Hey everyone, what's up? It's your girl Rachel here and today. I have a very great AMA for you guys We are joined by Vabble. We have here today with us James. He is the CEO and founder of Vabble and Michael He's the COO and co-founder. Hey guys. How's it going? Good and you? Doing well. Thank you Thank you for having us this is gonna be a lot of fun today Yeah, thank you and you guys are joining us from Ireland, right? Yeah, yeah, Sony Ireland for the first time in a long time. Yeah, awesome Glad to hear it's sunny there And I just want to remind the audience to please send your questions our way once we get started and to subscribe to the YouTube channel Okay, great. So first question I have for you guys is what is Vabble and what makes it unique and different from other streaming video platforms and either one of you can start So Vabble is just like any other SVOD service In a sense that we're quality over quantity in terms of content But where we differentiate from the others is that we're creating instead of having this single window where you just watch a video Or watch a film on your own where we're creating a social experience and a co-op any experience an interactive experience So what we're trying to do is actually replicate the cinema experience that we all know and love In a digital environment We're focusing on things like co-watching where you're able to watch films documentary series With your friends and your family We have independent chats where you're able to talk directly with people all around the world We're watching the exact same piece of content. You are at the exact moment that you're watching it And then we have other social features as well that we're working on But the main thing that differentiates Vabble is that it's not just your single view into a film We're creating an interactive experience a social experience. I think we're merging the social and The current SVOD we're mixing the traditional SVOD and the social that we all know Especially younger generations. They're more now on video when they're talking to friends They're often on social media. So we're merging the two of those worlds and bring it together to have a more modern-day SVOD type service Got it And can we talk a little bit about the role of blockchain here because obviously it sounds like an amazing Streaming video platform with a lot of interaction, but I want to know how blockchain is involved here and the use of cryptocurrency as well So crypto and blockchain coming It'll come in in a lot of ways over time, but there's a lot of work to do I like to expand on that in the moment But the main reason crypto and blockchain comes in here is to support the economy that we're building within Vabble So to start off we're kind of we're merging two types of VOD services We're merging SVOD, which is subscription-based services and TV OD, which is pay-per-view services So users just come on to Vabble. They pay their monthly subscription. They don't part with any more money When they pay their monthly subscription, they get a reward or a rebate of up to 60% of the money that they pay to us That is rebated in the Vab denominations That Vab then is delivered to their wallet on Vabble. So when they consume content on Vabble They pay for every 15 minutes of a piece of content they watch So if they only watch 15 minutes of a movie that's 90 minutes They'll only pay for that 50 minutes if they watch 30 minutes to pay for 30 minutes an hour to pay for an hour and in doing that kind of in doing a Merger of SVOD and TV OD services. We're replicating Cinematica sales because if we compare it to other SVOD services, that's strictly just licensing. There's a one-time fee paid That's it. But in doing this economy and ecosystem we're actually Bringing a problem That film companies have with streaming services and releasing film directly on streaming services first-order than cinema They don't do because they can't generate as much revenue as they would at the box office through ticket sales So what we're actually doing is creating this modern Economy through cryptocurrency and blockchain to support the film industry like they will get the same support from cinema ticket sales Now that's not going to come as soon as we launch the platform. This will come as users grow And the more users that watch a piece of content the more that piece of content gets paid So that's kind of where the blockchain and cryptocurrency comes into this more about the economy. We have the NFTs We have tipping we have So we have the governance protocols we have which involves staking We have NFTs staking which you'll get rewards from as well We will we are looking at how to host full feature films on the blockchain It's not that simple and the reason it's not sent that simple It's licensing problems if I put a video if I put a film on the blockchain Everyone in the world has access to it, but a license might say only people in the UK and Ireland have access to it Or only people in the United States Germany and France have access to it So in order to combat that problem, we're looking at developing a sort of NFT and not an NFT But an MIT licensing Structure which will effectively create a new turn a new style of licensing deals for the film industry Which means that wherever the video goes on fabled they will get paid for a truly this licensing deal And it doesn't even matter if it reaches another SVOD with these licensing deals. It doesn't matter where it's consumed the Conta donors still get to generate the same revenue as if it was in cinema But it's able to be viewed all around the world But at this present moment if we license a movie from Warner, for instance We'll only get a license for a certain amount of countries if I put that in the blockchain I'll be soon So we need to develop a structure a new structure to licensing deals in order to be able to integrate films and Documentaries and series onto the blockchain So that's something we're working on down the line Look straight out the back. This is the entire ecosystem that supports the film industry And and supports the talent to back in film earnings, which will be automated through smart contracts In doing that that's supporting the that's supporting the entire economy through cryptocurrency and blockchain Just to touch a little bit more on terms of the talent a major problem with talent and film Especially on SVOD services is that when it comes to back in film earnings being paid out the content is pulled from the streaming service and therefore the Talent in the film does not get paid their back in film earnings and their back in film earnings is actually where they really make their revenue They only get a small bit up front and in the deals They have with the film studios most of them only comes from the back in film earnings Now if we look at Netflix and Netflix will put back in film earnings into licensing deals But it doesn't matter how well the film is doing on Netflix When it comes to the point to win back in film earnings need to be paid out They usually pull the film and because they need to try and save revenue because they'd be paying out more money for that one piece Of content than they would be actually generating a true new users over recording subscriptions So we're going to automate that through smart contracts Which is going to be a huge relief to the film industry itself because it's costing both agents and Talents all around the world multi billions multi millions of dollars every year legal fees battling such companies like Netflix or Production production and distribution companies. So we're automating that on the smart chain So it's smart and blockchain. So it's immutable It's fully automated and talent will finally actually get the the rewards they reserve They deserve for Being in the films. I think that's one of the actual key benefits to the blockchain in terms of