Community Builders Meetup of Meetups | Bitcoin 2026

Welcome everybody. The mega Bitcoin meet up. The meetups of all meetups. Look at us. We made it. >> We made it. >> Let's go. >> So, we're here today to talk about Bitcoin meetups and the importance of community building in the Bitcoin space. So, before we get started, I just want to do a show of hands. Who here in the audience has ever hosted their own Bitcoin meetup? >> All right, let's go. All right. Okay. Who here in the audience has never been to a Bitcoin meetup? >> Okay. >> All right. So, after this talk, you're going to be able to find your local Bitcoin meetup or you'll have the courage to start your own. >> That's awesome. >> And I want to tell a little personal story. So, I went to Fish on Saturday in the Spear and as I was there, I was uh sitting next to a woman and she asked what I was doing in Vegas. And I told her I was here at a Bitcoin conference and she said, "Oh, Bitcoin. I've been I've been studying it for a long time, but I'm still not confident in investing." And it really hit me. That's why we're here. And that's why we run Bitcoin meetups because you can listen to your 40 hours per week of podcast. You can read all the Bitcoin books you want, but there's nothing that brings trust like in-person meetups. So we educate each person on why our current monetary system is so corrupt. We teach them how to self custody and that's really how we change the world for ourselves and for our future children. So with that I want to introduce the panel. My name is Liz Parish. I am the events coordinator of Bitcoin Day Foundation. Next to me I have Chester. He organized meetups in Philly John and also surrounding areas and thank god for Bitcoin meetups. and he is the founder of the Blockron. Next up, we have Johnny Delgado. He organizes meetups in Peru, Bitcoin Charlotte in Wordville, Peru, and he is the founder of the best Bitcoin hot sauce, Delosgo. >> That's right. >> And next we have Wesley Slimmer. He is the founder and president of the 501c3 Bitcoin Bay Foundation. Okay, so next up you can see this is a map of all not all not all but a lot of the Bitcoin meetups around the world. So you know we have the United States. We're in Australia. So there's really a ton that you can find your your own Bitcoin meetup and props to Atlantis. They're a good platform you can find your local your local Bitcoin meet up. So next up I want to start with Bitcoin Bay. So Wesley, you started the first 501c3. What advantages did you see of that and what disadvantages have you seen of that? >> Yeah, so um Bitcoin Bay spawned off of the Tampa Bay uh Bitcoin meetup. It's been going on for 14 years. Uh it's been organized, you know, as crossing socials, bits and all that. when we joined about four years ago. Uh we kept doing that but then started hosting larger events that had sponsors and expenses and ticket sales and which is great until I'm on the hook for all that income and I don't get the right off any of those expenses. So and as we're doing community development and education, you know, this is what a nonprofit is for. nonprofit is for uh especially the 51c3 uh especially is education community you know science religious uh stuff like that and obviously we are in the education community side of that um so you know we didn't think a forprofit enterprise would really be good for a community uh you know service that we were doing and it also sounds a lot better when the president of the Bitcoin Bay Foundation wants to come and talk to your school about Bitcoin instead of Wesley wants to come talk to your school about Bitcoin it's like well Who the heck is that? So, some of the advantages have been um you know instit I mean it it's a you know it's credibility you know people like seeing like oh yeah title next to your name and now you're a whole different person who's more qualified to talk about us than you were before. So, you know, I mean, whenever we won the grassroots games in 2023, uh, I literally just filed our incorporation paperwork in the Uber on the way to the conference. And so, we had an EIN that we were able to get paid by the conference for the weddings for the grassroots games. So, that's another advantage is because otherwise it would come to me or, you know, Ben or Fabio and we'd be personally liable for that as income. And so having a business structure, you know, limited liability corporations, I'm familiar with those. U but the nonprofit structure, you know, lets us uh not pay taxes. You know, we're tax exempt. We don't have to pay sales tax for things. People who are donating to the meetups are able to write that off on their on their taxes. Uh so it it really is a vehicle for helping uh structure and incentivize the community in your area. also no capital gains tax as a nonprofit. So if you want to use Bitcoin as money, it kind of, you know, takes that away uh that hurdle away. Uh the disadvantage is is you have to file paperwork and you have to follow the IRS laws and you know, you got to do all those things, but you got to kind of do that anyways. Um but every meetup that isn't incorporated is an unincorporated association. So there is there are already like rules and like regulations that surround what we are all doing. So doing this just kind of helped solidify it uh in a way that's respectable to people um and providing a a task managed way for our members to take part in the space and for us to grow the mission. And we've had probably 15 uh meetups go that route and or other organizations go that route that we've been able to advise on uh for that. So it's we were the first ones through the door and we didn't get shot. So everyone was like okay it's probably safe to go. So I guess, you know, we'll see what the next happening looks like, but it it's been it's been good to see so far. >> I want to touch upon you said that you do a lot we do a lot of work with the schools University of Tampa. I think some of the students are here in the audience. What what benefits have you seen working with the University of Tampa and the meetup? >> Yeah, I say it all the time. Uh that's like one of my favorite things is the relationship we have University of Tampa. Like being able to like work with the students and grow with them. I mean like we were starting when they were starting their club where you know like soon after so we all kind of grew up together and like now the first crowd is graduating. It's kind of bittersweet. Uh but it's great because like since we're an actual organization we're able to sign off on volunteer hours. We're able to provide actual internships that you know look decent on resume. Um you know so it's been great to have that you know institutional backing that we're allowed to share with people. uh they support us. We're able to take that back and support them. And also for the professor, it's like, hey, like I have this nonprofit in the area that is helping doing this that brings businesses here, you know, like that's what job that's ostensibly what colleges care about is getting students and getting