From Participant to Organizer: How Community-Led Activities Drive Innovation in Decentralized Systems

Harnessing the Power of Decentralized Ecosystems

The strength of decentralized ecosystems lies in their broad participation and spirit of sharing. They are built on the diversity of thought and experience brought by their participants. Community-led and in-person activities are crucial for the continued prosperity of these ecosystems, as they enable members to connect, share perspectives, and collaboratively address challenges.

But these connections benefit from taking place in person, not just online. Research consistently shows that in-person events offer significant advantages over virtual ones in terms of engagement and networking opportunities. A report from the Harvard Business Review indicates that "in-person interactions are 34 times more likely to result in effective outcomes compared to virtual meetings."

The value of having local community ecosystems lies in their ability to address specific regional needs and leverage local knowledge. By empowering individuals to contribute and benefit from technological advancements tailored to their unique contexts, these ecosystems succeed where a single, centralized actor might not. Community-driven events act as catalysts, connecting local audiences with global contributors, thus enhancing the overall cohesion and effectiveness of the ecosystem –– qualities that are increasingly important in a digital world.

In this piece, I discuss my experiences moving from a network participant to the head of Filecoin Orbit for the Greater China region –– and the learnings I’ve had along the way.

New Avenues for Connection through the Orbit Program

One power of decentralized communities is that anyone – across the world – can contribute and engage in the ways that make the most sense for them. Like many community members, I initially felt uncertain about how to contribute effectively to the Filecoin network. However, participating in the Orbit program – a community-led initiative to spread the word about Filecoin and IPFS – has created new avenues for promotion that leverage the strong technical community in Asia –– and beyond. The Orbit community has not only broadened my understanding of the global ecosystem but also showcased the activities and expertise of ambassadors from various regions. For instance, ambassadors in Africa are educating students about Filecoin while those in Europe and the Americas frequently organize technical exchange meetings. This has inspired us to transform our events into more targeted community strategies.

For example, in the Asian market already equipped with abundant hardware resources, more qualitative network activities through the Orbit community provide differentiated opportunities for growth. In early 2024, the Orbit China community conducted roadshows in three different cities in China. Notably, the attendees, and their interests, at these roadshows varied significantly. The western region, rich in hardware resources, sought more information on hardware deployment solutions; the central region's event attracted mostly venture capitalists and financial professionals; and the southern region's meeting drew a larger number of technical developers. The Orbit events brought together participants with different strengths, creating new connections and uncovering new business opportunities.

Although these events all centered on learning more about the Filecoin network, the focus of the content shared and the takeaways for participants differed significantly across regions. Yet, the common goal was to bring more value and utility to the network, ultimately driving adoption for both companies and the entire ecosystem. Relying on the power of local ecosystem participants, we can pivot these events to focus on the topics and interests most powerful for the local ecosystem – integrating the unique characteristics of different regions into impactful events that drive a cohesive network.

Standardized Collaboration in Decentralized Ecosystems

Building and maintaining brand identity and community buy-in across a decentralized ecosystem presents unique challenges. Without a central authority to guide the narrative, the responsibility of creating a cohesive experience falls on community members. However, by developing tools, standardized processes, and branding systems, it’s possible to create a unified and engaging experience that resonates with the community.

Perhaps counterintuitively, decentralized ecosystems thrive when there is a clear and standardized collaboration process. In the Filecoin Orbit community, the process for logo and imagery design exemplifies this idea.

Fil-city.io, developed by the Filecoin Foundation, is a versatile branding platform tailored for global Filecoin events. It provides modular, customizable toolkits that enable event organizers to quickly create visual materials that adhere to brand standards while reflecting the unique style of each city. For example, at FIL HK, Fil-city.io set the primary visual color to bright yellow, inspired by Hong Kong’s night market culture, which was seamlessly integrated across the event website, promotional posters, and on-site decorations. These pre-designed assets allowed our designers to make swift adjustments based on event needs, saving time while ensuring brand consistency. This efficiency lets organizers focus on creative design ideas, maintaining alignment with Filecoin’s design principles, ensuring events are instantly recognizable, and enhancing community engagement and impact.

Maximizing Event Impact with Tailored Promotion Strategies

Building on standardized collaboration processes, event organizers can significantly increase their event's impact by choosing unique promotional strategies that suit their regional context. Below are examples of marketing strategies the Greater China Orbit community has employed to appeal to attendees in the Asia-Pacific region.

Personal Invitations: For FIL Hong Kong, we prepared personalized "invitations" for key figures within the community that were tailored to be shared on social media and group chats. Besides showing respect to the invitees, this encourages them to share the invitation on social media platforms. In the context of the Asia-Pacific culture, where interpersonal relationships and social networks hold significant importance, this approach leverages the influence of key figures, allowing them to share with their social circles quickly.

Local Media: We enhanced promotion by working with local media: in exchange for displaying media logos on our promotional materials and at the event venue, local media published event-related content on their platforms. This helped to expand the target audience for FIL Hong Kong to other ecosystems. We ended up partnering with 20 Mandarin and Cantonese media outlets, and 40% of the attendees were new to the Filecoin ecosystem, including individuals from various sectors such as venture capital, other ecosystem developers, and exchange personnel. By leveraging the local media market, we were able to draw more people into Orbit events to learn about the Filecoin ecosystem.

Group Chats: Sharing information across different group chats is a highly effective strategy for quickly disseminating content. Many participants join multiple group chats to stay updated on projects or learn new information. For example, as a deep participant in the Filecoin ecosystem, I’m a member of nearly 10 different Filecoin-related groups, each with its own focus, such as storage providers, FVM developers, or general information sharing. Additionally, I’ve joined active technical discussion groups for other protocols to keep up with developments outside the ecosystem. Leveraging this group chat culture, we promote events by distributing electronic posters with essential details and QR codes for easy registration in various active groups. This approach consistently results in a significant increase in registrations.

These tailored methods helped us organizers reach a larger potential attendee base more effectively, resulting in 650 attendees throughout the week at FIL Hong Kong.

Reflection and Summary: The Transformative Power of Community

Players in a typical centralized structure strictly follow a single authority’s guidance, often overlooking the power of collective effort. Decentralized communities are characterized by their multicultural nature and the diverse backgrounds of their members, presenting challenges and endless possibilities.

My journey from a participant to the head of Orbit for the Greater China region has underscored the transformative power of decentralized ecosystems. By leveraging standardized collaboration processes like co-design systems and tailoring promotional strategies to fit regional contexts, we have been able to enhance the impact and reach of our events; our attendance outcomes demonstrate the power of local organizers with the intel to capture regional audiences. These efforts not only address local needs but also contribute to a cohesive global network –– a network that is greater than the sum of its parts.