HiveFest

HiveFest XI goes Swarm: self-organized, one weekend - BCN, let's do this?

As promised in the postponement post: ChainCulture waits for better times, but ten years is ten years, and the streak does not die in silence.

HiveFest XI becomes a self-organized, community-run gathering. No big budget, no single organizer, no DHF. You show up, you bring yourself, and the people in the room make it what it is. Personally I am willing, if we continue Barcelona dates, to jump in and liason a suited venue for the conference day, which imho should revolve around "getting our heads together to progress Hive".

HiveFest XI -> "Swarm"

When a hive grows strong enough, it swarms: part of the colony self-organizes and flies off to build a new home. No committee, no budget, pure coordination. There is no better word for what we are about to do.

So: HiveFest XI, the Swarm edition. One weekend, many cities. Each city edition is simply Swarm [City]. Hashtag #HiveSwarm.

How it works, two layers

1. The anchor city: Barcelona. I had already picked it, some of you have booked flights and beds, and the city will be full of crypto people that week (European Blockchain Convention runs right before our weekend), so the energy is free. Barcelona is the base. If your heart says somewhere else, beautiful: that is exactly what the second layer is for.

2. The swarm layer. Anyone, anywhere runs a local edition the same weekend, 17 to 20 September 2026. Five hivers around a table in your town is a Swarm too. Cities wave at each other in one shared livestream hour, and every city posts a recap on Hive afterwards.

The rails

I open the book and lay the rails, then I step back (or help out where I can :D):

The HiveFest Swarm community on Hive, where every city's posts, session boards and recaps live: TBA
One Telegram group where the organizing actually happens: https://t.me/hivefest
A Luma per city to RSVP, starting with Barcelona: https://luma.com/elvjrw46
A session board, fully on Hive: each city gets a board post in the community. Drop a comment to pitch a talk, workshop or roundtable; upvotes show interest. The attendees are the programme, unconference style. (And yes, an honest Hive-economics session belongs on that board, as promised in the go/no-go thread.)
A tip jar per city that needs one: a plain Hive account, public by design, every HBD in and out visible with memos, accounting in the recap post. House rule from the go/no-go thread: nothing gets market-dumped, any conversion goes via the internal market.
The playbook, so any city can run its own edition: TBA

Yes, someone still finds the venue

That someone is a city captain: a volunteer who claims a city in the comments below and herds its logistics. It an be me, or someone who is willing to step up for BCN.

For Barcelona I will make the job as easy as I can. I already play travel agent for my dad's cycling trips, so I will do the same here: the Barcelona captain gets a ready-made starter kit with a hotel deal I have arranged and venue options ranging from an affordable DAO-ish community hub called Akasha Hub to a single hall at a the former ChainCulture venue (70 pax cap max), the latter costing roughly 30 euro per head from the tip jar if 70 folks join in - Akasha would be approx 10 EUR / pax with 70 persons. Real prices, real contacts, warm intros, ready to book. The captain picks, the room pays, I also join the event as a visitor and help :)

What a captain actually does: pick and book a space, be the named contact, herd the session board into a rough day plan, open the door, post the recap. A few hours a week, one busy weekend. What a captain does not do: fundraising, sponsor deals, production. If no one steps up, I will book the venue, but I count on you to setup pre-drinks, in-depth hive session day round tables, and the tourist trip to for example Sagrada Familia (and closing dinner). If everyone picks a part of the program, it would be the best.

If a city gets a captain, it happens. If nobody steps up, that city simply does not happen, and that is a clean, honest signal that the demand was not there. No drama, no sunk cost.

For the builders: one small bounty

The rails above are deliberately zero-build: posts, comments, votes, polls and transfers already are an on-chain datastore. But there is a v2 begging to exist: a Swarm board, a static page that reads swarm_* custom_json ops from chain (city claims, session pitches, RSVPs, and a free proof-of-attendance check-in at the venue). If you want to build that, say so in the comments; there is a tip-jar bounty in it, and if it is good it becomes the official rails for the next edition. Build on Hive, for Hive, at a Hive event. Fitting.