them placing jobs in their field. So if we are able to tell the school like, hey, you need to teach your kids about Bitcoin. Why? Well, because there is a business community here that will hire them. And so, you know, it it's it's been a good synergy there. We had the first Bitcoin economics course being taught there last semester. It was far and away the best voted uh course on campus by a whole point. You like the next nearest one was like 3.8. It's like a 4.7. Um so everyone loves it. Uh and you know it's um it's been definitely one of the highlights of of Bitcoin Bay. >> Yeah. I want to say what I've realized it's just a huge help to the meetup too because a lot of times when you're a meetup organizer, there's only maybe one person or two people organizing this meetup. And if you can go to a school and get some volunteers, it's really it's really a win-win. Uh also in in Tampa Bay, we host bigger events for most meetups. We host the Salmonies 4A and also hosted the first Bitcoin float in Gas Barilla. So what what made those work? What made them successful? Um, I I think me being unemployed prior to doing this and having time to full-time is dedicated. Uh, but also the team, you know, like like you said, like the volunteers that we've had. I mean, like especially these bigger events were I mean I mean look around. I mean, how many volunteers have you seen here? So, you know, whenever we have like our sales tour for the gala, I mean, that's a group 120 people, raffle, auction, games, this that, like being able to have like a a core group of volunteers you can rely on is immense, like immensely valuable. So, I mean, it it is a totally effort. Uh the the parade float was, you know, obviously a ton of fun. Um that that required that's required buying, you know, who doesn't want to be in the world's first Bitcoin parade float? Uh, also we have good merch, so people want to be part of the team. >> Yeah. And I just want to touch upon that, too. If you're going to start a meetup, like a lot of times these meetups are just at at a bar, which is totally fine, but coming up with a creative way like the sound money story that kind of draws in different people. Like a lot of times the girlfriends or the wives also want to come because it's a gala. So sometimes if you're running a meetup, just try and think outside of the box as well. >> Okay, moving on. So we have meetups in the United States but also outside the United States. So Johnny, could you touch upon the differences of the meetups in Peru and the US? Uh well, we speak Spanish in Peru and over here it's English. It's a little bit of different dialect. Uh we welcome everybody of course. Uh I would say that as somebody that was born and raised in Peru and lived most of my life here now, uh you see the different dynamics and kind of how you approach people. It makes it very educational for yourself on how to approach how the bets are are lived up, right? I personally went through my whole Bitcoin life without meeting anybody in person. I was the crazy one bringing up Bitcoin until I found Bitcoin Charlotte and then that taught me that there's people in this world and we can get together and help people learn what we do. And that drove me to start one in Peru. Um, Orangeville, Peru is the one. So, you guys ever travel, go get meet up over there. That led me to learn more about what the Bitcoin Bitcoin ecosystem that I'm more in line with, which is helping people. I feel like that's a big difference between what I see in Bitcoin is in the United States and outside of the United States, especially with Peru. Um, there's a so far of a gap, you know. Uh, I feel like here more people that I talk to want to keep that Bitcoin outside. They find they have a way of freedom more than here because it's a lot easier on the situation that we have here with money exchange. Um I found more of Peru. You guys can see that over there. Um that was a blessing because me trying to Orangeville my friends and family in Peru is why I started Orangeville Peru. That led me to find Valentine and Rick that started this whole organization just trying to find um help for people that needed it and using Bitcoin as a tool. So that for me opened my eyes to see that sometimes you got to approach people without just going into Bitcoin gunhole. Just meet them where they are and see what they need and then just present them with something that's going to help. that helped to make it more comfortable for people to come and community. Yes. >> Are the meetups are they kind of similar there too? Like at Bitcoin Charlotte, you know, we were kind of meeting up at bars and things like that. Are the ones in Peru similar to that? >> Yes and no. Um, I feel like with Orangeville, Peru, we tried to Lima is such a big place, you know, like trying to go to a place it would and it's the worst traffic in Latin America. It will take you 50 minutes on the road, like an hour and a half to get there. So, we kind of have to find a centralized place to go. um ends up being a coffee shop, a bar, a pizza place, anything that we have the people cake on there. In Bitcoin Charlotte, we have it a little bit easier with uh onboarding businesses. So now we dedicate our meetups to every business that takes Bitcoin. So, it makes it a lot easier um to work with the local people in charu. I find it a little bit harder to get the businesses on board to take Bitcoin, but I feel like that's where Mo Peru comes in. There's a lot more businesses that see what's going on in 16 different circular economies cost. So, all of the country and that helps a lot. you touched upon uh orange filling businesses in Charlotte. You guys have a new bounty program going on, right? Can you talk about that a little bit? >> Yes. So, we're working on on boarding 100 businesses. Um and whoever does and follow their parameters, they get a million sets. So far, we got about 11 Bitcoin merchants that are accepting Bitcoin. Um I ordered like 10 of them myself. So, you know, it makes it easier when you already know a lot of the business owners and this an easier transition because they trust you a lot. And of course, Square made it way easier for us as well for that. >> So, can I come to Charlotte for a weekend and on board a bunch of businesses and make some money? >> Go ahead, man. Go ahead. It's well, anybody's welcome to it. >> So, in addition to that, in Charlotte, you guys have been having block markets. I think you're on the 5th 61 now. the >> the the block markets that you've been doing. