History is subject to ever-changing dynamics that are meant to be challenged.
In our case, we want to challenge the dynamics of work and leisure experiences using Web3 technology.
If you want to challenge such a concept, you have to bring smart, intentional people together in one place. That's why last week, on the peripheral Greek island of Leros, our community created a setting for 15 Web3 founders and builders to meet and strengthen the sense of belonging that we all strive for. We partnered with CabinDAO and made it the first Cabin IRL event in Europe. In this article, we talk about our experience at the Web3 camping retreat in Leros.
This event was a joint collaboration between Web3 Travelers and Cabin. Wanna stay in the Cabin loop? Get their weekly Postcard delivered to your inbox.
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As our community is still finding its place under the sun, it was important to come together with like-minded people in a cohesive setting to brainstorm ideas on how to re-conceptualize and re-design the way we travel and live. This was also the main theme that connected us and was at the heart of our discussions.
For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate. — Margaret Heffernan
Contemplating as the ancient philosophers did
We stayed in a small, rustic camp in a 400-year-old olive grove on the little-known Greek island of Leros. Staying in such a place certainly had its inspiring influence - in between our discussions we could sit and chill under the olive trees, as the ancient philosophers did, and reflect in silence. It would not have been an authentic experience if our host Panos had not prepared local and organic food. Watching him pull vegetables from the camp's garden before preparing them was an experience in itself and something many of us are no longer used to.
We could have held the retreat at an ordinary tourist site polished to a high gloss, but we chose a place as authentic as possible. And why? To experience firsthand what a genuine place away from the tourism hotspots looks like and what different and touching experiences it can evoke in us. One of the values of our community is also to identify and support small local tourism and travel service providers that are struggling in this new world of digitalization, and may not be 100% polished but can offer 100% authentic and immersive experiences. As you can imagine, we also taught our host Panos a bit about Web3. We have not gotten around to opening his own wallet yet, but we have made progress.
Our goal is to organize experiences and events to engage and positively impact the local community, rather than a standard tourism model where we simply have a transactional relationship between guests and hosts. Only when travelers are offered profound, engaging experiences can they make a genuine connection with the inhabitants of the destination they visit and broaden their horizons. Otherwise, travel does not have the social impact it could.
We realized we were on the right track when some of our participants expressed a desire to return to the camp in the future and help Panos, the host, maintain and improve the camp and also help him with his digital presence. We did such regen activities also during our stay - we helped Panos to harvest his grapes!
A unique experience that you cannot get on a normal hotel-style vacation. - Simon from Devleet
Curing our FOMO
We have noticed there has been serious FOMO in recent years for small boutique events like this, where we can feel comfortable and share the space with other like-minded people. We can do a lot online, but it's still difficult to connect with our peers. We believe that real progress is made when you bring people together and create a setting where they can thrive. Our goal was to create a space where one could meet with like-minded people, immerse themselves in a particular topic, acquire new knowledge, and share common meaningful experiences.
The retreat was attended by different types of founders and builders in the Web3 space from Europe and the US. They are all passionate people with a vested interest in making the world a better place using Web3 technology. The small size of the group made it possible to make deeper contacts and build lasting relationships. Although participants came from a variety of Web3 backgrounds (DeFi, DAOs, NFTs), what we all had in common was that we challenged the way we travel and live. We did this through our formal and informal discussions during the week, which centered around building a network of autonomous coliving properties in Europe that are owned by community members. As we speak, we are moving our discussions forward by working together online and turning words into action.
A great place to meet fellow web3 enthusiasts, stay in beautiful locations and learn new things. - Rachel from Good Ghosting
What did we do?
The retreat consisted of:
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2 full days of discussions, workshops and presentations
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1 full leisure day
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2 days of informal activities
A pure combination of work and leisure. The beauty of this event was that it was co-created by all of us. For example, Tomas and Rachel (participants in the event) both volunteered to personally lead their own discussions and workshops.
In addition to our on-site discussions, we were also able to hear from some of the Web3 builders that joined us via Zoom. All of the activities were helpful in inspiring us and encouraged us to think about how we can apply this knowledge to our community. Our program consisted of the following presentations and discussions:
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Jonathan Hillis (CabinDAO) - How Decentralized Organizations Win (and Lose)
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Vyara Stefcheva (Zahara consulting) - The Future is Community-Driven: Why Some Web 3.0 Projects Fail
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Justin Vogel (Safary Club) - Web3 Growth
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Tomas Grizas (Houseys) - How will Web3 change the way we travel (and experience) the world + The intersection of DAOs & real estate
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Rachel Black (Good Ghosting) - Writers Block. An experiment in open source story crafting
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Anuša Kovačič (NEAR Balkans) - NEAR Balkans opportunities
As travel experts, we cannot host an event like this without experiencing the destination and what it has to offer. Therefore, we dedicated 1 full day to organized leisure activities led by our team. Foodies were not disappointed either, as we were able to taste many local dishes and specialties (maybe even too many!). We organized the following leisure activities:
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E-bike tour of the island
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Scooter tour of the most beautiful beaches
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Hiking tour
The retreat was a big step on the way to finding a purpose and common ground for our community. Most importantly, we made new friends, gained new knowledge, made meaningful connections, and were inspired to continue working together as a community. In addition to all the off-chain memories, all participants received a POAP to have a permanent on-chain memorabilia (and perhaps future benefits in our community?).
Although our 5-day experience ended far too quickly, we know that this is just the beginning of what we will be doing. Alpha: Discussions for our next retreat are already underway, so stay tuned!
This event was a joint collaboration between Web3 Travelers and Cabin. Wanna stay in the Cabin loop? Get their weekly Postcard delivered to your inbox.
Join Web3 Travelers to learn about future IRL events, fill out this form.
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About us
Connecting Web3 founders and contributors with meaningful experiences is the goal of Web3 Travelers. Insightful, transformative encounters and genuine H2H (human-to-human) relationships are what we hope to offer through bringing people together in special, genuine locations around the globe. We concentrate on activities and experiences that bring diverse travelers together around a similar interest.