what we're doing with it Unvable in the in the in the initial stage, right? Yeah So I mean James that obviously a lot of information taken So I just want to break that down a little bit for the audience and even start getting to some of their questions So I think it's important that we discuss the VAB token And I noticed that one of the audience members John Doe is asking when will we be able to purchase VABL? So maybe talk a little bit about the token and when users will be able to purchase it and where they can purchase it Sure in terms of the dates. We just started releasing IDO platforms The last couple of days. So we have four IDO platforms on board. We have kick swap. We have zero swap We have axion and we have cyber fi samurai Each has their own independent allocation and sales are starting from the 21st Right up to the 24th and on the 24th. We'll be listing on uniswap So if you can't take part in the IDO, I would suggest you do of course But if you can't you can go straight to uniswap on the 24th. It will to purchase there In terms of VABL the VAB token The VAB token is the entire is the entirety of our ecosystem without the VAB token or ecosystem would not exist Okay So when we go right back to the start How do people receive that talk about VABL when they pay the subscription? They get a rebate in of up to 60 percent of their subscription in VAB The VAB token then is used to pay for the content VAB token will be used to purchase NFTs VAB token will be used to access AMAs it'll be used to access exclusive content and be used for so many different utilities that over time it's going to be just like an economy in a country because The way we're structuring VABL were building an economy So the token itself over time will support the entire Infrastructure that we bring on board over the years and years and years that we work on VABL What's starting from out the gate is the entire backbone for the economy that supports the film industry So that's how content creators get paid. It's how people purchase NFTs It's how people access to live AMAs but talent from our casts from films They're able to tip creators. They're able to Purchase NFTs They're able to do multiple different things straight out the back with the VAB cryptocurrency another thing that we'll be able to do is actually order take away with their VAB cryptocurrency Because we're having take away integration into the system and when you place an order You'll be able to pay in your VAB token that might be straight away But that is something we're working on very very quickly when we roll out the platform itself That's really interesting when you say take away. Do you mean food? Yeah, so I mean when you when you're in a co-watching experience You're sitting around with friends of family, but they're in different states during the countries They're all over the world wherever they may be you're having this digitally experience, but then watching a film together You might get hungry. Well inside of the co-watching experience room We're gonna have we don't have any partners yet for this But we're working on we will be working on deals with them So we'll have people like Uber Eats. We'll have just eat. There's a couple of ones based on Ireland Marvin is another one You'll be able to order your take away directly through these apps, which will be integrated on Mabel Okay, and each person will be able to order their own independent meal But on the back end we separate out those meals and deliver them to the locations of wherever those wherever those restaurants may be in terms of the geographical placement And the payments will be able to be made in that and other cryptocurrencies, but specifically that Got it. That's that's really interesting and that's exciting that you know We'll be able to do that eventually and actually make use of that crypto to order food and enjoy movies I'm gonna also take another question from the audience real quick because I think this relates to what we were just talking about Rd16 is asking which countries are you aiming for after Canada in France for films? I think also just in general which target countries are you are you aiming at right now? We're starting with France and Canada and the reason is the independent the way We're spilling out our library is we're starting with independent content Film creators and directors and producers You'll find a lot of their content in places like Vimeo France and Canada have a really deep connection with film film pretty much started in France And they're unbelievable filmmakers Not to say that other countries aren't put France and a lot of Canadians are really really good at it Their quality is up here And what we want to do is set the bar in terms of what quality people should expect on battle We don't it's not like another tube site where it's usually curated meaning that you have great Faith and you have not so great content if we start with France and Canada in terms of onboarding content We're able to set the bar and this is what anything above this bar people should expect on that one They wouldn't expect anything below And if we as we branch out from France and Canada will be going over we'll be looking at England We'll be looking at Ireland as well. Ireland is a very rich film culture and we'll be looking at the States And over time we will be looking pretty much at every country On the planet that has some form of film industry And as we onboard film for each independent country We will be promoting that piece of content in that country specifically And of course across the world as well, but We'll focus it in on the country where it would can have this connection with the with the audience most Yeah, so just based on what you said James I'm wondering and Michael maybe you can answer this question Um in terms of regulations in the regulatory environment in order to get a project such as this kind of off the ground in Canada and France What right what regulatory hurdles do you have to undergo to ensure that this platform will actually be able to You know work properly. I mean using crypto for takeout and having this whole ecosystem based around cryptocurrency And yeah, no, that's something we're definitely going to be walking closely where legal teams with and Obviously getting as much advice off them as we possibly can do And just then taking it one step at a time as we go Got it. Okay. I'm going to take another question from the audience. Victor is asking Will Nigerians be permitted to partake in the IDO on the decentralized exchanges on the 24th Do you want to take this one maker? Well, I I We we had a lot of Nigerians come in and our other rounds and we just couldn't facilitate them So it's an honor to say that yes, some Nigerians will be able to participate in some of the ideals Um, uh, if you'd want to jump around toward this card we're going to advise you directly on which Um, but I would believe that there is one if not two that can facilitate the facilitate Nigerians on the idea. Yes Cool. Okay. My next question is uh, james, you were talking a lot about nfts. Can you explain? How that works in this ecosystem and when you say nfts, what exactly are we talking about art nfts? I'm assuming we're talking talking about film nfts, but just kind of explain that a little bit more right, um We are playing with the idea of making an entire film an nft, but that's not going to come That's not going to come for a while But that will be the end goal Specifically the nfts will start out being produced by the film Studios themselves because our ecosystem I give you an example If I was to watch a film on babble a full feature film 70 cent it would cost me 70 cent to watch that film Um, but that's but the average ticket sale cost two euro 50 in a cinema So we needed to bridge that gap between the 70 cent and two two dollars 50 And in order to bridge that gap we were looking