ETH Denver 2025 Feedback

[Birdo]

Hi all, I wanted to start to share some feedback on ETH Denver and would love to invite others to contribute based on their experience. To preface, I’m not an events expert, however I have been to several conferences now and have represented Polkadot at several booths / events. @alice_und_bob and I worked on this feedback today.

TLDR:

• The experience overall was good, I believe it to be a net positive for Polkadot.
• We engaged with the broader ETH community - I believe this to be important to continue relationship building.
• The booth was well attended by projects, Parity and distractive staff. There were many good conversations and the booth was quite busy, even by the 3rd day where the general attendance dropped off significantly.
• Polkadot had several speaking engagements at the conference. Awesome job to @shawntabrizi @erin @CHill @ChrawnnaCorp @Lucy @Cameron.
• The Blockspace mansion run by Webzero was very well attended, busy and an awesome side event.

The blockspace mansion

Firstly I think it’s interesting to consider the “conference archetypes” or personas of people that come to these types of events. I have added my personal opinion from the conversations that I had over the three days of being at the booth,

1. Someone trying to sell you something directly (merch, services) (5%)
2. Someone trying to integrate Polkadot into their product - also trying to get funding “do you have grants?” (30%)
3. Developers / Builders wanting to have technical discussions. (5%)
4. People wanting more info “can you tell me more about Polkadot”? (20%)
5. People wanting merch “Can I have a tshirt?” (40%)

WHAT are our goals as a brand being at ETH Denver or a similar conference?
For some projects, it seemed like it was mainly merch distribution: Matcha, Unichain, polygon
For some projects, it seemed like a blend between merch distribution and connections: Base, Story, Zksync.
For some projects, it seemed like mostly connections: Arbitrum, ICP,
The smaller less known projects roughly fit into a split of merch+connections or connections only.

What is most important to us and which archetype does it make the most sense to target? Something to consider…

Polygon had the coolest booth - fun but mostly focused on merch distribution.

We should consider if conference attendance is something we want to persue long term. There were 600+ side events in the city. Many major brands and companies weren’t at the official event (Avax, Aui, Metamask, Reown (Walletconnect), Aptos, Solana, Cardano, Tron, Stella) however several of them hosted side events (parties, full day conferences or other activations).
For example: Reown (formally Wallet Connect) hosted an amazing 1 day Wallet conference the day before the main event. Avalanche launched their debit card product, as did Metamask at their own side events - these brands didn’t have any sponsorship or presence at the actual main event (that I saw).

Secondly it’s important to consider the booth itself and how people engage at the conference. Key themes:

1. Approachability - walking into the booth, approaching someone, booth layout and design
1a. Not having everyone in the same t-shirt / branded event booth shirt makes the booth always look busy. Many booths had no-one there with 2-5 people in the branded shirt which made the booth look empty or like no-one was interested.
1b. Not being on phones - Many people working at other booths were often on their phones while walking past, this also looks bad and as an individual it makes you feel MUCH less inclined to speak with them.
1c. At times people in our booth were focused on external convos not internal. Consider and focus on body language, ensuring approachability and engaging with people as they walk past to draw them in.
1d. The seating arrangements of our booth were good. Some other booths had staff sitting on low chairs at a table which generates a weird energy/power dynamic between the visitor and the staff.
1e. The booth design could be improved somewhat, there are too many screens and pillars for the size of the booth. It felt too crowded.

A very open booth design

2. What is your project - written messaging, clear 1 liners, key metrics
2a. The Polkadot wordmark was LOW to the ground and hard to see - it wasn’t obviously for people walking past it was the Polkadot booth.
2b. The overall message of WHAT Polkadot is, wasn’t clear on the booth, walking past you weren’t sure WHAT Polkadot did.
Gelato’s messaging for example was clear and simple, “1 click deployment for rollups”

Overly complex messaging / too many logos

3. The ecosystem or how the project is used
3a. Stations - (I assume) the thought was that people would come through the arch and visit the various stations. In actual fact, people came and had one conversation and then moved on. This also happened at consensus last year in Austin, but less so as the booth was more open and bigger.

3b. Showcasing - The stations could showcase the products better. Non standard format of videos / displays / materials being delivered by teams. Other booths only showed THEIR network, NOT what is being built on the network (base, arb, polygon). Some booths did show what was being built on them with printed ecosystem maps (ICP, Hedera).

