Nostr at BTC Prague, a testament to community
Several months ago, AviBurra (npub1hqa…t56s) and I set out to do tackle a task that had never been done before throughout Nostr’s short history. We decided adopt the “go big, or go home” mentality and give our best effort to Purple Pill all of the BTC Prague (npub167n…zu3r) conference.
We couldn’t accomplish this monumental task without the help of the Nostr community. From every day Nostriches and plebs, to legendary developers putting their blood, sweat, and tears into building this new protocol, to several companies within the Nostr ecosystem, everyone was going to need to do their part to turn this dream into a reality.
The mission
For the original vision of Nostr at BTC Prague, we planned on supporting the smallest available booth and a small panel on the secondary stage. The plan was for any Nostr developer to contribute what they could and then use the Nostr booth as a central hub to onboard users to their applications, provide support to their users, and meet the community. I embarked on my first crowdfunding journey and was able to initially raise over 10M sats thanks to the greater Nostr community donating towards our efforts.
Shortly afterwards, I was approached by Svetski (npub1dtg…up6m) from Satlantis. He had planned on doing a mainstage presentation at BTC Prague on his new Nostr powered application. He asked me if I wanted to combine our efforts to upgrade the Nostr booth to the largest booth possible to give Nostr an even larger presence. I reached out to Avi and several other trusted Nostriches to see their opinions on this potential upgrade and everyone seemed to agree that we should continue with the “go big, or go home” mentality and try our best to Purple Pill all of Prague.
Now with a larger goal at hand, we were able to garner even more support from the Nostr community in addition by adding Highlighter from PABLOF7z (npub1l2v…ajft) and Primal from miljan (npub16c0…6nvr) as larger contributors.
The final tallies for funds raised were 16M+ sats from the greater Nostr community and 38M+ sats raised from Satlantis, Primal, and Highlighter. (We did have to raise a little more than originally anticipated because the Bitcoin 58K Gang made the fiat value of Bitcoin dip down for a bit right when we were trying to finalize payment.)
Putting it all together
This support enabled us to secure one of the four large booths at BTC Prague and a main stage panel. Given that these three companies made significant contributions, enabling our acquisition of the largest booth, we decided that it was logical to feature these companies more prominently. However, it was crucial to strike a delicate balance here. While emphasizing that this booth represented the Nostr community and was a true community effort, we also wanted to acknowledge and showcase those who made it possible. These companies could have opted for smaller individual booths, but their collaboration in a unified space demonstrates Nostr’s principles of openness and interoperability—demonstrating that everyone and everything can work together seamlessly.
Therefore, we included as many logos across the Nostr ecosystem as possible throughout our iconography.
And, we also had a dedicated area of the booth highlighting our larger contributors.
The results exceeded all expectations. For three days during the BTC Prague conference, the Nostr booth was continuously bustling with activity. Attendees ranged from individuals who had never heard of Nostr before to those who were curious, active users within the ecosystem, and developers creating the applications we use daily. It was a remarkable community effort, with unexpected volunteers stepping up to onboard new users and provide support. Recognizing our busy schedules and flocks of new Nostriches hatching, they chose to assist in our efforts, offering help, and answering questions. It was a truly inspiring experience. Despite the busyness, the enthusiasm and support of so many people made each day enjoyable and dynamic, ensuring there was never a dull moment and we were always surrounded by friends.
Booth takeaways
As this was our very first attempt at doing something like this, I’d like to do a personal post mortem and highlight many of our successes and even some areas where I feel we can improve upon in the future.
Several Nostriches went above and beyond, helping onboard people and answer questions for three days straight. Jeroen 🫖🐸 (npub17pl…ezx0) paulinthejungle (npub1spd…q6j7) Kieran (npub1v0l…qj49) pavle (npub1k6t…dhk6) ShortSimon (npub1md3…ctp9) arkinox (npub1ark…h43w) Marko (npub1zga…ppvc) were the lifeblood of the booth, always answering questions themselves or referring them to others if they were unable to help, didn’t know the answer or were busy at the time. You all put in the work and deserve much credit and thanks. Even franny (npub1995…8vtf) was helping with onboarding!
Additionally, beyond general use case questions, we also had many developers stop by and answer many more technical questions for those wanting to learn a bit more too. zach (npub1zac…5dy5) Kieran (npub1v0l…qj49) arkinox (npub1ark…h43w) PABLOF7z (npub1l2v…ajft) were often seen answering more technical questions on various developmental topics.