at multiple different options And nfts In my own personal opinion and a lot of the team as well nfts are only beginning They're only the start of how we bring art From a physical realm to a digital realm Um, so nfts in the beginning will be produced by content creators writers publishers distributors themselves first And we will be introducing basically a store on each and every film on the platform Where if you're after watching a film or your midway through a film, you'll be able to purchase an nft Now not every single person will purchase an nft. It may only be one in 50 that will purchase an nft But that one in 50 will make up for the difference in price paid for the other 49 people in terms of bridging the gap between Cinema ticket sales and the revenue generated directly from Watching the full feature film So when someone purchases an nft, they retain that nft on babble They will have an option to lock that nft in order to receive Rewards in vab for a certain duration of for a certain period of time The periods of time are not are not set in stone yet And then when they wish to sell their nft they'll be able to go to the nft marketplace on babble and sell that nft This these particular nfts will be looking at they'll be signed by actors cast members They'll be signed by the writers the directors the producers of the film So it might be a signed image of the entire cast. It might be just a selfie of the One of the cast and that's digitally signed as well Will also be doing nft tickets as a promotion with the film studios Where people are able to buy a ticket An nft ticket to join an ama with the cast They're able to buy a nf cinema nf a babble nft ticket in order to get Pre-screening of the film the possibilities in terms of the nfts here are absolutely endless It depends on how creative that we can get and how creative the Producious studios can get in terms of what kind of nfts they can offer to the audience who consume content And it gives the nfts an entire new an entire new ecosystem where They're not just a single piece of art anymore. They actually have this kind of intrinsic value Where they're actually coming from Whether it be an actor who assigned it or Or it's it's giving you access to something. It's not just a picture anymore It's giving you if all do you have the picture you have the nft But it's actually giving you access to something else and I think that's the next stepping stone for nfts um, yeah Yeah, that's awesome. So i'm assuming you guys will have some cool partnerships coming up with celebrities and Production studios for the nfts. I'm just guessing and that's exciting. Oh, we'll have to well definitely in order to in order to get the right the right Five of how babel will operate in the future. Yeah, we'll have we'll have we'll have good names on board That's not going to come for a bit of time, but um, we can't wait to start rolling that out Yeah, definitely. Um, and james you mentioned this whole because obviously this is an ecosystem built around cryptocurrency So tipping and incentives are a big part of that. So what is this tipping mechanism that babel? insures, how does that work? Oh, that's just a very simple process Anytime you watch a piece of content on babel, you're going to be paying for it anyway But we've done it in a fair way. So if you don't watch the full piece of content, you only watch for what you actually consume But you're able to tip the the content Content owners themselves as well. They're able to tip the studios. You're able to tip the independent creators because Film is a very expensive Line of work and if you can't generate the revenue you make one film one bad film Or you make one good film, but it just doesn't get the publicity That could be the end of your career because the cost of making that film was so enormous That you needed to generate a lot of revenue So we want to make sure that we have as many revenue streams as we can for the film producers themselves and the film distributors and the film studios So although everyone will be paying to watch content on babel anyway We wanted to offer an extra feature that if you really like the film You can also tip directly to the publisher The content owner or the film studio and it's a completely peer-to-peer network because it's on the blockchain We have nothing to do with it in terms of tips. We probably won't even take fees That'll just be between you the end user and the content owner themselves Got it. Yeah, very cool. Just want to remind the audience. Please keep sending us your questions We're happy to answer all of those and speaking of I'm going to take another question from the audience Irma Irma dirt is asking are there any bigger challenges or roadblocks that you see with building this sort of project? And if so, how will you handle these? There's a lot of them Licensing is probably one of the most difficult ones and that will take a lot of work with legal teams so That's when we get to the point of trying to actually host the content on blockchain directly Hosting directly on the blockchain is a very difficult task as I explained earlier in terms of licensing So that's probably one of the biggest hurdles that we'll have In the lines of babel The other thing is that we need to make sure that the Ecosystem cannot be gamified. So we'll do rigorous testing Behind closed doors and in beta is well an alpha and beta rigorous testing of the Of the ecosystem because it's completely theoretical. We don't know if it can be gamified if there will be holes And just in terms of the entire project. It's it's it's nothing It's no smaller easy task to try and revolutionize an entire film industry and bring it into a more modern world Compared to a world we're all used to so we will first coexist in the film industry and as time involves and we evolve And people become more aware of babel We will try and actually migrate the film industry into the new era that we're trying to set in stone here But the main roadblocks are the film licensing The film licensing issues. So developing a sort of mit kind of started license for film licensing And and and the game of making sure that the ecosystem cannot be gamified Got it. So that actually brings a question to my mind. That's interesting um, obviously james you've had this Idea for a long time since 2015 But with with covet happening last year People stopped going to the movies and I don't even know if they're still going to the movies now that cities are reopening You know, I'm just wondering were a lot of these ideas like the tipping and the ordering take out Were those kind of thought of as a result of covet? Or do you just believe that this is where the film industry is going regardless of the fact that covet even happened? um Yes, no, um Some of the idea of babel the co-watching and things like that were I had long before Long before covet existed um, I've always loved film and I have noticed I have kids of my own and as I Me as a kid the idea of going to cinema was uh, it was just just joyful experience with friends and family. I loved it and and They're joyful memories Kids these days. They're not in trying to go to the cinema anymore. Um So we can start to see a trend shift And if we start looking back at the The metrics for the cinema industry over the past six years Uh, specifically in the states the ticket sales have been going down um And when covet came this kind of slight Decline in revenue really took a massive hit to the cinema industry um, so when covet hit Although I had an eye the whole theory on paper and covet hit I saw what it's going to happen to the film industry and I was like, okay Now is the time to pull the trigger on this now. Let's get this. Let's get the team formed Um, I knew mate myself and make him on each other for a long time He knew uh, lead or lead developer, uh mud and mud knew mo and one of our other friends knew