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Um, as you guys may have heard, uh, I make delicious brewery and hot sauce. And that guy right there at the end, we call it Roboto. That guy is the one in Orangeville. Most of the people that come across my table to try hot sauce because of the Bitcoin chain. They're like, "Hey, what is this?" You know, so they asked me. that helped me to onboard a lot of the vendors that I do vendor markets and farmers market with to the point that we started, we used to run a party called Halloween. I don't know if you guys ever been to it, but yes, good time. One of the side events that we did for Halloween was one of the Bitcoin markets. Now you see a bunch of these are picture a lot of the vendors that we had on the six market. The first one was about five vendors. Uh three of them were already Bitcoiners. Two of them were like, "Let's go see what's going on." I don't know, but I trust you. We got good report. Um, it has been building up after that. We had about 21 consistent vendors that came out. We probably have a list about 60 to to 80 vendors. They want to be part of the market. Um, the next one definitely July 26. So, if you guys are around Charlotte, North Carolina, come check out the market. Spend some sats and show these vendors that there is a market for this cuz that's what I pitch to everybody. You have to open up yourself and there's a lot of people that want to come spend their Bitcoin and have a great time. >> What advice do you have for a meetup that's just starting out to start a circular economy? >> Um, just fucking do it, you know? Just just fucking do it. There's many meetups that I come across and and and the first thing that some people ask like how many people come to your meetups and that's when the the the voice lowers like oh five three two I don't know that's great you know you have three four people that come consistently and next thing you know you got five 10 20 they bring more people market comes now you got 50 and then that happens very organically just seeing meetup table there's people there all the time it's all little bit of meetup And that's kind of how all the meetups go. You just go show community, have a great time, and it'll grow. >> Yeah. I want to say that's something really great about the meetups, too. When you start building a circular economy, and it's happening in Tampa Bay, too. I mean, you go to the meetups, and then you're getting your meat at the meetups. And this is for anyone who's been in El Salvador, too. I lived in El Salvador for for a while. And they have a great market happening there. And it's it feels different when you start buying all your products from people that you know in your local community and the sass go right back especially you're buying the meat goes back to the land and the farm. So it's really a good feeling. >> Okay. Chester Philly. >> Yeah. Philly John. >> Philly. Um so you said that your meetup gets consistently 40 to 50 people. >> Yes. >> How do you do that? What drives that? Well, um, Matt Keeta is our fearless leader. He's very attractive. Um, and so everyone comes out to see him. No. Um, that's what people come to mind. >> Yeah. Yeah, I can believe that. Um, so I think the the recipe there is really just consistency. Um, we we also have um a consistently really good engagement from other other communities who come through Philly. Uh we have a lot of we kind of have a little bit of an incubator vibe where people come and uh kind of show their product or what they're building and maybe they'll bring some folks. Um we're we're primarily on Meetup. Um and you get a lot of just kind of people off the street. Um you know the Meetup community is kind of kind of interesting. A great example of that is um in Philadelphia there's a a place called Renhouse Square and they were doing a circular economy there and they heard about me uh Bitcoin and they wanted to start accepting Bitcoin and most of them uh used Square terminals and so they had seen the the meetup on meetup.com and said hey well maybe we can go there and learn how to accept Bitcoin for our our Redhouse Square market. uh this was just um last month and uh they were able to basically onboard almost all of their merchants very easily through Square and learning about custody and and uh that sort of thing. So um a fair percentage of people come in through uh other communities too. The Pub Key community is we have a lot of overlap between New York and DC and Philly kind of that trifecta there. Um and so and people are pretty faithful to bring other business owners, their friends, uh you know, and and it's it's just been very consistent. Um but I think too we we uh we talk about current events. Um so people come there to to kind of get informed and it's it's a little bit of a popcorn situation where people um share their experience. Um, but yeah, it's been just the quality presenters who come through, the openness and the opportunity for just random people to come up and present an idea and and find some traction and it's um it's just been very uh open, I would say. >> How has the the venue that you picked played into that? >> Uh that's kind of funny. We meet at a Chinese restaurant um and they don't take Bitcoin at the restaurant. Uh we've been trying to orange fill them for quite some time now. Uh but it's on a Monday night and they're like a karaoke bar, so it's really slow. Um and we bring in a consistent number of people. Almost everybody buys food. Um we have beer and and you know, which which is great. And I think the food component is a really important part of just getting people to come out because even if they're not if even if they don't love Bitcoin or they're new to it, they could get a meal, they can, you know, they can bring a a date or something like that. But one of the key aspects of that, which is hard for a lot of meetups, is what the presentation environment is like. And being a karaoke bar, they have literally a floor toseeiling video wall very similar to this. and you can HDMI into it. They have wireless mics and just having a good quality presentation. They have a little stage, right, is is pretty key. And they allow us to use that as long as everybody's buying food and that sort of thing. So, it's a very symbiotic uh type of relationship with the the res uh the restaurant owner and uh and doing it on an off night like he gets income from people buying. It it works. >> So, I think that's really important. I mean, I I think that's one of the biggest struggles as a meetup organizer is finding your location that that you can have a meet up at. So, do you have what suggestions do you have for a new meetup organizer? >> Yeah, so um in our in our we have a Phoenixville meetup as well kind of in the BBS. Um Brian leads that up and uh he's here. And one of the things we did there is also just choose a micro brewery like sandwichy shop that had a good like area where you could uh put some tables together. The music wasn't too loud. We did have some initial issues with the music being loud, but uh just talking to the owner and say, "Hey, this is the environment we're looking to create." And as long as you're a patron, I you know, you're you're giving them the patronage, I think they're they love it, right? And so, and then and then as you they see consistency, you can start to make requests and that sort of thing. And but but it it's got to be an environment where it's not too loud where people, you know, you can present and and you can sit and talk. Um so coffee shops are great, bars are great, uh restaurants that are slow or or venues that are