Introducing the Steem Comic Convention - Blockchain Geeks Unite!
A couple months back I (me being @bryan-imhoff) first proposed a brief outline of the Steem Comic Convention in this post. If you'd like to read it for the first time or revisit it, please do! Once you're ready we can continue on to some updates, news, and requests! In short, the Steem Comic Convention is my initiative to begin building and bringing together the geeks of the "Steemiverse" prior to the official launch of community features on the blockchain platform. (There, saved you a bit of reading if you're in a hurry!)
So What's Happened Since Then?
A Comic Convention By Any Other Name...
(would still smell of body odor)
The name has been subtly altered to be simply Steem Comic Convention, rather than my previously referenced "Steemit" Comic Convention. The reasons are twofold.
- The community should be platform agnostic. While it runs on the Steem blockchain, users may access it through any number of means such as Busy.org, eSteem, ChainBB, Zappl, Steepshot, and more to come. Thus specifying Steemit would be a misnomer.
- From other comments I've observed made by Steem ownership, I believe the Steem blockchain is open source and the names and trademarks are fair to use, however the name Steemit is owned and controlled privately by Steemit Inc. I'd like to respect those boundaries of course. This project is not run or endorsed by Steemit Inc. itself.
I've also been using the full words "Comic Convention" rather than the often used Comicon, as there is currently a legal battle with San Diego Comicon attempting to assert trademark and ownership of the term. I'd rather not stray across that boundary in the future if that organization is successful in it's case.
Pressing Forward Despite Delays
The official Steemit developers have also been recently giving updates about their projects and progress. Currently they are working to solve backend performance and scalability issues for the platform. While it hasn't been explicitly stated, based on all available information it seems official communities implemented on the Steem platform are most certainly behind the timetable set out in the 2017 roadmap. That's no reason not to move ahead with organizing in advance though, and I fully support the desire to get the system in order prior to driving millions more users to Steem.
Registration, Registration, ... and Registration
Registration One
The Steem account you are now reading has been registered! Be sure to follow @steem-comic-con for official news, collaborative articles, and curated re-steems of geeky content!
...and speaking of registration...
Registration Two
There now exists the website steemcomicconvention.com!
With my rather limited skills I've begun building the site as a hub and reference tool for the Steem Comic Convention and all things geeky on Steem! I'm utilizing WordPress as a framework into which I can insert custom pages such as the Show Floor, and a copious amount of feeds drawing content direct from the Steem blockchain. All of these features will only get better as the technology develops and I either...
a) learn more
or
b) can hire a more competent developer than I am!
So far the site features a barebones directory with user submittable entries, the start of an interactive "show floor" graphic which emulates the maps attendees at a physical convention would receive, and some basic information and featured links to members of the fledgling Steem comic community.
Directory listings and pages for individual Steemians will each feature a feed of their comics related content that links back to Steemit, courtesy of the Steemit Feed plugin developed and maintained by @wordpress-tips.
It's a wonderful tool to help spread Steem across the web and @wordpress-tips has even provided me some great tech support right here on Steemit. Please follow and support this account and it's projects! I'd also like to give a shout out to the Steemit Design Resources (www.steemitdesign.com) by @andrejcibik. They've been helpful with the color palette and design and deserve some recognition as well.
Visual improvements are definitely in the works, such as a custom logo, illustrations and the like!
Registration You!
Now here's where you come in! I've begun pre populating the site with appropriate Steem content, but I'm looking for everyone to register themselves, showing their interest and approval while also providing me with content to represent them on the site. The registration form can be found here. This "early registration" event is also my test run so please be patient with any delays, glitches, etc! All placement and representation within the convention is at my discretion right now, though it certainly may change in the future. I'll be working to categorize users in sensible ways to aid in exploration and connecting with others.
In order to give your work and profile the most chance of being featured at the convention please tag appropriate content with either "comics" or "steemcomiccon".
Please note that all of this applies to both "exhibitors" and "attendees!"