asti And then we brought in daniba And we brought in the whole team and we're like a pitch to the whole team We were just talking about it and everyone loved it We're like, yeah, this is the time to do it and this is covet is setting in stone the trend shift where we're going cinema unfortunately May never exist like it did pre covet. Uh, it's entirely possible it won't We have the film industry that is fully reliant on the cinema industry To generate their box office revenue But svod services cannot generate the same revenue as the cinema box office sales So they're in a cash 22 they still need to release the cinema to generate the same revenue But they can't because no one's going to the cinema So they have to release on svod and they release an svod. They're bleeding money. So what happens? We need a new economy. We need a new system to support the film industry Everyone loves film There is a I don't believe there's one person on this planet that does not like film Like some sort of film or series or a documentary. Well, if we don't do something now The current svod services cannot support the film industry and cinema is dying There has to be something done something has to change and I believe that babel is the one to do this Yeah So just a next question that comes to my mind is babel is it's very much an ecosystem that's interactive And I think a lot of it is Co-watching content say I just wanted to watch a movie alone Is that is that something that I can do on the platform? Or is this always just about co-watching content and kind of talking to others while you watch the movie? No, of course, of course you'd be able to strain strain the video on your own And it's completely optional. You know the the co-watching experience is just an added feature that we have in there As well as the interactive chat rooms for you know, you're you're watching your favorite series And will be dedicated chat rooms then for them series. So say that the episode ends You'll be brought to a chat room if you want to and chat with like-minded people who've just seen the same series as yourself And I know when I was watching game trials, I was hooked But um, none of my friends were into game trials at all. So not even not even my wife So I basically have every episode. I basically have no chat here and I think that idea is brilliant. I think I think a lot of people will look at Right. Yeah, cool. We're getting some audience questions. So I'm going to take those real quick Sydney is asking any other major sponsors or partnership in the movie apart from celebrities like netflix That's a really good question um Yes, and no I don't believe that we will be working closely with netflix or any other platform Because we are the polar opposite of their revenue model that cannot support the film industry So I cannot see us working closely with them for the foreseeable future um We are in talks with uh film talent agencies Um, I can't disclose who yet, of course But we are in talk with talks with talent agencies that we hope to onboard Broad boards of talent who will advise on the babble film Babble film board and hopefully Become our partner In terms of the production launch pad. So when a film is funded through the production launch pad on babble um The talent agency that we partner with will be the first line of contact The the supported film a lot of through the launch pad will have access to to talent through um Things like the partnerships with celebrities or major companies is something we will really start to ramp up In a couple of months time We're not in the dire need of any of these yet And because we still have a lot of work to do in terms of getting the platform organized and ready Um, but there is already early stage talks with some. Yes yeah And you briefly mentioned the production launch pad, but I think that's a really important feature Of babble. Can you kind of go into more detail about what that is? sure So Again looking at the film industry. I like to compare because it gives context. Um, it's very difficult for the for independent and studios to get funding for films You have to stand in front of corporates and you need to pitch your pitch your film And you might or may you may or may not receive funding If you do receive the funding there is going to be major conditions with the content that you're trying to produce They will try and chop and change it to suit their narratives to shoot to suit their political agendas To suit their advertising deals that they already have With their partners So they need to chop and change your piece of content Into something that they can work with in order to fund it And when you get the funding and make it there's no guarantee you get on a streaming service Uh, it's very difficult to get your content on streaming services That's why a lot of them a lot of films end up on youtube or blimeo or anywhere else like that um, so what we thought of was the production launch pad um Our lead developer mode came up with the idea and between himself and michael They hacked it out and they managed to create the the modern day way to Outsource or make public Film film funding so what happens is a film industry or a film producer a film writer or film director Pitches their content to us It's delivered to the battle film board to to ensure quality No, we're not we're not filtering based on its content We're we're we're basically looking at the experience and and look at a previous work to make sure that the quality Reaches our threshold to make sure that our end user is pleased Once it goes through the battle film board It will either go directly to the launch pad or if we go to our governance portal protocol or portal Where users will be able to vote on whether this piece of content should make it to the production launch pad When the piece of content gets their production launch pad people are able to our users are able to invest Uh in the production in order for the production to receive funding and in return They get profit sharing. They get limited edition NFTs to get early access to Early access to the streaming access to the AMAs they get live streaming. Maybe of the film set There's a whole broad of benefits in order to when you invest in in the production itself um, and that then preserves the writer He's absolutely true Artistic nature and his creative freedom. He doesn't have to worry about Chapping and changing his script in order to suit a bunch of corporates to make sure that it meets meets their agenda Or it meets the the privacy policy over streaming service They're able to straight stay true to their creative nature and produce the content that's true to them and their core and their belief And if and if people want to watch it, they're going to invest in it And if it's invested in they're able to produce it and everybody loves it everybody wins Yeah, I mean that's also a great way to allow the mainstream to actually get involved with being a part of the film industry and funding and you know Being a part of that ecosystem. So I think that's a major part of that as well It allows the mainstream to get involved Which is a great way to introduce cryptocurrency to the mainstream as well Definitely definitely. Yeah, it'll open the doors. We'll start. We'll start small We'll start with independence and move our way up as we build out the infrastructure to support it We'll start moving into larger film studios and beyond Yeah, that's wonderful I'm going to take another question from the audience and I just want to remind our audience members watching to send us your questions Keep them coming. So thomas is asking are you expecting problems from current industries providing paid content? such as streaming services or traditional box office um In terms of streaming services, no because we're actually focusing on the content that they would not allow on their platform An example I