slow are all great opportunities. So >> yeah, I think too if you orange fill some of these businesses like Johnny you said in Charlotte then a lot of them have a space that they're willing to let you use as well which is really nice. >> Absolutely. Yeah, definitely helps when they open the door and have a space that you just fill in, you know, helps everybody for that. >> Food's such a big part of community and so just sharing a meal with other Bitcoiners uh is just is just a powerful thing. So >> Chester, I want to ask you too because we kind of talked about this. What what other meetups do you have to involve, you know, families? >> Yeah. So, um I'm a homeschooling dad of four. Um and we're a Bitcoin family. So, I know a lot of Bitcoiners are building their their sovereign situation and are choosing to homeschool their ch children to get out of the matrix of the school system. And so, um, I'm increasingly interested in, uh, communities that are involving children's and wives and that sort of thing. So, thank God for Bitcoin, we do a micro conference and, uh, other events and meetups. They're very familyfriendly and you can bring out your kids and and uh, and and the moms can talk about homeschooling things and um, so that's really cool. Uh, there's a couple other here that that I just wanted to highlight um, as well. uh that it doesn't your community though doesn't always have to be a meetup that meets in a restaurant. Like these are communities that I'm involved with. Uh so Dirty Coin is is the uh um is a documentary about the environmental impacts of Bitcoin mining and we we've held big events in Nashville. We had 500 people out for the screening. Um and you got the trading cards on there. I'm a big DGEN uh base trading card guy. So, but we have almost 850 people in our Telegram group and the community is really palpable. We do all sorts of side events and trading nights and things like that around the conferences. Uh the the heat punks, you know, we get together and talk about how to use uh Bitcoin mining to heat our homes and and uh to do solar mining, off-grid stuff. There's like literally a community for everyone. I threw Tunnel Twins on there, too, cuz they're here and they do a really great job. Orange fell and kids and you know introducing them into economic concepts that are like really powerful for that like next generation of builders. So >> I think one of the points touched upon when you're when you're building a Bitcoin meet up it's very important one to have value but also to create a space for people that they want to come back to like a welcome a welcoming bot one that is a family bot which I the three of us have been you know a part of all these and that's that's what you do and so I think it's also important a lot of times these Bitcoin meetups are run by men which is fine but sometimes you know it gets so technical you're arguing about not versus core and I think you got to take a step back and also say, "Hey, how how are you doing? How are your kids doing to create this environment that people actually want to come back to?" >> Yeah. You need to swap some sourdough recipes. Exactly. >> Super essential. So, >> okay. So, a lot of times when you host Bitcoin meetups, a lot of the funding comes from your own pocket. So, I want to touch upon that. Wesley, you're a 501c3. How does how does funding work for your meetup? >> Uh, well, uh, my pockets aren't as deep as they used to be. Uh but no, like I said earlier, it's a very it's very much a community effort. So, you know, things like, you know, getting like our our logo designed. One of our guys is a graphic designer, so he in kind contribution is able to donate those services to the to the community. Um so trying to get as much stuff handled by people with skills that have those skills in your community is probably where we get most of the value. Um we have monthly donors uh that you know we have like a membership tier from anywhere from 10 to 250 plus you know so you get discounts on merch events you know supporters only events um and then uh we have our annual charity gall which you know is a fundraiser for us and then we also do some ticketed events and then sponsorships you know or everyone wants a sponsor uh we did just get a a monthly meetup sponsor that actually is going to be paying for all the meetups. So now we actually we probably should be bringing food cuz people aren't going to want food and now we can afford it. Um but it it's it's pretty much all been local people contributing what they can skill-wise and what they can uh monthly. >> Has there been any discounts given for being a 501c3 for venues or anything like that? >> So not for venues but for like tech. Uh so like uh uh Canva does pro accounts from up to 100 people for free. So that's been great when we're making, you know, presentations or social media stuff. Uh Google gives, you know, has nonprofit stuff. So there's a lot of tech that's out. Quickbooks, I think, gives us it for 25 bucks a month. 25 bucks a year. So there's discounts like that around for nonprofits. Um the biggest thing is sales tax exemptions. We save 7% on everything we do. And once you start once you start hosting events that are in the, you know, a couple thousands, I mean, it, you know, starts to add up. Um, you know, also people are able to donate. You know, it's different than just being a tip jar. Like you're able to become a monthly donor and I can give you a receipt and you can take that and write that off your taxes. Uh, so that's been kind of probably the biggest thing. But, uh, some venues, you know, people like people like to have the feelood effect of, you know, oh, we're supporting nonprofit. Uh but you know honestly the biggest the biggest benefit is is probably sales tax you know on we don't pay for rent or anything that we have to pay that we save seven and a half eight% on everything. >> Chester what about your meet up? Do you have any sponsors that >> no it's vibes all the way down. I mean Matt Matt Kea uh you know just throw out he he buys the beer. Um but we we don't really have a formal structure um at our meetups. Um there's pros and benefits. I'm hearing what you're saying about like, you know, getting getting nonprofit uh rates on software. I'm a I'm a CIO for a a big engineering firm and man, I would love to get some nonprofit rates on software. Um but yeah, I mean like hosting for websites and and platform costs. Like I'm sure that adds up. We don't we don't host any websites. We don't really have a whole lot of costs associated with running the business. Matt's been very gracious to foot most of that bill himself. Um, but I think he would love uh for to maybe explore a nonprofit side. So, we might be able to talk to you about the drawing. But, um, out out in the BBS in in Phoenixville, we we just keep it really simple. We all just meet up, get some food, have some great conversation, and uh there's not really a whole lot of expenses associated with running those meetups. So, um, yeah, it seems like a spectrum, you know, depending on what you're trying