We Took Over Consensus 2025 — And the Ecosystem Showed Up Big

[ivans]

Hey Polkadot community

Consensus 2025 was a huge win for our ecosystem, and we achieved it with great energy and even greater results.

Our booth became a magnet on the floor. From TradFi and enterprise to students and builders, over 1,500 attendees came through to experience live demos from multiple ecosystem teams, mint Polkadot NFTs, and claim DOT- many for the first time.

We hosted 20+ ecosystem teams with scheduled demo slots across two stations: DAO and Enterprise. It wasn’t just a showcase—it was dealmaking, onboarding, and ecosystem growth in action.

And yes… the claw machine stole the show. It was more than a fun activation—it was the first step and key engagement tool in an interactive onboarding flow that led to:

631 onboarding registrations (26% higher than our target)
501 NFTs minted
30% of DOT winners joined the Polkadot DAO
689 leads generated for ecosystem teams
384,000+ organic impressions across @Polkadot channels
11.6M reach and 56.9M+ impressions for “Consensus2025 + Polkadot”

“Oh, definitely we stand out far from other booths… The claw machine, everyone was obsessed with it.” — Charlie Riedel, Mythos Foundation

We also saw meaningful progress on the Business Development side: teams made connections with institutions such as leading custodians and asset managers, universities and exchanges, creating new possible partners and future collaborators. Currently, follow-up conversations are ongoing, led by Velocity Labs, Magenta, and the Polkadot Blockchain Academy.

“I think this type of conference is very much known for dealmaking. So it was 100% worth it. A lot of TradFi guys, a lot of institutions, a lot of asset managers, which makes it really easy to set up good quality meetings.” — Jonathan Boyd, Velocity Labs

Hackathon energy fueled our momentum

We were strategically located right next to the EasyA Consensus Hackathon and the Builders Stage—which meant a constant flow of devs and builders coming over to connect, learn, and dive into Polkadot. This proximity turned out to be a huge advantage for ecosystem exposure and lead generation—especially for initiatives like the Polkadot Blockchain Academy.

And the builders showed up. A record number of projects were launched on Polkadot during the hackathon. In total, we had 17 projects across three tracks: Build, Launch, and Multi-chain.

We’re taking this momentum global. If you want to be featured at the next Polkadot ecosystem event—or help shape one—reach out!

ivan@distractive.xyz

Also, tell us in the comments: Where should Polkadot show up next?

As we plan for the next wave of activations, we’d love your input on how to evolve our event strategy. Here are a few questions we’re thinking about—chime in with your thoughts!

Event Strategy Evolution

• Should we stick with Web3-native conferences, or shift more energy toward Web2 and industry-specific events such as Gaming events? We believe there is a place for Polkadot on Web2 events and we’re already exploring options such as All In Summit, GamesCom, re:Invent AWS and DreamHack.

• Would you like to see Polkadot booths at university hackathons or campus roadshows?

• Are regional tech meetups or Web2 developer conferences the right place to meet new builders?

• Should we explore co-branded activations with other ecosystems or infra providers?

Audience Priorities

• Are we targeting the right audience? Should we lean more into enterprise, builders, students, or creators?

• Which geos do you think Polkadot should prioritize next? LATAM? Asia? Europe? Double down on the US?

Booth & Content Ideas

• Which product demos, quests, or content formats can drive the most engagement from your perspective?

• Do you want to see live governance voting, NFT quests, or more interactive gaming activations?

Let’s keep showing the world what real Web3 looks like.

Thanks a lot to all ecosystem teams participating: Apillon, Atmos, Aventus, Distractive, Feooh, Hyperbridge, Hydration, Kylix Finance, Magenta, Mythical Games, OriginTrail, Parity Technologies, Polkadot Ambassador Fellowship, Polkadot Blockchain Academy, Scytale, StellaSwap, The Kusamarian, TVINN, Velocity Labs, Web3 Foundation, and WebZero.

— Distractive Team

[RJW]

How much did it cost?

[sel18290]

In these kinds of meetings, I keep wondering what the institutional folks actually say to you do they just pat you on the back and laugh? Because I’ve never seen a single cent from any institution, and I don’t think anyone else has either."

