Many of you know, as it is impossible to dismiss, that Bitcoin Magazine’s annual Bitcoin Conference is happening this month in Nashville. I will be attending for the first time this year. This post is like a journal entry where I am expressing the thoughts and expectations that belong exclusively to me. My intention is to find commonalities with others and to open myself up to the experience.

Historically, this conference has had a huge impact, and I’ve had passive interest. I paid attention when Jack Mallers revealed his visions for bitcoin’s future. I was curious about Jordan Peterson’s participation. I’ll watch Max Keiser scream at anybody. A few other smaller presentations I clicked into from my computer at home, but that’s about it. From my very limited knowledge of this conference in the past, I feel I’ve learned everything I need to know: that it’s shill city and I’m good without it.

Unfortunately, I don’t like a lot of things about it. There’s too much pomp and circumstance, for one. Half of what I’ve seen on this stage has made me cringe uncontrollably. And then, just the nature of the thing does not agree with me: I tend to feel lost and overwhelmed in big crowds. I get cranky around people that draw attention to themselves, and it seems to me that the game here is to draw attention to yourself, and dishonestly if you have to. Without having boots-on-the-ground knowledge, admittedly, I would label the conference as a party for people who got rich because of bitcoin. I fear it is not productive, in fact disorienting, fake, and distracting.

Whew, it feels good to get that out.

Now, I am ready for my opinion to change. Since I will be in attendance this time, I know I will discover contradictions to my above statements. I welcome being wrong. I hope it is a valuable time with like-minded people. Additionally, I realize it is only my attitude that would hold me back from having a great time, therefore this post is a practice in checking my attitude. But I wonder, am I alone? Do others have negative ruminations such as mine? Or is this ‘saying the quiet part out loud?’

A big part of me hopes that I will meet stackers there, and that would be my grandest, most delightful expectation. In order to foster this, I want to pledge my time to a specific location (probably coffee shop) every morning where the chances of meeting other conference-goers in a casual atmosphere is most likely. Maybe it won’t work out like that, but it feels good to hang my anxieties on this plan.

All that said, I am confident that this will be a historical event, in any case, and I’m a chill enough person to be happy in the flow of whatever comes. I will be adding a follow up post-conference analysis. It may be interesting to see where I end up on the other side, and detail what I learn along the way.

Tell me what you expect, I’m all ears, as there are plenty of holes in my assessment.