My role, and a thank you

I open the book, set up the rails, share what I know plus the brand, and then I get out of the way, or help organise the conference day in for example Akasha. For BCN I might be able to help with connecting for the main day, but other then that we should go after a DAO model: somebody organises a dinner, someone organises a citytrip, etc. etc.

After ten years I am genuinely at peace handing this to the community to run on its own terms. Hive enabled me to organise events in beautiful, crazy places around the world, the kind of relaxed settings where people actually connect. That has been a privilege. And with longer lead times times, will continue with that with ChainCulture, for which there is definitely a place for Hive(fest) to join in.

So: who wants to be a city captain? Barcelona is sitting right there, booked beds and all, waiting for its captain. Claim your city in the comments, join the Telegram, and let's build the lightweight version of this together.

We see eachother irl in BCN this September?

Comments · 22

@davot(74)· 34d
Seria increíble hacer un hivefest en Colombia
@hivebuzz(74)· 35d
Congratulations @roelandp! Your post has been a top performer on the Hive blockchain and you have been rewarded with this rare badge

Post with the highest payout of the week.

_{You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking} _{If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP}
@arribaeltelon(67)· 35d
I'm in Venezuela, and I've never participated in an event like this, but I imagine it must be very enriching. I hope to have an experience like this someday.
@sequentialvibe(68)· 36d
What a great read — added this to my travel list. Thanks for the inspiration! ✈️
@sequentialvibe(68)· 36d
What a great read — added this to my travel list. Thanks for the inspiration! ✈️
@jakcloh84(1)· 37d
Really appreciate posts like this. Real experience is so much more valuable than theory.
@jakcloh84(1)· 37d
Solid breakdown. The part about starting small really resonates — that's been my experience too.
@jakcloh84(1)· 37d
Interesting read. Question: what was the biggest unexpected challenge you faced when starting this?
@jakcloh84(1)· 37d
Thanks for sharing. The practical approach you describe is exactly what more people need to hear.
@jakcloh84(1)· 37d
Great perspective! I've found the same thing in my own workflow. Consistency really is the secret ingredient.
@jakcloh84(1)· 37d
Thanks for being so open about your process. This level of detail is rare and really valuable for the community. Following for more.
@blocktrades(80)· 37d
Great idea! I'll be heading to the Barcelona edition, never been there before :-)
@steevc(80)· 37d
This could be an opportunity to get more people involved in the Hivefest experience. Not everyone can afford to travel. I had been wondering if I could make it to Barcelona, but I am up for a UK node in the swarm. I will see what others think. I guess we could have multiple locations.
@ericvancewalton(81)· 38d
I'm so happy to hear it's still happening! You've done an amazing job organizing these over the last decade. Hopefully, next year, we'll see a return of the traditional HiveFest.
@apshamilton(73)· 38d
Who'd be interested in a swarm in Cyprus? I may be able to get a venue for free?
@por500bolos(68)· 38d
You should give me some of what you smoked when you wrote this post. Because I could catch and feel all the awesome enthusiasm and optimism with which you wrote it, but I couldn't grasp a damn thing of what you said.
@latinowinner(58)· 38d
good vibes
@jakcloh84(1)· 38d
Great thread. Comparing different approaches side by side is really helpful. I've found that mixing a few methods gives the best results for my specific use case.
@hivebuzz(74)· 38d
Congratulations @roelandp! Your post has been a top performer on the Hive blockchain and you have been rewarded with this rare badge

Post with the highest payout of the day.

_{You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking} _{If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP}
@gtg(76)· 38d

We see eachother irl in BCN this September?

Well, that's the plan :-)
@roelandp(78)· 38d
Whats at hand for BCN:
- I have a hotel deal / discount code for thesocialhub.co TSHIC
- I have a potential venue at Akasha Hub "It is a decentralized and self-coordinated network, with its main node in Barcelona."
We need somebody to claim:
- Opening drinks organisation
- In-depth saturday morning round table sessions / workshops setup
- Livestreaming on conference day
- Sunday tourist outing
- Sunday Closing dinner organisation
- Sunday Closing drinks organisation
@worldmappin(81)· 38d
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