like to give because it's a well-known one Not that I have any position on it or or or or anything like that Vaxt was a massive film and massive documentary gained a lot of viral popularity It was on netflix and it got pulled from netflix Why did it pull from netflix? Well, you could speculate on it. It was a political it didn't meet their their kind of agenda of the content and trying to push x y and z it could have been the board of directors It could have been their investors who are it doesn't matter, but it got pulled and that's the main problem So we want to support films and documentaries that have this audience that people has an audience and that and people want to watch it but There it's not being hosted anywhere Nobody wants to touch it because they're afraid of the the backlash They the the company might receive For hosting the content. Well, that's not that's not how the acts or our film should be accepted If it was that way we'd have We'd have charlie chaplin's has some of charlie chaplin's work wouldn't be known all around the world So we need to go back to the grassroots of film and how film was made And how film was accepted and just accepted for what it is and and allow ourselves to to absorb Observe these environments that these real creative geniuses create And and support them in every way possible So in terms of the streaming services, no because we we won't have problems with them because they don't like the content That we're going to host because they've already draw either Disregarded it and trauma got rid of out of their library or Disregarded it and did not bring it on their library in the first place in terms of today's traditional box office. Yep. We'll probably receive Receive trouble from them in terms of not liking us. We won't receive any kind of legal issues But they probably won't like what we're trying to do because well, it's been the sole source of the film industry's revenue for a long long time and unfortunately Because it's been there for so long it's outdated and the world has moved into an entire new Modern era and the traditional box office may not Support the film industry won't power. So they may not like us But it won't cause I don't think we'll have any legal battles or anything with them Right. So I have a question that I've actually been thinking about So In terms of the user interface, are you able to hint at what this might look like? Is it because I you know when I think of streaming video, I think of netflix or amazon Can you kind of hint at what? Vable may look like i'm just wondering like the ease ease of use and and how it's going to appeal to the mainstream here Um, sure if you guys are able to talk about it. Yeah. Yeah We can and we can um weird So in terms of integrating cryptocurrency, it's going to be so seamless and automated that if you If you're if you're if your grandmother came on to babble, she will be able to watch content She doesn't need to worry how the cryptocurrency ecosystem works. It's fully automated. She just pays for a monthly subscription Um in terms of the layout, we're trying to make it as seamless as possible That's not too far away from how we all already know svo d services But we are looking at other platforms such as discord and twitch And and other ones like that to bring in a more and and uh snapchat and things like that in in terms of the social layer We're looking at we're looking at multiple different platforms and how people use them In order to develop out our ux and ui but the important core A thing to remember is it's going to be as seamless And as flow giving as possible a ux that you may have ever experienced cool I'm looking forward to that. Um, we kind of talked a little bit about the upcoming token sale But can we uh, just discuss that a little bit uh in more detail? For instance, when is it again? Isn't it is on the 24th To start starting on multiple platforms. Um, the first the first one opens up on the 24th of june And it runs for a three day period um right up until the 24th and it'll be on Quick swap actually on launchpad cyber fly and zero swap And so given given given the current market conditions. We thought it was best to go with a multi ideal launchpad and we think that Bring bring valuable tomorrow's and get more investors in that way Got it. Okay Speaking of I will take a question from an audience Matthew is just asking do you have enough capital to capital to survive the coming years If you guys want to answer that Yes, I would love to answer that If you run a company correctly And you plan a company that's supposed to sustain Um far beyond your own life expectancy. Yes, we do have enough capital to last the next couple of years Will we need more capital down the line? Absolutely. So right now we're building a proof of product and we will come back We will may go down the route of venture capitalist Our our our our our other investment routes later But right now the capital that we have is enough to sustain us to build out the platform Get a proper working product a product that people will love to onboard content and inevitably Begin the process of migrating the entire film industry from it's all south to new Got it Um, another important point that I want to touch on real quick is this whole censorship free approach that vavel takes We didn't really talk a little we didn't talk much about that. So james, can we elaborate on that a bit more? Or michael, what exactly, you know, that means and how that will be accomplished? Um, sure. So in order to be censorship resistant, uh, we have to take the first way we have to look at it We have to take our own stance out of it. So we don't hold an opinion on the types of content that is online now That's not to say that will allow Content that that promotes terrorism or terrorism or acts of violence against humanity in certain in certain regions around the world We will not support that content for obvious reasons Um, but we're censorship resistant in terms of we do not Um, we do not want to interrupt how the writer or the content producer Creates his content if it's quality content. We're not going to we're not going to drive our any any kind of narrative into the into their content um, and how we support that is Initially what we're doing is we're creating a decentralized network based on centralized servers for now so we're going to probably have upwards of north of over 40 50 maybe even 60 servers plus all around the world Content delivery networks all around the world and different servers So when one goes offline for whatever reason, whether it be political or or just the circle goes down Not one user on babble will Experience any kind of problem there That's how we're stacking with censorship resistance When we get to true decentralized in terms of hosting and we get the licensing sorted out Censorship with resistance will be on the blockchain, but that's not for a bit of time yet But we have our own stance on on censorship resistance We will not censor anybody If you have quality content you'll be on there and will support you every step of the way It doesn't matter what country saying about you if they don't like your content We'll be right there supporting you with our multiple multiple multiple servers all around the world Making sure that your content is delivered to your audience and your audience can watch it A time and time again and share it with their friends That's that's that's how censorship resistance should be Supporting a piece of content It doesn't matter what stands in their way if they have an audience and that audience wants to watch it We're going to deliver it to that audience Right. Yeah, that's awesome Audience keeps sending us your questions. We've still got a few more minutes here with james and michael So my next question is what's next on the roadmap? What can we expect to see next which you know, which countries are