5. Merch & claim process
5a. The onboarding process was well thought out, but overly complex - asking for people to sign up with email, complete OTP and then tap multiple times into a webapp which was a little buggy, just to get a tshirt. This process took at least 2-5 minutes to complete. Many people struggled or gave up. We need to consider WHY we want people to complete an action before getting merch.
The experience at BASE for example was to, 1. Open an evm wallet (coinbase,rainbow,metamask) and scan a QR code. This loaded a webform and there was a single button to tap to “check out”. This signed an on-chain gasless transaction. On success of the TX, you showed the staff and they gave you a bag + tshirt. The base experience was far superior to ours AND generated an active wallet (that might have been dormant) and created another on-chain transaction.
Polygon allowed you to take a t-shirt etc with no claim process.
Matcha and others had an interactive game to try and win a major prize, if you didn’t win there were secondary prizes. No claim form, no personal details required.
We need to dramatically reconsider our approach and I would like to see something like the Base claim process - this should support all wallets and be smart contract based for claiming.
5b. The quality of merch - IMO merch MUST be high quality or we’re just making landfill.
Long sleeve tshirts are great and the design was cool (many liked it).
Personally I would prefer to move away from “logo on tshirt” and go with something more fun, more design oriented. The blockspace mansion run by Webzero had a great longsleeve tshirt design. Merch that was specifically branded ETH DENVER was well liked.
5c. The bumbag/fannypack quality was poor and felt thin, this should be avoided.
5d. Our stickers were great, however the current trend I saw from other booths was sticker sheets and more FUN designs, perfect laptop stickers. Design focus with minimal / subtle branding.
5e. Some of the best merch at the event were: The THICK green scarf (Matcha), high quality sticker sheets (polygon, matcha, aleo), tote bags (Base). Some booths had different merch on different days to entice people to come back and spend more time at their booth.

6. Take aways - printed material
6a. Our booth had 2x double sided flyers to take away - this was IMO too much information to consume and the take away should be FUN and a primer to engage further with the brand or website.
6b. Other examples were more pamphlet style or less information.
6c. Many at the booth found it easy to hand out the flyer and point to projects / key messaging.
6d. The information on the print out should be shorter, more impactful messaging, either enticing people to come and USE Polkadot or BUILD on Polkadot.

Conclusion:
Overall I felt event attendance and the booth was net positive.
We should re-design our merch/claim process.
The booth design could be optimised.
We should consider the quality and design of our merch for future events.
We should consider booth vs side event for future conferences.

[shawntabrizi]

@Birdo

Someone trying to integrate Polkadot into their product - also trying to get funding “do you have grants?” (30%)

+1, and most of them had really no idea about Polkadot except the name.

Felt like I was standing at a booth for people to sell me their “security analysis” startups.

@Birdo

The Polkadot wordmark was LOW to the ground and hard to see - it wasn’t obviously for people walking past it was the Polkadot booth.

+1, someone said to me “is this the Play chain” because one of the screens had “Play” more eye height than the “Polkadot” branding.

@Birdo

2b. The overall message of WHAT Polkadot is, wasn’t clear on the booth, walking past you weren’t sure WHAT Polkadot did.

Big agree. I really did not resonate with any of the messaging or pamphlets or things at the booth.

• “Unlock Tomorrow” messaging means little to me
• “The Secure Core” messaging means little to me
• “Anything Is Possible” is okay, but I feel this statement was not backed up with tangible facts

More on pamphlets below.

@Birdo

5a. The onboarding process was well thought out, but overly complex - asking for people to sign up with email, complete OTP and then tap multiple times into a webapp which was a little buggy, just to get a tshirt. This process took at least 2-5 minutes to complete. Many people struggled or gave up. We need to consider WHY we want people to complete an action before getting merch.

+1 here. I felt users did a bunch of clicking, and zero learning.

I would rather that people get our merch if they were able to answer 1 simple question, like:

• what is polkadot? (compared to ethereum)
• what is unique about polkadot compared to other chains?
• what is the network with the fastest on-chain TPS?
• what tokens can you use to pay for transactions on Polkadot?
• how many rollups does polkadot secure?

And then some simple, straightforward materials which let users know the key takeaways that we want them to know.

@Birdo

5b. The quality of merch - IMO merch MUST be high quality or we’re just making landfill.
Long sleeve tshirts are great and the design was cool (many liked it).
Personally I would prefer to move away from “logo on tshirt” and go with something more fun, more design oriented. The blockspace mansion run by Webzero had a great longsleeve tshirt design. Merch that was specifically branded ETH DENVER was well liked.

+1

The Polkadot t-shirt i got will probably only be worn at further conferences because it has a polkadot logo in the front. The shirt from WebZero I will probably wear regularly.

I don’t know why we make Polkadot so boring. Polkadot represents none of the vibes and esthetics which underlies the community and change we want to see in the world. JAM and Kusama brandig and esthetics are so much better.