[BCpowerup]

Hello everyone. this is my take on Consensus and Where I think we should also expand our focus to kick-start Business development.

I did attend/staffed the Polkadot booth at this event to see the attendance and how things where moving. The booth was well staffed and most of the people in the booth where busy with the attendance. While there I did guided some businesses to look at the technology for their own benefits. The attendance was mainly Crypto natives or where interested in the technology mainly crypto$.

I do believe that Targeting Web3 is a most, this is where most of the early adopters and power users are, so servicing this market was fulfilled.

After reflecting and looking at the attendance at Consensus 2025 Toronto, I did attended WebSummit 2025 in Vancouver, and it blew my expectations away, in terms of attendance and hunger for the technology itself, this was a huge event with hundreds of teaching sessions with lots of attendees, in most cases full rooms packed with people. This is putting me in the path of thinking that Polkadot needs to be represented in this Massive event with most of the developers using Web2 technologies and with no knowledge of decentralized Web3 technologies. This will be a big undertaking in terms of servicing this market, the booth staffing needs to change, Technology messaging needs to also change to target this demographic properly, teaching sessions would be a big component of this. I’m putting a team together to tackle this and will commit to run it for a full year. Partnering with the PBA and creating a way to funnel most developers there will be of upmost importance along with bringing Visionaries to many Panels to talk about the technology and its possibilities in today’s market conditions.

The booth staffing will consist mainly of Business people with a high degree of knowledge of how Businesses work in today Web2 tech stack, they will be able to paint the Picture of their Businesses taking advantage of the Web3 tech stack, along with highlighting the savings of doing so. we also plan to have a close room for presentations in the booth with small groups of 10 people at he time.

If we want mainstream developers to start using the technology stack this is the best opportunity i see to do so, and if we are effective, i can foresee creating enough of a critical mass to launch the Polkadot teck into the forefront of all Crypto-technology industry.

I hope to be working with the smart agents in the ecosystem to achieve this.

Jose No-Name

[puncar]

Huge congratulations to the entire Polkadot ecosystem and the Distractive team for an incredibly impactful presence at Consensus 2025!

It’s energizing to see how thoughtfully the booth experience was crafted—from the live demos and interactive NFTs to the impressive lead generation and DAO onboarding stats. The claw machine was a great touch, but what really stands out is the clear funnel from engagement to ecosystem integration. It’s great to see Polkadot showing up with intention, scale, and measurable results.

At How To DAO, we’re excited to build on this momentum. After co-organizing the DAO course with Polkadot in April and the side event during ETH Prague alongside Bohemian Roots, we’re now focused on expanding this collaboration. Our goal is to onboard new venture builders into the Polkadot ecosystem through high-impact DAO Day events—co-located with crypto gatherings around the world. These side events will be curated, community-driven, and focused on practical DAO tooling, governance, and builder support.

We look forward to continuing this partnership and supporting Polkadot’s long-term presence across Web3.

Stay tuned for more update! We are supper excited to build the future of organizations together!

— Puncar & the How To DAO team

[j0hn]

Great work once again to the Distractive team! You guys were so well organized at the event and the metrics speak for themselves.

Moving forward, more energy toward Web2 and industry-specific events … Yes we need to have a baseline Web3 presence and stay top of mind in our own industry, but the truth is that crypto is also an industry that’s very closed off and very much of an echo chamber. I’m not afraid to sound like a broken record when I say: True adoption happens by engaging Web2. We need to go where everyone is, not where we’re most comfortable. Why follow into a zero sum game when we can lead the way!

It’s a good time in the cycle (of crypto and in the convergence of various other technologies) to very thoughtfully venture out and to place some measured bets. Let’s be present at big university events, web2 industry-specific events (AI, IOT/DePIN, Sports) and engage with anything that has an enterprise tied to it.

Most efforts should be in North America (it’s imperative that Polkadot play catch up in the place where most adoption and tech innovation will eventually happen), but Latam is another geography that’s important not to ignore!