to do. So >> yeah, I think that's good advice, too, because you can I mean, a meetup could be at a park. >> Yeah. >> And that's that's free. So >> yeah. >> So as a meetup organizer, this typically takes a decent amount of your time. Most of us have full-time jobs, and this is a on the side. So Johnny, can you touch upon a little bit that how much does this take of your time to host a meetup? >> Uh, a lot. And that's pretty much all the where you donate to at this time. I would say the the internet makes it a little easy because I can be in Peru and here at the same time and then try to organize, but not having the the help sometimes always a struggle if you have a lot of people helping out to delegate some of the things that can happen. Um, it helps some of the time, but when you have a lot of projects that I love working on like the hot sauce, I have the Bitcoin on boarding businesses, Motive Brew, Orangeville Brew, Bitcoin Charlotte, all that time is limited to not a whole lot. So, I don't get a lot of sleep for sure, you know. Um, and it's always good when people come in out of the good of their hearts and that's kind of what I do, you know. I mean, I love doing this. I like to get involved and and I have the time to donate to that and it helps to keep it going. So, next up, I I want to talk about um Wesley. Tampa Bay has been up since 2013. So, if you could go back and do it over, would you do anything differently to start out for somebody new starting out? Uh well so I wasn't there in 2013. I was last I was I was still in high school but I wasn't at the meetups. Um so I mean yeah I joined four years ago. Um I uh I I read one book on starting and building a nonprofit you know so that and I was like oh okay I'll just go and do it now. um probably would have been a little more um uh intentional about uh you know kind of the struct I mean obviously the structure wouldn't change but you know about finding and building a board of people who have experience and aren't just the guys you know and trust already um you know like none of us are accountants uh luckily we have some uh finance interns from University of Tampa that will that will come and help us build some spreadsheets um but you know I mean just thinking long term term like okay like what is this going to look like in 5 years as opposed to all I need I need a EIN in the next 3 months to do these things like okay where do I want this to be in 5 years do I want to be running this in 5 years and 4 years in I'm like oh I guess I uh came up with a 5ear margin so um I think you know and also just being better with the time that you have you know that you have to spend and you know I I I didn't have a job so I created one you know I just moved home I just moved home right after like right right during co so I was kind of waiting and seeing and so instead of being the unemployed guy who owns Bitcoin now I'm the president of the Bitcoin Bay Foundation and now I'm you know I have a job so uh you know I I I think you know being able to be you know be realistic about the time that's going to that's going to cost you know you and the people you're going to ask to bring on and the team that you're building the skills that you guys have uh I I think you know being you know very intentional about who your core group is what weaknesses you all have and how do you guys each cover each other's weak spots uh would be the would be the best way to make sure that the you the group has longevity. >> You talked about long-term tester. What do you think the future of Bitcoin meetups looks like? >> Well, you know, everybody's talking about the uh encroachment of AI, right? And AI is just going to take all our jobs and it's going to make it terrible or whatever. Uh, I tend to be a lot more optimistic and I think that um people will crave more community because they just won't trust the experience they're getting online the same way. I mean, you know, bots are just kind of everywhere now. I mean, can't imagine what it's going to be like in 2 to 3 years where everyone has their own agent and you don't even know if you're engaging with someone directly, right? And so I think people are just going to crave crave these third spaces. Um, you know, and for myself personally, I get some of that from my my church community and my homeschool community and you know, we got jiu-jitsu with the kids and sports and you know, you get that, but like not everybody has that. And I think there's there's a lot of folks who are just really looking to connect with like-minded people and and you have also an encroachment of of surveillance and you have an encroachment of just people um I would say just self-modulating their online activity in a way that's inauthentic and and desiring community engagement. And as Bitcoiners, we understand where this is headed. And I think, you know, knowing who your uh who your food where your food comes from, knowing, you know, having a guy who's buying your chicken eggs and and giving your time and uh because you're, you know, I'm an IT guy or you're an accountant or, you know, you make amazing uh dry rub, you know, and selling that, right? like circular economies and and kind of your own network and your own tribe, I think is going to be a really important part of the future, especially as we're trying to raise our children and to to kind of take commandable and what that looks like in an increasingly uh surveiled world. So, >> I agree. I think it's going to become very important. So, with that, we're going to show you guys how to start your meet up. So, >> wait, wait, wait, hold on. Let me pick you up a little bit on that one. I want to say that with uh Bitcoin meetups eventually if we have Bitcoin is running out of exchanges, go to your local meetup, peerto-peer, guys. This is what we're here for. >> Sorry. >> Exactly. >> So, uh hosting your meetup, Johnny, you're hosting meetups in Peru and the United States. What platforms have worked? Are they the same? Are they different? >> Um definitely different. There's a few that are very popular worldwide, but not so much. You know, I believe that for Orangeville, Peru, a lot of the more of the communication where everybody hangs out at would be something like Telegram. We have a website that's kind of a landing page for people to get transfer over that way, which is kind of what we do with Bitcoin Charlotte, right? We try to use different social media platforms. uh try to focus on hex, try to focus in Auster and there's always something else where people like to look at. You have the viro event bright, you got sad landis is making it that you can actually put in ticketing, create your own wallet, make events a lot easier for people to see. And then also you have your own little websites that you share with people. Um, so I think those are all the tools that you kind of kind of see and kind of again what we say earlier, meet people where they at. >> Yeah, I agree. And I think it it varies where you are. I mean, you have to kind of look at the landscape. I mean, Johnny and I and Charlotte put