Exhibitors
If you're an artist, creator, run an online shop, etc. you'll probably receive a table or booth on our virtual showfloor. For these folks in particular, please feel free to link to any promotional or press materials you have that I can then include in the site. Logos, web banners, advertising images, bios, press releases, etc. For now drop me a link to any such resources in the comments of this post if it's not something you can include within the normal registration fields. I'll set up custom posts and email addresses for certain requests as the demands increase.
Attendees
A convention is a failure without attendees and enthusiasts! If you love attending comic conventions or are a fan of anything geeky, please register utilizing a list of interests. The convention can build out pages to serve as gaming areas, discussion panels, and meet and greets which will pool attendees with similar passions so that you can browse the Steem profiles you may most be interested in interacting with!
Above all Comic Conventions are always welcoming places. Whether you're into Dr. Who, Anime, or 1950's B Movies, there's a home for you. The convention may not be able to greatly support or cater to every interest from the outset, but please feel free to shout them loud and proud so at the very least others wandering the virtual aisles can hear you.
More Fund!
The initial proposal post netted a total of 35.777 Steem which forms the starting budget for future advertising, development, contests and promotional prizes. Obviously earnings from this post will continue to grow that "war chest!" Down the road, a small percentage of earnings by the Steem Comic Convention from posts, advertising, or community features will be paid to staff, but for now it's all being reinvested into the community and it's users. I'm in the process of powering down one cycle from my primary @bryan-imhoff account to transfer the appropriate funds here. I've already invested out of pocket to purchase the domain, web hosting, and some premium WordPress items to help develop the site.
(Full disclosure, I also run the comic publishing account @spottyproduction, as well as the comic review account @exploreunlimited. I'm a serial account creator! It's a great way to separate content and I hope to make some of these accounts into "multi-user publications" in the future.)
The Future
Other than the continued development of the website and awaiting details on official community features, I'm definitely building a wish list of upcoming promotions and projects to help harness the creativity and enthusiasm of the comics community on Steem. Keep watching for further announcements!
As plugins improve, and blockchain features are added, I'll do my best to integrate them into the site and the Steem Comic Convention has every intention of forming a full fledged Steem community when the toolset arrives.
The site will eventually be utilizing minimal advertising as an additional revenue source. To better suit the community I'm experimenting with the A-Ads platform, which focuses on the cryptocurrency industry, and is much more lightweight and non intrusive to viewers than options like Google Adsense. In the near future I'll also implement a couple paid banner slots for Steemians to make use of. With a small amount of SBD users will be able to purchase a set number of views or clicks of your banner advertisement to help promote your blog to the Steem comics community.
Thanks for checking out the Steem Comic Convention at it's inception! Don't forget to register your profile to help in building a very useful database of all us geeks here on Steem. Consider supporting further development and fun future contests and projects with your votes and resteems. And of course, just have some geeky fun.
-Bryan "the Imp" Imhoff @bryan-imhoff
for The Steem Comic Convention @steem-comic-con
yes yes yessssss!
Ithaqa is in!!
Just published your directory listing! It'll definitely get "prettied up" in the near future, especially those social media links. Glad you're in! Hopefully this virtual con will net you a few extra real world sales down the line!
I hope so! Thanks again for organizing!
Sounds interesting. I am a new Steemian. I have a Zazzle store that features comic books from the Golden and Silver age--anything that I find interesting and that is in the public domain. I also to some original work, but I don't draw comics or create characters.
Welcome to Steem! Hopefully you'll find the SCC helpful in it's intended purpose of helping you discover and enjoy some great comics and art related content!
Sounds excellent! I need to think about how to contribute, it will be easier after there will be a date.
There's no date to set! Although there will certainly be time specific promotions and events, the convention itself is just a fun metaphor for the community group. It's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year just like the Steem blockchain!
Keep contributing with great content and discussion in the comics and related tags, and just be on the lookout for any future community projects you may want to participate in! Likewise, if you have a fun idea in mind please suggest it!
Angry Historian at your service. Ask if you need an admin, or some badly written reviews.
Will do! Welcome to the SCC! Here is your freshly approved listing on the site!
