An Exhilarating Journey Through the Web3 Space: Insights from Key Figures and Exploration of Untapped Opportunities | S3 Bonus Episode (at Web Summit)

I'm so excited about being at the web submit again for the seventh time and I got the podcast good again. Hello everyone, my name is Joeri Bilast and I'm the host of the Web3 CMO Stories podcast and, as you might know, it's already 135 episodes ago that I started this podcast and it started at the web submit. Actually, at that moment I didn't have a clue what I was going to do, but I had the opportunity to book podcast booth and I said, uri, now is the moment to do this. So I booked podcast booth and then, of course, I needed to find a guest or something to speak about and I needed to find a name for my podcast. At that time I had the idea let's call it the CMO Stories podcast. There are quite some CMOs at the We b Summit so I started to connect with those people and invite them to the podcast. So directly, one of those people said yes, and Slava was that it was a very first episode we recorded here at the Web Summit and it was the beginning of a big adventure, because after that I started to publish weekly, and then at a certain moment, twice a week, my podcast episodes.

In the beginning it was only with CMOs. Then I went a bit broader and was about channel marketing, digital marketing, subjects like also using a book for your marketing, using LinkedIn, how to build a community, and so on. And then I started to focus more and more on web tree guests and I said, uri, okay, now is the moment to niche down. So from that moment on, my focus was on people that are building in the web tree space, like in fashion, in education, even in health, everything that has to do with that and also marketers asking their vision about web tree, so well know people like Mark Schaefer, joe Pulizzi. I also asked the Jay Acunzo to come on the show at a certain moment, but because he hadn't any experience with web tree and I started to redefine my definition, I said, okay, for me, web tree is an umbrella term, not only for what we call blockchain, nfts, but also for everything around metaverse and AI, and then AI became a thing as so lots of guests have been speaking about those different subjects. So now I'm excited to be at the web submit again, as I mentioned, and I have been discussing already with different people and I recorded some amazing podcast episodes with people that I met, even at the web submit some time ago, so on the first day of the web submit, so the first official day, Tuesday, I got to talk again with Crypto Megan, who I met, actually, one year ago. It was a second time now that she is coming on the podcast, and so this will be, after this one, the first episode in the web submit series.

If you don't know , she's a well-known influencer speaking around the world around her strategy. She's worked as a consultant for companies, investors and celebrities. She has been investing in crypto for a long time now and she is on a world tour. It was great to see her and her husband again, and so we really stay tuned because this web submit series will come out shortly after this episode. The next person I talked to also for the second time, but now in real life was Ethan Pierse. He's also a well-known person in the Web3 space and MC and also keynote speaker at different leading tech conferences, people behind the NFT Factory in Paris, and he has a lot, lots of knowledge to share around Web3, AI and sustainability. The third interview yesterday no, on Tuesday, because it's only the day before yesterday was with Daniela Braga, and that was around AI. Actually, she's the founder and CEO at Defined AI and she is a world economic forum AI technology pioneer. She's also the recipient of many entrepreneurship awards, and she was a member of a 12 person task force of the US president on AI strategy. So we really stay tuned for those three episodes, but it doesn't end with that.

On Wednesday, I connected with the people from the Blockchain Game Alliance and there's a good chance that we will also have an amazing podcast episode with them be recorded soon. One of the people supporting the blockchain game alliance is Sebastien Borget, and if you don't know who this person is, is the co-founder of The Sandbox, which is one of the well-known Metaverse platforms in the world, and so I will be in touch with Sebastien and his team to record also one of the podcast episodes in the next few weeks. And so I mentioned it's the second time during this Web Summit that I am at the podcast booth, so yesterday I recorded an interview here at the booth with Evelyn Mora from VLGE, and if you don't know, Evelyn, she's a founder and CEO of Village what I just said and she's the first female founder to receive investment from L'Oreal group, and also she works with big names as clients like Tesla. I'm sure you won't want to miss this episode either, which will come out soon in the series, in the web smith series, as I mentioned, maybe, as I am also organizing Metaverse myself for the RISE community, for the JUMP community the RISE community is founded by Mark Schaefer and the JUMP community by Jeff Kaufman, so for those people, mostly for the rice community I've been organizing events on special. Now I will come back to that because there is another amazing event coming up that I'm organizing, but let me first finish what I've been doing here at the web submit. So there are a few other people that I will talk to on my show, but I will keep this as a secret for now. Maybe what I can mention is that in the afternoon I will speak to, yeah, the last person that I will meet in the web submit media village here in web submit, which will be Sarah Al Hussaini. With her, I will talk about a company Ultimate. She's a co-founder and CEO and is the world's leading customer service automation platform, and we will be discussing, yeah, a lot of AI, of course.

