Wh00sj! A year has been gone, and it's already time for another HiveFest! It's crazy how fast a year can go in which time also seems to go so slow and you're longing for travel to pick back up to pre-Corona era ease... But while we're still waiting for that to happen @roelandp doesn't let a year go by in which he doesn't create a platform, IRL or virtual for us all to get together.

I think that's something we should all applaud him for, because it's not just about picking a date: it's organizing and marketing the event as well, getting a team together and just make shit happen.

Not everyone can do that :-)

HiveFest 5 - how it went

---

Last year I went to HiveFest 5 and it was a blast. First and foremost: NO you don't need a VR type of glasses to join the event, it can be joined with your laptop or PC, and although graphics will make the ventilator of the machine you use make some heavy turns, I thought the overall experience was very good, especially considering it's only in 'test phase' for Macs and I'm on a Mac. If you're on Windows you should be better off as it was built for Windows first.

What did we do?

Basically you enter the virtual event by logging in to the application you can download beforehand. Then you walk with your little avatar through a garden to 'register' your badge (yes your avatar will wear an actual badge with your username on it!), and then you can go (walk, or 'teleport') to multiple spaces: the big stage, where multiple talks will be held, or smaller rooms to chat or play games with fellow people on Hive. Or you know, some random people entering HiveFest, as some people are just curious - perfect opportunity to tell people about our community!

_{Me making a selfie with a spectacular sunset behind me like I would do on a holiday :D}

_{Me making a landscape/sunset shot like I would do on a holiday :D}

---

The speakers are presented on the HiveFest frontpage, and this screenshot doesn't even show them all:

When a speaker you like is coming up the stage you can gather in front of that stage and listen to them talk. It's an interesting experience as you can also hear it when other people are talking, so you can actually have the same annoyances as you would have in a 'IRL' event:

_{People gathering in front of the main stage to listen to several of the speakers}

Here you can see one speaker, in this case @roelandp himself, sharing his story, and while he's talking there's a little '...' showing above his head, so even when you're a bit further away you can see that someone is actually speaking and it might be worth it to come up a little closer to the stage.

_{@roelandp on stage, yeah!}

And the community part ofcourse...

Walking around with @sjarvie5 and having fun with her trying to create selfies was a highlight of my visit to last years HiveFest and I hope we can recreate some of that fun this year! Hearing her giggle after interacting with her only on the blockchain for so long is just... FUN.

_{Me and @sjarvie5 trying to create the perfect fireworks selfie while @jarvie throws virtual fireworks at us to support our shot, lol}

_{Visiting the @nftshowroom gallery with @sjarvie5 - such a blast!}

There was also a play room where I played some games with at least @m31, @lemonycricket and a few others, but because it was a game with many US references I couldn't really enjoy it as much, but still it was amazing to be in an actual play room with other Hive Peepz.

How to join, prepare, and help the event whether you're joining or not:

---

All the preparations (installing software, creating an avatar and RSVP'ing to the event) are written in this post:
HiveFest: more names, Hive.Fund proposal, Splinterlands, 1,000 HIVE give away!

Then there's another important thing to do: support the HiveFest proposal for covering PART of the funds. @roelandp never asks for more than he needs, I believe he even asks for way LESS than he should, and he's asking for a few HBD's to cover some of the renting of space and streaming capacity he needs to make the event happen. The proposal can be voted on directly HERE, or read the post where he breaks down what he's asking for.

I'm hoping you'll vote, and I'm hoping I'll see you at HiveFest 6!

I'm cramming for an exam on the Monday after so I might not join all the hours but I'll definitely pop in for an hour or 2 on both days, and you'll recognize me by my red dress and red hat, just like last year! Virtual events require less shopping, good!

See you there! Let me know if you'r joining :-)