Very exciting. Thanks for organizing the virtual comics convention. As a fellow cartoonist, I am grateful.
You're welcome! Thanks so much for your support and interest. The SCC will grow a little each day. I see no shortage of interested participants. The comics community is always a giving and enthusiastic bunch!
Crypto Collectibles will be there, if not having a table, in cosplay walking among the crowds, can't miss the first one of what will no doubt be an annual event. I would love to help judge a cosplay competition or showcase or whatever, there better be cosplay. Going to dress the cats up (jk, that is animal abuse). Will see if I can have something nice or weird to giveaway as a door prize raffle or something, as this forms out into even more and more of a real thing, email me (cryptocollectibles at gmail) what positions or what things you think may need done.
Thanks for joining! You're the first so here's your approved directory listing! I'll actually shine it up a bit making all your social media links working, etc.
You are already at the con! The con starts now! The Steem Comic Convention is just a nice metaphor for this growing group of activity around the comics and related tags. While it's a continuous 24 x 7 presence, it will have defined event and contest periods. Where a normal convention may raffle door prizes every hour, we'll raffle weekly or monthly. Likewise there will be cosplay and art competitions running for similar time periods. I'll be considering this initial 4-6 week period as simply "pre-registration." The goal is to develop the site a bit more, build the list of Steemians in the directory and then begin to announce promotions - both to reward current users and to attract entirely new users to Steemit through the "SCC."
If the group ever grows to a huge number of users, it could certainly facilitate meet ups at existing live conventions - conventions within the conventions so to speak. That would be an amazing success though.
You will definitely be taken up on the offers of help! Likewise if you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know.
-Bryan
I have too many ideas, and yeah a physical presence out of this would be amazing. Art contests, I think that is great idea. Cosplay showing if not competition is a must at some point. Raffles. On the site, Artists, much like at cons, should have commission prices listed and what they may offer. Head sketches of someones favorite characters, full shots, etc. Side geek related things should be accepted like gaming both video and traditional, lego geeks. Anime / Manga possibly gets it's own section, I feel that could topple into cosplay. Crypto Geeks, this is a thing, maybe not a cons, but it should be. Okay, being a little ambitious with this reply, I'm already ready to just have the next physical Steemit Festival be the Comic Con Edition.
Think big! Definitely like the idea of an integrated commission listing for any artists that want it. And absolutely all those sub groups need some love and attention!
One of the first big projects I have in mind is developing an actual printed Convention Book like attendees would receive at San Diego. Art, articles, comics and ads centered around the Steem comics community. Hire a serious pro to do the cover and make it only purchasable using Steem currencies... see if we can lure some completist collectors to utilize the ecosystem and get hooked!
I like the printed book idea a lot. An offshoot of that idea would be a sampler comic book given at the "front door" with like 2-5 pages from artists here on Steemit in comic book form compiled into one book.
Also, I am ready to help judge and host and even get together a Geeky Karaoke contest. I could get a good geeky playlist, think Disney soundtracks, Devo, Nerdcore rap, etc. Since online, people could submit their performance on YouTube.
Geek Karaoke sounds like a win! I'd suggest we try to run contests through Steem related projects as much as possible. Videos through view.ly or dtube.video , cosplay photos through Steepshot, etc.
I absolutely want to foster an anthology comic at some point as well.
What an exciting idea! Definitely joining!
Happy to hear it! Don't forget to register on the site. We're not asking any personally identifiable information, not even an e-mail! We'll be handling communications through the blockchain as much as possible. Registered individuals will be the first to receive information and invites when communities officially launch on Steemit!
OK great. I will get on that today.
I signed up for the convention. Thanks again for taking the initiative.
Well, I better have a table too from which I can shyly look up at the long line of people who wants a drawing and an autograph... a very long line.
Absolutely! Phill has been a pioneer in the Steem comics community! By time the thousandth person in line has passed by, the shyness will have faded!
:)
This post has received a 2.10 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @cryplectibles.
Thank you for the added support @cryplectibles! You're a true patron!