Thanks again Distractive team for always listening, crushing it, and being the tip of the spear for Polkadot in the meatspace

[joy_feooh]

The Distractive team’s execution was solid! Seamlessly managing multiple ecosystem teams while ensuring every visitor, from TradFi executives to first-time builders, felt welcomed and informed. The strategic booth placement next to the CNBC news station was brilliant positioning. Every major interview, including high-profile figures like Eric Trump and other industry leaders, couldn’t miss Polkadot presence, creating invaluable passive exposure.

The multi-layered engagement strategy worked perfectly: claw machine as entry point, live demos across DAO & Enterprise stations, NFT minting, and DOT distribution created a comprehensive onboarding flow that catered to different audience levels.

Moving Forward

1. Fully support expanding into Web2 and industry-specific events. Polkadot’s technology story resonates across verticals, not just crypto-native audiences.

2. Asia, US, & LATAM should be the focus. These regions offer the optimal blend of developer talent, institutional capital, and regulatory clarity for meaningful ecosystem growth.

3. The multi-audience approach that worked at Consensus should continue. The ability to simultaneously engage enterprise decision-makers, builders, and newcomers in a single activation is a unique strength to leverage.

Ready to build on this momentum globally!

[Atticus_Stella]

StellaSwap here!

Firstly, huge props to the Distractive team for a well-run event! Booth set-up on our side was extremely efficient and visibility was awesome, as there was constant foot traffic throughout the day. Quality of leads was also much higher in many prior events, as we managed to connect with key builders, protocols, institutionals, students and those new to DeFi. And you’ve gotta appreciate the star of the show in attracting people to the Polkadot booth; the claw machine! We were situated next to the claw machine and the crowdd managed to spillover to us, thereby increasing lead gen.

The time slot alloc. was also optimal for teams, ensuring different compositions of teams throughout the day. All in all, a well-managed event!

[charley]

It was an honor to attend the event and be a part of the Polkadot activation. Our booth really stood out thanks to all the amazing people and projects happening across the ecosystem. Got people talking and sparked interest from a ton of devs. The claw machine was 100% the move too! Haha.

[thomassauve]

GM!

Consensus was a great event for the PBA team and I wanted to share our perspective from the education side.

Our booth was busy during the 3 days, and we felt a hunger for more blockchain courses. We had constant conversations with curious devs asking how to start learning blockchain or students wanting to understand our technical curriculum. We also had some business folks exploring how to upskill their teams.

We registered interest from FAANG devs and students from University of Waterloo, Northeastern, Centennial College etc. The hackathon proximity was really cool because it brought exactly the right crowd to our booth.

The partnership conversations are already turning into something concrete. We’re now in active discussions with some potential partners and Toronto really showed itself as a serious tech hub where we started some exciting collaboration opportunities there.

One of our favourite moments was an Investor/Founder brunch with Scytale Digital (which will be mentoring our new Startup sessions extracurricular program at PBA Bali) where we got to showcase PBA alumni projects. We were proud to see Kylix Finance, Xcavate, and Peer3 presenting to investors, an exciting moment for all involved!

So huge kudos to Eric, Ivan and the entire Distractive team for making this happen. It was a great booth, setup, positioning and the flow was there. The preparation, communication and execution was flawless and we always feel confident and prepared to attend an event and booth organised by Distractive. Our pink booth stood out among a sea of bland coloured booths and the claw machine was a fantastic addition which also drew a lot of attention from the crowds. We’d love to see more creative and engaging ideas like this at future events too.

The PBA has generally found developer-heavy and student-focused events to be the most relevant and effective for recruitment. However, as we’ve expanded our programs over the past year, institutional events have also proven increasingly valuable. Additionally, we’re recognising a growing need to branch out into Web2 and broader tech events to diversify and expand our pool of engaged participants.

Looking forward to building on this momentum together, starting with CodeEurope in Kraków next week, Web3 Summit in Berlin in July, and Rare Evo in Las Vegas in August. (Contact us if you want a free ticket!)

Thomas (PBA Marketing Lead) & Alicia (PBA Events Lead)