@Birdo

6a. Our booth had 2x double sided flyers to take away - this was IMO too much information to consume and the take away should be FUN and a primer to engage further with the brand or website.

• Zero mention of the cloud
• Ambiguous messaing of the hub
  • I bet no one could tell you what the Polkadot Hub is based on the pamphlet.

I felt that pamphlets in general spent a lot of effort on adjectives and adverbs, and could have been more clear, concise and to the point.

Representation of our technical dominance was lackluster compared to the graphs which directly compares us to our peers, showing HOW far ahead we are:

I dont get why the pamphlet literally had embedded links? This is sloppy, and shouldn’t have made it to the printing press.

Found typos in the pamphlet.

Honestly, the pamphlet is embarrassing to me, and IMO those who made it should not be representing Polkadot.

[shawntabrizi]

I think the WebZero mansion was awesome. The vibes were good, and there was actually a strong mix of cross-pollination happening with representatives from many different ecosystems.

Polkadot was represented as a cool community, that understood the needs and vibes of these Crypto events.

I would want to put more money and opportunities in their hands and see what they can do with it.

I’m sorry to say it, but I don’t feel the same about Distractive. I am sure they are successful on many fronts which I don’t actively acknowledge, but their position as an “all in one marketing house for Polkadot” makes it clear to me that they should not be doing everything, because there are many things I don’t think they do well.

I would like to see their scope reduced, and things like messaging, website management, professional content creation, general polkadot representation moved elsewhere. This again, is not true of all the initiatives coming out of Distractive, but pretty much all the ones which generate the vibes and content at this booth are red flags to me.

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At a high level, I had a strong feeling at the end of this event that with JAM in mind, we really should be taking a step back from these crypto conferences.

Everyone who was at ETH Denver had been pre-trained to think about blockchain and crypto in a certain way, and Polkadot’s unique mission and vision is just different than the other chains at the conference.

Everyone is building a distributed ledger for payment settlement. We are building a decentralized computer.

I want that we stop trying so hard to appeal to the current “crypto” people, and instead make a strong presence at technology conferences, as you would if you just built and launched a new computer architecture.

Rather than be 1 of 100, we could really be 1 of 1

I think the one reality we need to face is how we position both in messaging and technological ability the current Polkadot network to this broader vision.

---

I want that we experiment outside of the crypto space, and go “all out” representing Polkadot at a regular tech conference.

Not mention blockchain or rollups anywhere.

Just sell the fact that we are leading the world in building a decentralized computer.

I mean we should be in the same kinds of press cycles and conversations as Microsoft developing the new quantum chip. These are revolutions in technology, not just revolutions in verticals like “finance”.

---

Idea for the next polkadot booth, would be really cool to get some kind of poster “how to navigate the polkadot dao” with steps like: learn about polkadot, join an aag call, write a proposal, get paid

I imagine some kind of “map with path” or like a “thermometer poster”. Lots of people here were asking how to get through the dao and get some money

[cr-eative-dev]

I like the idea of breaking out of the crypto bubble and attending more regular tech conferences and doubling down on marketing the decentralised computer.

I think the marketing materials need a revamp - something more playful and appealing with stronger more distinct art direction - moving away from the “cliche stock footage” imagery and wording

design inspiration:

John galt (designer for nous research) https://johngalt.nekoweb.org/

Succinct https://www.succinct.xyz/

MegaETH https://www.megaeth.com/

[piggydoughnut]

Great post @Birdo . Super informative analysis of other stands and offerings. I will keep an eye on these sort of things when attending events from now on for sure.

And yes, the majority of people just want a free T-shirt haaha

[BabesPapes]

Thanks for the interesting insights!
Do you remember to see any chocolate based merch on other booths?
I published this discussion for another Proof of Taste edition, but this time with a focus on getting users engaged instead of just giving stuff away for free and I’d be happy to get ideas from you all

[Birdo]

no chocolate merch in sight there sir

[erin]

Actually, I believe Midnight had some chocolate (probably dark chocolate?)

[thehumbleinvestor]

really nice feedback!

[Remy_Parity]

ETHDenver - A deep dive

Over the course of the week, Parity, Distractive and multiple ecosystem agents took it upon themselves to travel to Denver to represent Polkadot at one of the largest crypto conferences worldwide. To note, similarly to Birdo’s post [found here], I am not an events expert and my opinions are my own. This summary will focus mainly on highlighting what went well throughout the event and areas we should double down focus.

So, what was bullish?