Now, this morning, I met a few other people from a community that I am a part of, which is called Web3 Doers, and, yeah, we met at the booth of one of those members and was really fun to see everyone. So the booth was from Thomas and actually, let me have a look. Yeah, his company is called TrueHandle. He has a solution, yeah, where you can, with one handle, give this handle to people and it's on the blockchain. It's a battery solution and you find every other social media handle that this person has, because that's often a problem when you meet people at an event. They say how to connect, and sometimes it's WhatsApp, sometimes it's Telegram, sometimes it's LinkedIn, sometimes it's different places and by using this solution TrueHandle it's a startup that Thomas has yeah, would solve this problem. Now, all the people that I've met there were Raphael, also at the booth. I met Thomas's wife, I met Nicole and, yeah, this was really fun to see people in real life that you know from an online Web3 community. Now, yeah, we are already on the last day of Web Summit.

So, as every year, a lot of things are going on. Yesterday, actually, I was talking to Andrew and Pete. It was their first time. Those are well-known marketers yeah, well-known in the UK, but also around the world. They have the conference, Atomicon, a new castle that is going on every year, and they were here for their first time, I think a bit overwhelmed with everything that's going on, and they asked me, yuri, how do you do this event? Do you prepare for them? Because it's my seventh web submit, I learned a few lessons. I remember my first time that I was so overwhelmed that I came here. I was not really organized. Now, every year I optimize because of the things I learned from the previous years. But let me let you give you one tip. That is, using the web submit app and really prepare yeah, your schedule so that you really know who you are going to talk to or going to see and run a lot of people, of course, which are to me too, because I'm here as media. And then the tips if you reach out to me, tell me why you want to speak to me and what are the the things that you want to get out of the meeting, because that's what I will ask you. And if it is just to show me something or to sell me something and you don't even know what I'm really doing, then it could probably be yeah, be a no go. This was a bit about my Web Summit. Like every year. I'm so excited to come back.

I mentioned that I've been organizing events in the metaverse. Now there's another event coming up. It will be in the Tangra Metaverse with my client rezaunce group from Belgium, and we will be organizing an event for 100 people. It will be big Metaverse event, because 100 people for Metaverse event is quite good. There will be different speakers. There will be the founder of the company explaining why they do this kind of event. I will give the keynotes about what is a Metaverse, how you can use the metaverse for business and so on. We will have another speaker that I know from the RISE community, Frank, who will talk about the events that we have been doing together there, frank pandercast. And also there will be a lawyer, Leila, who will be talking about the other legal aspects.

There will be also some time for questions. There will be a panel discussion and even after that there will be a networking room, also a room to ask questions. There will be a place with a DJ, with some music, so people can walk around on the Tangra island and enjoy. So they can join the event with avatar. They can create one on the platform itself or they can join with a ready player me avatar. Now, if you want to be a part of this free event. Yeah, be sure to check the show notes. Send me a message and I can show you the page where you can register.

So this about the metaverse event. Maybe you could ask yourself, yuri, what are your goals now at the web submit? So, yes, recording podcasts, that was one goal. The second goal is networking with people, meeting people in real life, building connections because, as it is, this is paying off in the long term meeting like-minded people that maybe I can help or they can help me now in the future. And also one of the goals is it's now the third day talk to people or find people that could be interested in being a sponsor for my podcast, as now we have more than 135 episodes. It's ranked globally in the top 5%.

I have my audience because you are now listening. It's not the idea to really put like real promo on it, but if you have a business or you know someone, I can give you the exposure in your real like software to my audience, to people like you who are listening. If you like that or you're interested in that, please reach out to jurie at ficatocom or just send me a message on social media. So this was all for this short podcast episode. Be sure to stay tuned because, like last year, there is Web Summit special series and you will be amazed with all the value that has been given by my guests on this show.

If you like the podcast, be sure to share it with others. Like I always say, if you have friends, family, other entrepreneurs, people in your community that could benefit from my podcast episodes, be sure to share it with them and, of course, I would like to see you back next time. Take care, Web3 can take your best to new heights and you're ready to harness its power, but feeling lost and overwhelmed. Therefore, join my W3X Web3 Marketing mastermind. Send me a personal message for more info. You can find me everywhere on social media. There's only one person with my name Joeri Billast. Talk soon.