The seventh installment in my #roadtosteemfest series, and the brain-child of @anomadsoul as he encourages SteemFest 3 attendees to write about their journey along the way.
If you missed the earlier posts on this topic , you can catch up here 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 if you wish.
The blockchain lives! Time to add more thoughts soon to be forgotten...

Solo con GoPro
First of all, I should really start this blog by stating that over the weekend I booked my flight to Krakow. The cost to bring a large case was ridiculous and so I will be travelling light and wearing all the bulky items on the way. Really, I don't have that many clothes and so this will serve as a decent excuse.
Also, A HUGE THANK YOU to @smooth and everyone who supported my entry into his contest as yesterday, he announced that I was one of the lucky winners of a free ticket to the SF3! Those who have been following my blogs over the past couple of months are likely aware just how much this means to me, and so to the 35+ people that commented, and the 70+ that voted my comment, thank you so so much for the kind words and support. You guys are awesome! 🙏
It seems to me that anyone on the Steem blockchain who is both earning a stake and interacting is mixing business and pleasure, and so I think that doing both at SteemFest 3 will just be an extension of that? I'm heading to Poland to gain more knowledge, and socialise - and expect that the two will happen in parallel. OK then, blog complete, see you tomorrow!
Fine, I'll add a little more...
I turned up to last years event 'wet behind the ears', and learned a lot. Every item on the agenda answered questions I was unsure about, and sparked new thoughts and further questions. This time I think I have more knowledge, but the landscape is forever changing - new projects are starting every week, and Steem offers so much to learn both as a newbie to the network, and as a 2 year old account.
I suppose the business side of things to some extent includes the potential to shill your account and project to folks you haven't yet interacted with on Steem. Those presenting, which happily is not me as this would worry me to the point of not enjoying the meet, have a great opportunity to bolster their profile. And good luck to all of you who are.
As last year, I have no set plan of attack in order to potentially bring new visitors to my content, and this is where I think allowing 'business' and 'social' to blend will allow this to happen naturally, or not. I've mentioned in places for a while now, that it's not just purely content that I support, it is the people and their apparent friendliness, openness, kindness that I also appreciate.
Meeting someone face-to-face and sharing a joke, a smile, and some Steem talk should provide further insight to who they are, what they are about, and provide more information on the person behind the account. Those that connect well socially, may well reap some business related reward going forward.
Personally, I'm not their with a focus on gaining more followers, more votes, and a bigger profile. If that that happens naturally through the social events though, then that will please me no end. Saying that, I have just ordered a new phone case, The old OtterBox looking more like a snapped elastic band wrapped around a chewed piece of plastic. Next on the list is some new footwear, and a pair of jeans without holes - there, my business profile raised 😛
I will 100% be at Steemfest 3, and looking forward to both learning and socialising, see you there!
Asher
@steemcommunity Witness