Booth Turnout

Throughout the whole week, the Polkadot booth was by far, if not one of, the busiest booths we’ve ever seen. Attendance was high throughout, and in comparison to others, it was definitely a win. The booth boasted a constant bustling of noise and discussion, something I believe other projects lacked.

Whilst venturing around the venue, I saw how the majority of staff on other booths would follow a path of first trying to explain their project, followed by a quick sales pitch.This is where I believe the Polkadot booth excelled; we didn’t have anything to sell, except awareness and the vision of Web3. I’m a firm believer that the staff of a booth should have a passion for Polkadot and Web3, just this alone is enough to sell Polkadot to a potential project or builder with no further sales pitch needed.

The placing of the booth was right next to the main-stage, allowing for wandering attendees on their way to talks to be attracted by the glowing pink aura of Polkadot. This positioning was perfectly executed and layout of the booths and location should be taken into consideration for each and every event where a booth is present. I believe if we make the decision to attend these larger events we should not dismiss spending resources on securing a good location.

I believe that the fact that we also did not wear matching uniforms contributed to the popularity of the booth. Many booths around the venue had 5-6 people in matching uniforms, which at first impression is, quite simply, intimidating and off-putting. Polkadot didn’t have a dress code, which immediately lowers the wall of intimidation and showcases us as normal people, devs and builders and not salesmen.

What was interesting about the Polkadot booth was that we carried on with our normal day-to-day conversations. Many discussions between eco agents such as @shawntabrizi, @alice_und_bob, Cameron from Mythical Games and more were all taking place in a truly open and transparent manner. These types of discussions were all tailored to improving Polkadot and Web3 in general, which acted as a magnet for those wandering past to feel invited in and to get inspired to join in.

Bring In The Agents

By far one of the best boots-on-the-ground squads we’ve ever had at an event. Ensuring you’ve got staff who are not just there for a paycheck, but are present because they’ve got a passion for Web3 and Polkadot is crucial.

A system was put in place where booth attendees were directed towards agents who were the knowledge sources of a particular topic. For example, someone interested in Polkadot governance was directed to Alice_und_Bob or Leemo, whereas more Parity focused, tech-related and roadmap questions were directed more towards Erin, myself and Shawn T.

To further reinforce the importance of this, and quite possibly a great example, I had a long chat throughout the week with a project who’s looking to bring their product on-chain. First impressions count, and unfortunately for Polkadot, last year we left a pretty bad one. The team was greeted by someone at an event last year who did not fully grasp the vision of Polkadot, the use cases or the ecosystem. By miracle, the team wanted to give Polkadot a second chance, and this time was greeted by a plethora of knowledgeable and helpful agents throughout the booth. Whilst a short story, this team is now exploring the possibility of once again building on Polkadot.

In conclusion, a friendly face and a competent, confident voice with an eagerness to listen to someone’s concerns goes further than you would imagine.

The WebZero Mansion

The Blockspace Mansion, or better known as ‘The Polkadot Blockspace Mansion’ was quite possibly one of the best investments the DAO has supported. A 24/7 hackerhouse, with events, talks and panels throughout the week, all hosted by the amazing @WebZero team.

The majority of my time was spent at the conference itself and the mansion. Both of these locations served their own purpose. The booth was popular, especially amongst those who were not deep into Polkadot and its ecosystem. The mansion on the other hand was bustling full of the Polkadot Ecosystem, allowing a space for networking, feedback and deeper, more in-depth discussions to take place.

A huge credit to the mansion’s success has to go to WebZero, the team behind the whole initiative. Through and through, from the food to the vibes, the whole thing was a huge success. Whether you wanted to co-work or enjoy the vibes, the mansion quickly became the beating heart of Denver.

It welcomed more than 2,000 attendees throughout the week, with many from other projects but curious to learn about Polkadot.

Panels, Talks and Yapping

Polkadot was given quite a few presenting opportunities. These included a main stage talk from Parity COO Chrissy Hill where she discussed critical issues such as the tech talent shortage and smaller panels such as Unlocking the Web3 Skills Gap and how we can unite to bridge this talent gap, with panelists such as myself & Erin G.

Whilst the talks themselves from our cohort were a success, attendance was good and the numbers online were high, the layout of each stage was complex, with the mainstage being the only really noticeable stage.

I’d like to emphasise how critical it is to have our Polkadot personalities at events speaking, they bring a charismatic aura, are key leaders in the space and can attract a crowd. Huge shoutout to those who consistently make the effort such as @CHill, @shawntabrizi and others.

Side Events

Side events at ETHDenver were big, with many teams and projects in the space abandoning the idea of a booth entirely, just so they could host and dedicate their time to successful side events. An example of this was BitVM night and the Kaito AI rooftop party, both of which dedicated their time, energy and resources to hosting an entire event focused around their products.