you guys targeting next? Things like that So we're finishing out the q2 q3 2021 with just our seed Private and public sales seed and private are done public sales is left We have a marketing campaign and the uniswap listing And then we start we've already been planning out our infrastructure build But the next on the roadmap will be the continued testing of that build The Vab cryptocurrency integration once tge has happened the co-watching deployment and the first announcement of an available original film Funded film And once we have that announcement done we'll be looking at the alpha closed or alpha test by January, February, March 2022 So that's the first part of the roadmap that we'll be aiming towards So we will have a working product by the first quarter Of next year, which will have co-watching will have the original film the first original film That we're funding announced And the Vab cryptocurrency integration with some limited features Cool, um with the product is that going to be a mobile and a You know a web-based product where we can you know use it on both platforms Yeah, we'll be of course our target demographic In terms of user is actually 16 to 24 possibly 28 Mobile is their dominant device. So we of course will have an app We're starting with web first. We're developing on the web first and and we'll roll out the app then it's easier that way And then we'll be looking at playstation. We'll be looking at xbox We'll be looking at all the gaming consoles as well and getting apps on there over time too. Yeah Cool, and then I also was wondering in terms of the content that will be featured Is that just going to be a whole range of content? Or are you guys going to start specifically with a specific genre like sci-fi and then kind of move or are you just going to have all the genres available yeah, so I'm just going to have a wide library of all types of content and we'll um Be in contact. Well, we've already been in contact with them Distributors of content and we'll just be Loading out the library as much as we can in the early days and then on to the production launch pads and things like that And I don't know if James mentioned as well. We've also got the show time Ideas was that mentioned?  Go ahead. Yeah, so we'll do another idea that we were looking at Ronin was and show time ideas sorry Um, so the show time section where we could have live shows like Comedians and things like that come on and it would be a set time obviously and people could buy NFT tickets to that and they trade their NFT ticket in and to To view their content and yeah take part in the live company show And from anywhere in the world basically That's awesome. I can't wait Wonderful. Um, we've got a few more minutes audience send us your questions in the meantime Michael and James if the audience wants to reach out to you or get involved with the project Where can they go to do that? Um, so they're going to do that. Um, so primarily we work a lot on discord Just for organizing organizational purposes But we're on discord. We're on telegram. We're on reddit via facebook with twitter with the usuals You can go to babel.com Babel.com will be able to provide you all the links to everything that we've talked about here today We have our light paper up there. We have our roadmap. We have our team both my myself both Michael and I Are both docs you can get to our linked ins and everything else that you that you might require The rest of our team are up there with their pseudonyms Uh, we have a roadmap right on there. Uh, if you go to the very top of the page You're going to get to true to our socials Um, so everything you need to find about us our product our idos coming up If you just want to talk to us reach out to us if you're if you're a film producer An independent film producer you want to get chatting with us in terms of getting your project Sponsored in terms of having it filmed or getting on the production launch pad get on to us on this card get on to us on telegram Um, there are probably two best methods to contact us and we'll open up conversations And if we can we can chat about scripts and everything else in terms of the investors Uh, for the upcoming idos make sure you join our disc card make sure you join our telegram There's a lot of hype in there right now A lot of people talking about it. Um, so we can advise you on the best more suitable Launch pad whether it be kick swap axion Cyber fire or zero swap. We have a launch pad to suit everybody awesome Wonderful. Well, I'm really excited and uh, yeah, michael and james. It's been a pleasure speaking with you guys I don't think we have any questions coming in so i'm going to just go ahead and you know Say thank you to you guys and thank you to the audience for joining us Yeah, thanks for thanks for being here and remember audience members. Please subscribe to our youtube channel So you can continue watching great amas like this one Okay, thanks Thank you. Bye


Welcome to our Mindshare year in review. Just by way of announcement, those who don't know me, my name is Jared Smith. I've been around Fedor a little while. Normally, you wouldn't see me up here unshaven, but due to my second flock in a row, or maybe third flock in a row, I can't remember now. Without my baggage arriving when I arrived, you get me as I am today. So anyway, I want to talk a little bit about Mindshare, talk about what it is, and then what we've accomplished over the last year in a little bit. So how many people have a good, solid understanding of what the Mindshare committee actually is and what they do, and one, phew, good. Oh, two? Yes, I hope you do too. Otherwise, we're both in trouble. So I want to spend a few minutes at the front end of the conversation talking about what is Mindshare, what are kind of our goals with the Mindshare committee, what we try to focus on, and then talk about what we've accomplished, because it doesn't make sense to talk about what we've accomplished if you don't understand what our goals and ambitions are. So the Mindshare committee was formed what's been two years ago now, roughly, almost, but really got kicked off in full swing about a year ago, March, when we had a Fedor activity day.  What are we going to try to accomplish? What can we get done in the short term? What are more medium term, long term goals? So to take a step back and explain what the Mindshare committee is, when we're talking about the organizational structure of Fedora, we have a Fedora project leader. Wave your hand, Matthew. And not only is he the Fedora project leader, but he's also the leader of the Fedora council, right? Council makes all the big, heavy decisions and has the long boring meetings that get things done. And then underneath the Fedora council, there are two major committees. The one on the technical side of the house is called FESCO. It's the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee, and they do all the technical stuff. What features are going into this new release of Fedora? How do we deal with this technical problem? Those sorts of things. So it's kind of the umbrella committee, over all the technical things, and all the SIGs and special interest groups, and secondary architectures, and fun things like that all kind of roll up under FESCO. On the other side of the house, we have what we call the Mindshare committee, which is kind of the umbrella organization over things like outreach, events, community, the comm ops team, documentation, websites, design, kind of the more human focused, rather than technical focused side of the house. Does that make sense? And so when this Mindshare committee started up, there were several seats that are appointed to various groups, but there's also a couple that are elected. And I thought, you know, I've been on FESCO for a number of years. I've done the technical side of things. I was in FPL for a little while. Maybe