Identifying areas for improvement is challenging, as the entire team of Nostriches performed exceptionally well, exceeding expectations. The event was a whirlwind of activity, with constant engagement and zero downtime. Volunteers seamlessly rotated at the front counter answering questions and distributing items to attendees. (Thanks Dawn (npub1cgc…2ndy) . Your nostr.how and nostrapps.com business cards were a HUGE help here!)
Full disclosure, I personally didn’t leave the booth for three days all that much for two reasons. 1) Because I love to #GrowNostr and talk to people and 2) Because I was worried that the booth would turn into a corporate Primal or Satlantis show. However, this wasn’t the case. While these teams did have a large presence with many team members all wearing t-shirts, none of my fears became a reality. If people asked questions about Nostr in general, that was discussed. If people asked questions about Primal or Satlantis, that was discussed. I personally recommended numerous social apps, Damus, Amethyst, Primal, Nostur, Nos.social - all of them. The booth was a true decentralized effort and I absolutely did not need to worry as much as I did, but I felt like I had an obligation to fulfill and I wanted to be there to see it through.
If I had to choose an area that needed improvement, I’d say that the three Satlantis women that Svetski (npub1dtg…up6m) brought with him were supposed to shadow some of us to learn more about Nostr, so that they could then use this information to do the initial intake booth questions before making the referral to those with more information, but this just didn’t happen. We were all so busy. Sorry! It was just too hard to coordinate. Maybe in the future we can prepare a bit more in this area. Although, Tanja (npub1hz5…tysa) did a fantastic job, jumping right in there head first!
Secondly, we could have improved our television capabilities. We rotated from showing the live dashboard from the booth’s Zap.stream livestream, to showing Primal.net/explore Nostr statistics, to showing Max DeMarco (npub1lel…kvyz) ’s Nostr Documentary on loop, to playing the Satlantis promotional video. The majority of the time our TV was playing the same Nostr Documentary. It’s great! I love that video, but we may be able to work out a better schedule and rotation mechanism in the future to showcase more content equally. Plus, I don’t want to always be on the TV. I don’t want people getting the wrong idea.
Nostr takeaways
After speaking with hundreds of people at BTC Prague, I feel that I’ve discovered the best way to describe Nostr.
Nostr has a portable digital social identity, allowing you to be in control of your digital social identity for the very first time, allowing you to take your entire social graph with you, every time you use a different application from Nostr’s ecosystem.
Nostr is the social glue that binds all of your apps together.
In general, at BTC Prague, while explaining Nostr to people, the digital social identity route was what clicked with the most people. From there, it’s not a long stretch to understand building a reputation and web of trust either.
Many people do not use the “Other Stuff” and explaining to them how to use these applications is hard. People want a native application.
Damus, Primal, and Amethyst seem to be the number one apps that people are using, with maybe Primal being the number one altogether? This is probably due to Primal being available on Android, iOS, and the web. Also, many people don’t know that Damus still supports Zaps via the Nostr script workaround. I had to show many how to enable Zaps.
Everyone wants Nostr at their conference
There is significant interest in featuring Nostr at various conferences. Although not everyone has reached out, numerous individuals at BTC Prague expressed enthusiasm about incorporating a Nostr booth, along with several Nostr talks and sessions, into their upcoming events. They recognize the critical role Nostr and free speech play globally and acknowledge Nostr’s popularity within the Bitcoin community. However, they also understand that more work is needed, and we must continue our efforts to onboard and engage new users.
I have two primary observations on this matter:
The community effort demonstrated here serves as a blueprint for success. We have proven that this approach to growing Nostr is effective, desired, and necessary. The engagement at our booth and attendance at our panels prove this with ease.
This fundraising initiative is likely a one-time effort. I cannot, in good conscience, continue to ask the community to bootstrap these endeavors. If we are to sustain these booths and promote Nostr at similar conferences, the conference organizers themselves must provide substantial support or discounts to foster broader Nostr adoption. While I understand that conferences entail significant operational costs, it is not feasible for Nostr developers and the broader Nostr community to finance these efforts continuously. Additionally, I would not feel comfortable requesting financial contributions from you all again for this purpose.
Looking forward
Will we do _this _again? I don’t know. While our initial endeavor was a complete success, it would be unfortunate to cease our efforts just as we are gaining momentum.
Avi and I have a lot to discuss between ourselves and a lot to discuss with all of you.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you Svetski (npub1dtg…up6m) PABLOF7z (npub1l2v…ajft) miljan (npub16c0…6nvr) for making all of this possible. Thank you to every single Nostrich that donated your hard earned sats to make this possible. Thank you to all of the developers that built all of this to make all of this possible. Thank you to everyone else <3
Keep building.