flyers up for our event, you know, which got some people. And sometimes in some cities it is Luma. That's the event site you have to use. So, I think you really have to just know where you're at and then find what works what works there. >> Yeah. Like many Latin countries use WhatsApp more than Telegram. >> Yeah. >> And then so again this this I have so many apps >> and I turned them all off. I just talk to you in Signal. >> So we kind of touched upon this. Chester, what do you use for your meetup to keep in touch with your with your meetups? >> Yeah, so I mean we're primarily on Telegram. Um the John has a Telegram group. our uh our our Philly BBS uh location has a Telegram group. Um we're increasingly moving to Signal just because of how easy it is to uh compromise accounts on on Telegram. They really make it uh it's it's almost like the incentive structure is to get compromised on Telegram. Um, some of the irony is, uh, like recently some pretty high-profile accounts have been falling for this like Zoom Teams invite, like here, fix your audio, now I control your computer. And like it's um, with AI, it's getting a lot easier to socially engineer people. And I think I think our group's moving towards signal. We've had a lot of conversation towards moving towards signal. Um, but you know there's there's a whole boomer community out on Facebook that's probably under underrepresented in the region. And I think the tools for comps like definitely depend on uh on where you are like uh we we host our um Phoenixville meetup on on the club orange app. Um we're working with Satlantis uh for the Philly John to do events and ticketing and and uh been exploring their uh platform and uh and and there's a lot of just you know posting on X honestly there's still a lot of people there. We try to get engagement on NSER. It's really tough with people coming into the community who don't have no idea what Nasser is. like they're used to a WhatsApp, they're used to a Telegram or Discord and uh and getting on boarded and kind of creating your keys and and managing that experience has been a barrier to entry uh for new folks. Um and so it it might be that you use multiple platforms and and it kind of just depends. So that's been our experience though. >> Okay, moving on to resources. There's a great resource here if you want to scan it if you want to start a meetup. It's a GitHub repo. has all the information on how to get a meetup started. And I want to touch upon Wesley what has just been created in Tampa Bay, the open meetups. >> Yeah. So, uh that get resource is phenomenal. Uh definitely if you have any if you ever you want to learn about Bitcoin, there's tons of presentations and re educational resources. You don't have to create them yourself. I know Bitcoiners decentralized. We all keep reinventing our own versions of the wheels. Uh so, you know, don't make a what is money presentation. Just take this one. Uh and don't worry about having to create a website because uh our dev and one of our original founders uh created Open Meetup. Uh it is a website framework that you can have your claw code or whatever bot you use. Download the open meetup skill. Tell it I'm in Tampa Bay. These are my colors. This is the vibe I want. This is our EIN if you have one. These are the community platforms that we use and it will go and using the framework that we built spin up a maybe best-in-class website for you and your meetup and your organizers. It has an admin panel so you guys your organizers can log in on the back end. Has an API key you can feed to your bot so your bot can host your events for you. Uh it has events an events page that way you're not tied to Meetup. uh you can plug your Meetup account into it and so that way you post your events on your website, they get pushed to Meetup because Meetup is the high the top of the funnel. Everyone like most people that come to us are still through Meetup but people are able to come to your website, go to the about page, your blog post, you know, if you want to do a newsletter, it build it pops into resend and so if anyone subscribes to your website, it goes right in there. So everything lives in a website that you control and that way like if some if someone is interested in your in your meetup and they go to your events page, they don't get clicked out to meetup.com. They stay on your website and so they're able to go to your donate page and it you know Zapright is a phenomenal tool that integrates fiat and bitcoin payments into one interface uh for invoicing. So if no one, so they just click, you know, RCP or donate and it pops up the Zaprite invoice. They can choose to pay in Bitcoin or in fiat. Uh so it also integrates uh btcmap.org for your local area. And what that BC map is is it shows all the Bitcoin businesses in your area that take Bitcoin. Uh so there Square Merchants or Second Shake or Hot Sauce, uh it will automatically find what your location is based on where you told it it was. And then you have a merch you have a merchants page built in ready to go uh from T0. >> Yeah, I got to say that that is huge because just being able to post on there when you spend so much time posting on so many event platforms. So if you can just go to one and it shoots out to all of them that saves you so much time as a meetup organizer, it's huge. I mean that was released and then I think there was a meet up in Salt Lake City that had had a website, you know, a few minutes. So if you're just starting out, there's a tool and you could have a meetup page, you know, in a few hours. So >> also, if you're looking for your own event meetup, there's a database created BTC events map. It's a good place starting to find your own meetup. >> So before we go into Q&A, I just want each three of you to touch upon what advice would you give for someone to start their own meetup and what do you what events do you have going on at your current meetups? Yeah. So, I'll start. Um, I would say my my advice is just step into the gap, right? Um, say yes, just do things, right? Because a lot of times we'll have a a meet up and somebody like, "Oh, it would be really cool if someone did this." Right? And my first response is that's someone's you, right? So, look around. It's us, right? So, I think um just not being scared to jump in, you know? and and uh and maybe fa fail uh but maybe fail forward, right? And part of it too, the biggest thing is consistency. You know, choose a night, show up, don't don't show, you know, 3 hours before, oh, can't wait to, you know, cancel. You know, that inconsistency is really frustrating when people are traveling potentially a long distance. Maybe they don't see the comm and and they arrive and no one's there and that's just very frustrating. So, just say yes. And I would say be consistent. So, uh, I think I already elaborated on that earlier. Just fucking do it. Um, as far as things that I have going on, uh, Peru, if you guys are around Peru, September, we're having a big event in Kopa Surf in W Chako. Please come. Uh, you'll see what we're doing over there is insane. In Bitcoin, Charlotte, uh, the next big vendor market will have it in July 26 at a brewery called Ome Brewery. I'm organizing a the first Bitcoin in Spanish event at PUKI uh in New York City this July 11th. So, please come. We'll have people from Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, um Argentina. So, please come to it. We're all bilingual, so don't be scared if you don't speak Spanish. I'll put subtitles to our names and then we'll have a good time. Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean I there's not much more I can add to that. Uh consistency 100% is the key there though. Um you know just like the same time, same place, you know, it's the third Thursday of the month at this place at 7:00 p.m. when we changed like our you know we we have meetups every every week. We were doing Thursday nights, but then we started kind of doing Saturdays and like now it's the last Wednesday of the month. And so it's like people are like they get confused and they're like, "Oh, like I I came to the to the I came to the meetup spot on Thursday." I was like, "Dude, the meetup was yesterday. I sent out a newsletter. We have it in Signal. It's on the Meetup page." He said, "Well, yeah, but like just go. I just know to go and I just know that's where I'm supposed to be at that time." And I'm like, "Uh, well, thank you for coming, but I'm sorry." Uh, so I I make it easy on yourself, you know, like and you know, you said earlier about, you know, some people like, oh, like the other people come. We've had I've had one other person have to meet up before. >> Yeah. >> And it you know what? It's it's it's a great time because it's it's it's it's more intimate, you know? Even whenever you have just those two or three, maybe four other people, like you're able to go deep with those people on whatever it is you guys want to talk about in a way you can't with 20 people. >> True. >> You know, cuz everyone starts to break off into silos and uh you know, like no, we're not all having one conversation unless you're all sitting there looking at me while while I'm telling you about this thing. Um, and if you and don't be afraid to like not know something like how am I supposed to host a Bitcoin meet up? I don't know anything about Bitcoin. Well, you host the meetup and you just start talking about it. Someone will tell you why you're wrong. Bitcoiners are the most opinionated people in the world. And so like that that was for me a lot growing like not growing up but like starting this as like okay I want to learn about Deoo phones. I'm gonna host a meet up about Deoo phones and I'm gonna host a I'm gonna do a workshop on it and we're all gonna learn together. So, you can use it for like selfation as well. >> All right, thank you guys. We're going to open up to a question. So, anybody that has a question, you're going to get some merch, too. >> Yeah, anyone that asks a question, we have a we have a couple things. Zeus has given us some uh some ecash here. We got a t-shirt. Uh we got some books. So, we're going to try to have you guys like come up so that we're not running around. So, if you got questions, come to the front of the uh your aisle. >> Yeah. Let's uh Yeah, let's just form a line over here. If you have a question, don't be shy. Uh come on up. All right. What's up, guys? My name is Ben. I'm still pretty young, and I have big goals of helping more people my age learn about Bitcoin and life in general. I'd love to start a meetup, but I see myself in a role of teaching people, but a lot of the peers my age do not like to do things that are not normal. So, my question to them is, how can I make Bitcoin seem more normal and attractive to an age of people that really can't form their own opinions without having to get validated by a ton of other people their age? >> Where's the Bitcoin? It's for everyone. There he is. Um I I take the other side of that like if it's for everyone, it's not for anyone. And so like you're not going to be able to make everyone like it. Like we are crazy right-wing, you know, what are we psychopaths? The dark trifecta. Like you know, you're you're unfortunately not going to be able to break that for like the normal people. So, just get the two to three people. Like, you ever seen the the video of the of the of the chick dancing on like the grassy hill at at at a concert. It's It's just her by herself dancing. One guy joins, another guy joins, and there's 100 people doing it. So, you to start, you need to find the ones who are crazy like you. But then you're not alone. And so now, you know, it's not just one crazy guy. It's a couple of crazy people. But actually, I know that person. Apparently, it's not that crazy. So, what's going on over here? So, I mean, it's a slog. You know, you're going to have to find a couple extra dancers to go, but they'll come. >> Well, thank you very much. I'll take that and use it. >> Yeah. I don't know if anybody has >> my shirt. >> Yeah. I was just going to comment that there might be what? Toss my shirt. >> Yeah, there might be some uh Yeah, sure. There we go. That shirt. Yeah, there might be some things uh some topics that really resonate with your age group. So maybe just polling some folks and say, "Hey, like, you know, I feel like I can't get ahead. I feel like I can't save. I feel like, you know, owning a house is like unreasonable, like at my age, or I'm drowning in in debt." Like what? and and and maybe and maybe just attacking some of those questions more broadly, not even from a Bitcoin perspective, but like, hey, let's recognize the pot of boiling water that we're all in. Um, so you can get kind of consensus among your peers that, hey, there is a problem and there there's something that might fix that, right? Like there's Bitcoin fixes that thing. So, I think I think maybe just getting community con consensus from peers like what would we like to talk about and um and and maybe approaching it from a completely non-Bitcoin angle first. Uh just people getting together and trying to to do life together uh might be a good approach. >> So, help people identify a problem they don't really know exists yet even though it's affecting them every single day. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I'd say, man, just make it fun. Keep it simple. People like to just come together and you don't have to make it like this is a Bitcoin thing. If you I run the markets and people don't want to come friends of mine because they don't understand Bitcoin, you know. So just make it simple for them to just hey we're going to meet up here do whatever and then if you want to bring up Bitcoin and they can come up and then easy going until you get there. Yeah. >> 100%. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Hi, I'm Carrie McDaniel. I work as a group sales manager at a hotel, two hotels in Mobile, Alabama. And I've been looking for um people to do have meetups that people that are actually having Bitcoin meetups for a few years. And I haven't found any in Mobile, Florida, which is Pensacola, Florida, is about an hour away from me. Mississippi is about an hour away, too. Beluxy, Mississippi. And so I'm trying to find the best angle to find more people to do a meetup. And I have the space. I could do a meet up at the hotel possibly because I work there. So, I just wanted to see if there were any other ideas for me specifically um in on the Gulf Coast. I don't see any meetups on the Gulf Coast for Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. >> Well, this is great that you're here. >> We're going to have to elaborate on that a little bit more on the table. We have a a many tools that we can come together and then a whole network that I'm sure we can come up with something. Yeah, we can we can search if there are any ABS. We can try and help you find one, but if not, you're going to have to start your own. >> Yeah, >> I have no problem with it. >> That's right. We'll help you with it. Sure. >> Gumbo will bring anyone out. So, you know what I'm saying? >> I know. I know there is um it's not is Bitcoin related, but there is a Nostra group in in Mobile, Alabama. They have a thing called Nostra Mama that I went to, so I can connect you with them as well. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. No, no vegan. >> And we got a book for you. >> Here's the book. >> Thank you. >> So, yeah, that's another Bitcoin Bay production. Actually edited it, wrote forward, but hopefully a simple how to get on Bitcoin. >> How's everyone going? >> Hey Todd, I'm Todd. I'm from um South BTC in Savannah, Georgia. I've been to some of the Charlotte um meetups. A lot of us know that the creation of the Federal Reserve happening in Deco Island, which is awesome in Georgia. Would it be nice to have a a meet up in like on the island? >> Let's put it in. Yeah. Um, it's like a like a great um like weather time. It's nothing too serious, but uh have a weekend to go and meet other Bitcoiners or it doesn't have to be anything uh like nothing like this. position, you know, you go in and drink beer and and talk talk to talk to Bitcoiners. You know, I I'll I'll be reaching out to the other like cities that already have meetups. I was trying to doing a a survey seeing who might be interested. >> That's awesome. That'd be great. Yeah, let's do it. Take over the island. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think uh Yeah, we could we could definitely reclaim that for for good. Yeah. Right. >> That's awesome. Get some ecash. >> Yeah. Do you want some? You got some uh eCash here. >> Those are cool. >> This is Zeus. Get one of those. >> So, uh that's a ecash and you can scan that and and uh you can create a wallet right on Zeus uh with that. Um and you can forward the Bitcoin to your own wallet if you like. So, uh they're they're a friend of uh the Philly John and uh Evan uh is here. He has a booth. So, uh feel feel free to check him out. So, >> all right. Cool. And and sorry about Jeff Island. It won't happen again. >> Well, you you saw what happened with the uh environmental movement. Uh we we now own the skull in the corner over there. So, >> uh we could we could reclaim many things with uh with community. So, >> there's four of us. >> Hey, I'm Troy. I'm also uh near the Charlotte area. I've been to uh the Charlotte meetups uh a few times, maybe half a dozen. Um so I wanted to say if I could get some swag as the sauce, that'd be great. >> You got it, man. Come see me over there. >> Thanks for asking. >> The sauce is great. So uh I wanted to ask the question if um there was I have people that I know that would probably be into a meetup, but they're not from Charlotte. Um, would it be considered like cannibalizing to set up my own or and should I, you know, work with you all to get people to come in? Um, or would that be like create my own type of meet up? >> Dude, do fucking do it. >> Yeah, that's what we incentive to do this everywhere. So, if you need any help, let me know. >> Let's do it together. Yeah. >> So, that's not like stealing y'all's fun boot or fire. >> Just do it. Yeah. Steal it. that started to happen in Charlotte a little bit cuz it got it just got bigger. So other meetups started like in North Charlotte and we all help each other promote. >> Yeah. Yeah. We're always trying to expand somewhere. I'm always looking for as we get onboarded businesses. I'm always telling them, hey, this is a new spot that we can have somebody come and meet up. We can have 10 the same day. It doesn't matter. Every time we do it at different places, new faces that I see. So yeah, please do. >> All right. Yeah. >> Hey everybody, my name's Eric. I'm with Bitcoin is for everyone. Uh, not anyone. Everyone. Uh, one quick thing I just wanted to say is like the traditional meetups are a great way to do things. They're fantastic. People have a lot of good times. One thing sometimes people don't like though is to walk into a room with five guys who know each other and it's it's very intimidating. So, I really encourage you thinking of doing like other things. things like Bitcoin walks, like Liz said, go to the park, do like a wide variety of events, and you can never have too many. So, whoever was just up here, I think yes, everybody should have their own. >> Thank you guys. Really appreciate your talk. >> It's a great way to end. >> Thanks, Eric. >> Yeah. >> Do we have Do we have time for one last question, boy? >> All right. Hey, my name is Ben. I'm from Tahoe Bitcoin. Question for Wesley here. uh how big do you think the meetup group needs to be for when you make that decision to go towards the 501c3 or how little could it be? It can be tiny. So, it's the smaller you are actually the easier it is. Uh if you are projecting to do less than $50,000 a year in uh net in gross revenue, um you would file the uh 1023EZ. It's a much shorter uh application form with the IRS. And for your annual filing with the IRS, I don't know how it is in, you know, in your neck of the woods at the state level. uh you would file a 990N note card. Did you do less than 50 grand or have your officers changed? Is your address changed? And that's it for the federal stuff. For Florida, I still have to do a breakdown for our solicitation of contributions of programming, budget, operations, admin, you know, like you know the lines. Again, the UT, that's what UT turns to help me break all that stuff out. So, the state might make you uh you know, still do the the line item reporting, but the IRS is literally a check, check, check. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you all for being here. Thanks to the panel and please go find your local meetup or if not then start your own. >> Amen. >> Y and come see us over in the bazaar. We have a community booth if you have any questions. We can get you connected with resources. Absolutely. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Every year, this community comes together to celebrate, to debate, to build what comes next. And every year, the stage gets bigger. Sound money center stage. So where do you go to celebrate the next chapter in Bitcoin history? You come home. Nashville, July 2027.