I should, you know, mix things up a little bit and focus on the kind of the human element of this rather than just on the technical. So I ran for the Mindshare committee, somehow got elected, and that's why I'm here today. So really Mindshare focuses, like I said, on the human outreach. Marketing, design, websites, docs, badges, comm ops, the ambassadors program, events, that sort of thing. And more than anything else, I think our first year and a little bit now, counting from last March, is really in getting organized, making sure we have documented processes for how are we going to approve such and such a thing or how do we want to approach these sorts of things. We've tried really hard at increasing communications. Now that's not always easy, especially when the people who serve on the Mindshare committee are already very, very busy doing other things. And there's an old adage that says, if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person because they'll be organized enough to get it done. Now we haven't completely done that, but we have tried very hard to, despite our crazy busy schedules amongst all of us, to increase communication between the teams, whether that's the marketing team or the docs team or the badges or the ambassadors program or these sorts of things, increase communication. And then trying to improve the process, trying to get things moving better. And also, just reduce some of those pain points. I'll talk more about that in a minute when we talk about the ambassadors program, but having been a Fedora project leader, I know where some of the pain points in Fedora are. I know where some of the conversations at the end of every FUDCon or Flock are gonna be. And we're trying on the Mindshare committee to say, hey, what are those pain points? How can we address those? But we'll get into that in a minute. That being said, it's been a very, very fast year or year and three months. It feels, at least to me, like it's just absolutely flown by. And so let's talk about some of the things we've done. But before I do that, I just want to talk about that this is still a work in progress. We still have many things we'd like to do. We still wanna get more community involvement. We wanna get more of you understanding what we're doing and then involved in what we're doing. So it is very much a work in progress. I think the first thing that we've done is taken maybe a slightly different approach than other committees have in Fedora. We've focused on being pragmatic over being perfect. We have focused on process. I will, I'm getting there, Matthew. We've focused on process rather than programs. We've tried to get things done. We've tried to focus on using lazy consensus when we can rather than having to have every committee member vote on every single ticket. We've really, really focused on what we call low friction things, which will explain the slide. Why would you want a banana peel on ice? So for it, just as one example, we like to have release parties and I'll give you a copy of the slides later. Okay, I will go back. I didn't keep believing that. You're welcome. So for example, one of the things we focused on is we want to increase the number of release parties that happen when we release a new version of Fedora. Well, how can we do that? So we come up with what we call our low friction release party process. It used to be that getting a release party approved was a little bit of a headache. You'd go file a ticket, you'd wait a few weeks, you'd hope they voted on it, maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Maybe you hadn't provided all the information upfront that they needed and there was often several weeks so back and forth and back and forth and can I get this money? Okay, we had a release party. Now what do I have to do to get reimbursed? Oh, can I get some swag shipped to that release party? Oh, that's another process I have to go follow and it's a big pain. Anybody been there? I've been there. It's not fun. So what we tried to do is make that as low friction as possible. So what we said is if you want to have a release party, fill out a ticket, it's going to be approved within days not weeks or months but days. I think that if I remember correctly, it has to have either two positive votes from members on the committee and no negative votes within three days and then it's approved. That gets you up to $100 US dollars in reimbursement for the party. It will get you stickers and maybe a little bit of swag shipped directly from Red Hat that you don't have to worry about opening another ticket to get that on its way and that sort of thing. So that was just one of the early wins is being able to focus on how can we make this process simple and easy for people to throw release parties. And then we've done some work around trying to make it easier for maybe larger events, maybe a small event that's a few hundred dollars or maybe a medium size event that's maybe $1,000 or so to throw over or other things to get that approval process shortened down into for those larger events weeks instead of months and for the small events days instead of weeks. So that's one major accomplishment. Another major accomplishment we'd like to take credit for really this is all Red Hat's fault is that shipping swag used to be one of the biggest pains we had in the ambassadors program certainly. Especially in countries where it's hard to get things shipped from one country to another. I see several people nodding their heads. I can't tell you how much of my loss of hair while I was the Fedora project leader was attributed just to trying to get stuff shipped from one country to another or to get somebody to take an extra suitcase when they're flying from country A to country B full of stickers or USB keys and hope they don't get stuck in customs somewhere. So, yes. Yeah, it's not, yeah, yes. It's nice to have an F cake except now you need a new F cake so, so not having to worry about that. So, BEX has gone above and beyond the Call of Duty in this case to get Red Hat to just store that swag centrally and then we'd say, hey, will you ship X, Y, Z to country Z and all that shipping does not go on our budget. So, a big round of applause to Red Hat for stepping up there and being willing to make that easier for us. That saves us a lot. And if I never have to drag a suitcase of stickers, you know, again, I'll be a happy man. Another thing that we've focused on is improving the budget process, both in terms of better process for getting things approved and reimbursed more quickly as well as better transparency. I don't know how many of you know this but we have a budget website where you can go see what's been spent, what's been allocated to different groups and what's still out there remaining that we could spend on an event if it was, you know, we deemed it worthy to be used. There is, let me just put this out there. There is money out there that we can use for events if they're the right kind of events and it's the right kind of thing. I'm not saying that, hey, we've got money, let's go spend it willy-nilly. But if you're thinking about holding an event, come talk to us, we'll evaluate that and we may be able to help you fund an event if that's necessary. So I think that's an improvement. One of the things that's still a work in progress is this right here. Anybody know what car that is? What is it? It's an ambassador, right? Anybody who's been to India knows the Hindustan Motors Ambassador. It's a classic, it's an absolute classic car if you're in India. And so we've, in the Mindshare Committee, we've been working on the ambassador's program, trying to figure out, well, how does that work now? We've made some changes to it. For example, ambassadors used to be on a regional basis. So there was a North American group and there was an European group and there was a Latin American group and