcon ever.

We’ll be announcing the location of Devcon 6 shortly — keep an eye on the EF Blog for more on site-selection, and for early application information and more.

Update (27/03/2020): Out of respect for those within our own community and around us currently facing the ongoing global health crisis, our team has decided to temporarily hold scheduled Devcon announcements, first teased above. While other news will follow and our planning continues, we appreciate your continued patience and hope that everyone is acting to stay safe!

We hope that you’ll be as excited as we are and somewhat surprised when we share more information in the next Devcon update over the next few weeks . These updates will come a bit earlier than in previous years, so check back often!

For now, thank you once again to all of our attendees for joining us in Osaka, to the presenters, to the supporters that made the event possible, and to you (the community) for your feedback over the last many months.

Moving forward while reminiscing…

Looking for clips and more from Osaka? We have a few albums and playlists to share that you may want to look through! Check out the photos and videos below!

Next, we know that talks have been widely shared, but if you’re looking for something specific or for your presentation (both the mainstage and breakout room playlists), see the links below!

Main Stages

Breakouts & Highlights:

Devcon had its share of highlights, including significant Eth2 announcements, presentations on eWASM and Eth 1x progress, a celebrity appearance by the world’s most well-known dog, Kabosu (the original “Doge”), and much much more. Such wow.

photo credit: Alex van de Sande

And if you missed the keynote, click here for an opening from the city of Osaka, the unveiling of the UNICEF Cryptofund, and more.

Most importantly, Devcon remains focused on the developers and researchers that make Ethereum what it is, and our own team will continue to learn from all of you. This never-ending goal of improvement will help to ensure that dc⟠vi is the best Ethereum gathering yet, and we hope to see you all there.

—

devcon team

Queridos Amigos,

In our most recent update, we outlined what Devcon is all about and spoke to our renewed focus on growing the Ethereum ecosystem. Part of that focus is on making sure that, for all types of attendees, the next Devcon is all that we dream for it to be and more. For details on those goals and beyond, please read the full post here! Today, we’re going to tackle our site-selection and timing, along with more on what’s ahead for this year and beyond.

Our Selection

Getting right to it, we’re excited and proud to announce that the next edition of Devcon will take place in Bogotá, Colombia at the beautiful Agora Bogotá Convention Center in 2021!

The City

We can’t wait for the entire ecosystem to meet Bogotá; the capital city of Colombia and one of South America’s most lively and popular cities. Full of culture, art, history, flavors, opportunities, and unique experiences, Bogotá is the ideal city to host Devcon and our entire community!

In Colombia, you’ll find a consistent and comfortable climate year-round, and diverse destinations that cater to all tastes; mountains, rivers, and stunning cities like Medellín, Cali, Cartagena and of course Bogotá. It’s a rare find, and a country with a stable economy and rhythm running through its veins.

The Venue

Oh, and the venue? Agora Bogotá is a newly constructed and state-of-the-art center that we hope will be, by far, the best venue to ever host Devcon. Located just minutes from both Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport and from the historic Santa Fe and Candelaria neighborhoods of Colombia’s capital city, Agora presented us with an ideally-located and fully modern conference center that is built to handle the catering, WiFi, meeting-space and other needs of an event like Devcon.

The Process

The Ethereum ecosystem’s preference clearly aligned around a strong demand for an event in South America, and a very deserving request for a venue capable of welcoming and serving this large and growing gathering.

The Devcon 6 venue search began prior to Devcon 5 with an understanding that more time would lead to a smoother experience for all attendees. After both listening to community feedback and extensively reviewing options and many factors in over 10 cities, we’re confident that in Bogotá we’ve found both a region and venue capable of accomplishing every goal laid out for this year’s Devcon. Moreover, we’ve found serious potential to grow a significant community presence.

When, when, and what ’til then?

So here’s the plan:

1. Doing it right

This year has been trying for us all, and we’re as eager as many of you are to reunite, but we must also ensure that the event is done right by everyone in this community.

That means going bigger, and of course better than ever. We put in time to make sure that we could come together and grow our global ecosystem and that of a region that’s new to much of the Ethereum community, and that’s what we’re going to do.

Simply put, Devcon participation should neither be limited to a few willing travelers, nor dependent on hopeful changes to gathering limits. But our planning is ongoing, so we’ll confidently get together later next year while the drumbeat grows a little louder, and a firm date will be announced soon.

So what’s ahead in 2020? The right answer is often the most obvious: Decentralize.

2. Decentralize 2020

We’re proud to announce that, while our Devcon team remains firmly focused on delivering on dc⟠vi in 2021, *EF’s larger mission to continue supporting ecosystem activities will move forward too: we’re already hearing about large events on the way for this fall, and we’ll be lending our support to many in the community that are now stepping up.

Want to host something in your community, region, or online? Let us know here and our team will be in touch to learn more.

We’ll help to promote and potentially coordinate these efforts into something as unique as the times we’re living through. In short, it’s our hope that we can all come together as different teams, regions, offices and Ethereum users for a set of worldwide and independent events this fall.