Whilst many others such as the Kaito AI event, West Hamver [Iykyk] and the official Polkadot-sponsored BASH closing party were all excellent events, my personal favourite was of course our very own Polkadot Blockspace Mansion.

Polkadot Takeover?

My last, and final point I want to raise was the brand visibility of Polkadot throughout the week. Sponsoring the event meant the Polkadot logo was absolutely everywhere. Whether you’re getting your ID badge, walking through the conference, browsing the website, attending the closing party and even paying for your drinks, Polkadot was visible.

My Key Takeaways

Overall, as my first ETHDenver, I’d consider this a success. However, at the end of the day, I was constantly thinking “What have I learnt here? What is there to take away from this?” Below I’ve put my top takeaways from the event and explained my reasonings.

Polkadot attracted those with a vision for the future of Web3

By the above, I simply mean that Polkadot both attracted those with a keen interest in shaping the future but also had the right people on the ground, who in a sense acted as missionaries, to correctly represent Polkadot.

Whilst talking to staff at other booths, I came across a few who had the right concerns on their mind, but failed to explain to me ‘why’ this all matters. Sure, high tx volume and revenue is excellent, but would struggle when I’d poke questions of decentralisation, resilience or data sovereignty.

Whilst this specific market is important to remain in, and events like ETHDenver are beneficial to ensure the wider crypto market does not forget about us, I would also like to explore, alongside these events, technically focused events where we can experiment with positioning ourselves as a decentralised world computer.

Many are stuck in an old view, with little to no knowledge of the current developments

Many at ETHDenver were stuck in an old mindset of Polkadot, with one individual still in belief that we were using the outdated auction model. We were still in the circle, and whilst we are slowly on the cusp of popping the bubble we’ve encased ourselves within, work on reaching the broader liquidity of the ecosystem needs to be done.

Simplified messaging needs to be accomplished. How can we get the world to understand what we have already achieved? Agile Coretime, a fully decentralised governance system, elastic scaling and more are all incredible achievements but our reach is limited.

By using our current winners, the rest will follow

One key takeaway from the event was that we should be using our winners to showcase why you should be building on Polkadot. Mythical was a good example of this, a successful project with a reputation of delivering high quality games. Having Cameron from Mythical there was a blessing: it showed that trusted, reputable companies are pivoting to Polkadot, and when questioned why, who better to answer than someone who’s actually pivoted and made the leap?

Gavin is revolutionising Web3, and we need to communicate what the future holds

Gavin is creating a future of Web3 that we can use to tap into a market of people who are aligned with Polkadot’s vision. An example of this is ‘proof of personhood’. Whilst questions about this at the event were limited, when explaining to someone the necessity of this and what it can bring about, they were left curious and digging for more.

At the heart of it, we’re lucky to have a founder who’s consistently trying to revolutionise blockchain and in that sense bring about real use cases that can be applied to everyone.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the event was great and was thoroughly enjoyed. Everyone was in good spirits and the vibes were high. Whilst I took a lot away and learnt a lot, I also felt like we had accomplished something, the number of opinions that were changed, people convinced and the vision sold was promising. It was a pleasure to see everyone, especially the Distractive Team, my Parity colleagues, the projects building and of course, the fellow ecosystem agents who dedicated their hard earned time to building a better Polkadot.

[oliverbrett111]

Great job with this article Remy, and well done on working so hard yourself while in Denver!

[WebZero]

Thank you all so much for the fantastic feedback! We hope to see you all in Toronto so we can run it back!

We have a BIG surprise for everyone

[WebZero]

We are blushing, thank you Remy!

[DotDotApe]

Thank you, @Remy_Parity, for gathering this feedback! I think these posts are important snapshots of community voices that capture the spirit and share lessons with future event organizers.

Thanks as well for verifying that this booth concept, which Distractive has come up with, works!

[cesarMx]

Throughout the week, the Polkadot booth was one of the most visited, I must say. I was there every day and passed by several times, always seeing people learning about Polkadot. The booth’s location was very strategic because people coming from the main stage were drawn in by Polkadot’s signature colors. Additionally, it was a spacious area where visitors could stay comfortably for a long time.

In my opinion, the content was excellent, and the engagement achieved was certainly very positive. At the WebZero hacker house, you could find everyone from the ecosystem. The space was very pleasant and comfortable, and the content presented throughout the days of the hacker house was exceptional. This is my third ETHDenver, and based on my experience and the current market conditions, I must say that Polkadot’s presence at the event was a great success.