3. No half-measures

Let’s be frank: We won’t simply serve up the least bad contingency or substitute option for the community and call it “Devcon” when we’ve just pledged to do things right.

Lockdowns are being lifted in many regions for the first time, but it will be a while longer before local leaders lift travel restrictions to the extent needed for an internationally-attended, large-scale event like Devcon. We’ve also considered what’s best for the many speakers, volunteers and attendees that deserve confident decision-making before preparing for long journeys.

So rather than asking you all to continue to wait with bated breath or delaying plans by a few short months, we’re going to lengthen our lead time and super-size our ongoing efforts around Devcon 6 in 2021. This can be done staying true to Ethereum’s roots with ecosystem-driven events in 2020, and without defaulting to a simple virtual event.

Devcon is meaningful to so many people and in many unique ways, and we’re thrilled to bring the event to South America for the first time. This event represents many things to the many different types of attendees that come together to be there.

It is a homecoming for many active participants in the world of Ethereum. It is a large stage on which to present the latest groundbreaking ideas and achievements for the builders that make Ethereum what it is and what it will become. And to all of us, Devcon is an opportunity to bring new faces, places and entire communities into the fold.

In Bogotá, we have already crossed paths with so many people and groups that are eager to meet more of the Ethereum community and to welcome Devcon for the first time. The pieces are in place to accomplish an important goal around community growth and assistance set out for Devcon. From builders, to educational entities, local business leaders, decision-makers and more, we’re already meeting and working with the people of Bogotá, Colombia, and South America to help make real-world use of Ethereum’s technology and to further it.

Devcon week is more than just one event, but a diverse set of meetups, sub-conferences and more that highlight the best of our ecosystem. Next year, we’re looking forward to adding some local flare, integration with other events, local businesses, and more.

More to come

With the extra lead-time, we’re excited to build bigger and better than ever, to reveal simpler processes for attendees, and to see far more integration with the local community.

In coming posts, we’ll cover more about the event date, the city and our recommendations for your stay and for getting around, our support for other 2020 events, the EF Scholars Program and more. Until then, keep posted to Devcon.org for more, stay safe, and thank you for your patience while we worked to figure out the best path forward. See you all soon!

Today, we (the Devcon organizing team) are excited to make public a new way to get involved in next year’s event, and one that should make Devcon an experience that better represents Ethereum as a whole.

Devcon Improvement Proposals (DIPs) are a new tool to involve collaborative community input from across the ecosystem. They are aimed at improving the Devcon experience by formalizing a process to get your ideas heard and integrated into the event.

Why now?

In previous posts, we’ve touched on doing more to represent the entire Ethereum ecosystem at Devcon. However, doing so at any one event has become more and more challenging over the years. In many ways, this is a welcome problem to have, since the challenge is thanks to the growth in both size and diversity among builders, presenters, attendees, organizations and everyone else that’s participating.

While there was a time when everyone involved might have easily fit into a classroom, we’ve long since passed a point where demand exceeded supply in more ways than one (e.g. the amount of tickets, talk slots, or dogfooded applications).

So while we took first steps in solving for specific areas of past difficulty in our launch post earlier this year, we’ve also tried to be proactive when thinking about how to factor for things that no one team might think to include on their own. And that’s led us here.

How do DIPs work?

Let’s dig in. The best way to get started with DIPs is by visiting the DIP github repo and by joining the conversation over at the new Devcon Forum.

As a first step, we recommend posting your idea in the Devcon Forum to receive feedback from a wider community. Once things feel a bit more defined, you can submit a formal proposal. From the time of a submission, you’ll be able to receive feedback from our team and others to help refine ideas, to discuss how they might fit into the program, and more.

The process is inspired by the PEP, BIP and EIP processes, and while this new experiment is a bit more centralized (in that the approval of proposals ultimately lies with the Devcon team), we are excited to have a new way to branch out and hope to find consensus on a whole bunch of newly proposed ideas. The goals of DIPs are for everyone to feel heard, to have a more open discussion, and (most importantly) to improve the event by listening to and learning from the innovators around us.

What might DIPs look like?

If this process sounds rather abstract to you so far and you’re wondering what DIPs might actually look like, you’re in luck! DIPs are just being made public today, but the Devcon team has been working with a few teams to trial-run the first proposals in recent weeks.

Some of our first proposals include trying to make Devcon carbon neutral, enabling hotel and flight bookings through a FOSS decentralized travel marketplace, preparing a permissionless treasure hunt, and providing attendees with a smart wallet card during the conference.

Wrapping up

We know that the Ethereum ecosystem has simply grown too large for our team alone to be aware of every great idea out there. With the aid of DIPs, combined with your awesome continued involvement, we can make Devcon more representative of our community than ever before.

For more information, everyone is welcome to check out DIP-0, to take a look at the DIPs already submitted, and to join the forum to participate in new and ongoing discussions. We can’t wait to hear from you!