there was an Asian group, right? And a lot of the budget decisions, a lot of the approval decisions, a lot of the, hey, what swag are we gonna develop and ship and that sort of thing was done on a regional basis. And to be honest, that led to a lot of flame wars. Yeah, a lot led to a lot of angry conversations. And we found it was easier for us to say, okay, we're gonna get rid of the regions, we're gonna keep the ambassador program as it is for now, basically the same. But we're gonna get rid of the regions, we'll centralize that decision-making process, try to improve the process, try to speed it up because there was nothing more frustrating than having a region where they couldn't get enough people in the room at the same time to have a meeting, to have the debate, to have the decision and approve things. And I think that's gone fairly well. I think some of the ambassadors are like, well, that's what I did was I was in that regional meeting and now the regional meeting's gone away, what do I do? And so we're trying to figure out, does it make sense to keep the ambassador program as it is, do we change it, do we get rid of it? In the meantime, what we've come up with is what we call our advocates program, which you can think of as a very, again, low-friction, light-touch program. It doesn't have all the formal mentoring and everything like the ambassador's program did, but it's an easy way for somebody who's either already in Fedora and wants to start doing outreach or is new to Fedora, wants to do outreach as they learn the ropes to come in and join and do that kind of person-to-person outreach. So more details on that on the docs site if you go into the Mindshare Committee, there's some information on the advocates program. But we're still trying to figure out what to do with the ambassador's program. I know there's been some discussions with the council, there's been a discussion on the ambassador's mailing list and we've got an outstanding ticket in the Mindshare. I'll give you a tracker if you wanna add your comments. We'd love to get your feedback, especially those of you who have been in the ambassador's program for a long time. Kinda know the ins and outs and what works and what doesn't, we would love your feedback as we try to evaluate that over the next several months. So that's Mindshare in a nutshell. Questions, comments, complaints, rotten tomatoes, month and a half ago maybe? Right, and that's, so just for the record in the camera here, Nick was asking about, when we were having this discussion in the Mindshare Committee, one of the questions that come up is what do the ambassadors do that they couldn't already do without that title of ambassador? And so I have some opinions on that. I'll try not to taint your opinion with my opinion on that. I know several of you have come to me with your opinions and we'll have a healthy debate about that. But that's really, again, if there's a friction point there of the only reason I'm becoming an ambassador and going through those hoops is so that I can help plan an event if we can make it easier with less friction then that's something we wanna focus on. But still, there's absolute value in having people who are out there and feel like they're empowered to hold events, to do outreach, to talk to other people, to help bring other people into Fedora. We don't wanna get rid of the work that the ambassador program is doing, but we may change the program such that it's a little less onerous to get involved in three parts. Okay, let me take notes. Thanks, hello. So I was just gonna say, made for people who haven't been looking at the Mindshare Ticket Tracker or have been following at all or looking there closely, could you just briefly summarize that, that ambassador proposal and then maybe direct where to bring any feedback if someone has any and when to do that by. Sure, okay, three things. What, how, and when? Okay, I can do that. Okay, so the basic proposal as it is now is to dissolve the ambassador's program as it is today, but instead use this advocates program that we had started up, as well as the Join SIG to take on those same roles of getting people involved in Fedora, helping them know where to get started, as well as planning events and doing outreach sorts of things. I go back and forth on whether like, hey, yeah, we can do that or I'm not sure that's gonna work. I personally think there's still some value in having people in your region that speak your same native language and not just one SIG to handle that all, but I'm open to ideas. Anyway, that's the basic proposal as I understand it. Is that pretty accurate, Justin? I think you were more involved in the proposal than I was, so. We're summarizing where we wanna go with this program of what makes the most sense for Fedora in 2019, so yeah, you got it. Okay, the second part of the three-part question was where should you give feedback? No, that's part three is when. Part two is where. The best place to give that feedback would be in the Mindshare Committee Pagura ticket. If you need that link, hit me up after the talk or anytime during flock here and I'll send you the link or find me on IRC, I'm Jay Smith, I'm really hard to track down. I'll send you the link straight to that ticket. That's the preferred place to have that discussion. We were also hoping for some discussion on the Ambassador's mailing list. I haven't seen a lot there yet, but we would prefer it in the ticket, so it's easier for us on the committee to go through that and address those concerns. So the third part of the three-part question is when should you give that feedback? Since I would like to say yesterday, we were hoping to have this finalized before flock. We're not there yet. We would love more feedback. Part of the reason we haven't made the decision yet is we don't feel like we've had enough feedback. So please make your feedback in the next week, maybe the next week and a half at the outset because we need your feedback so we can go ahead and make that decision. Our Council hack fast. One of the things we sort of said was this $150, at the Mindshare hack fast, but every year and a half ago, we came up with this $150 low friction thing, which can be used for more than just release parties basically. Anything that seems like a good idea, just go do it. So at the hack fast, we kind of set a metric of we'd like to have two of those a week this year and spend that comes out to $15,000 on these over the course of the whole year. How are we doing on that metric? And if I think we're below it, as I understand, to spoil or answer my own question a little bit, as I understand it, the committee has basically approved all the reasonable requests that come in. So it doesn't seem like a committee level problem exactly, but we're also not at the metric. What can we do to make more of those things happen? So my first opinion is I don't think there's enough people in the Fedora community who know that that's available and two that know that we've made the process that much easier to do. I think it's a communications problem more than anything, at least in my mind. I don't think we've, you know, and that's part of the reason why I wanted to do this talk here is to help people understand, hey, what is this we've done and why is it easier and how can we, how can we do that? I have in my mind the idea of a per week graph that shows this that we could publish. I don't know. You like your graphs, don't you? I do like graphs. Okay, Justin. And maybe this is more appropriate for the hack fest, but maybe just kind of food for thought of this in the greater context of the marketing team right now, which is I think trying to figure out its larger purpose. There's been some really great discussion in their own ticket tracker about where their best use of their time, energy, and focus is. So I think like coming up with these bite sized tasks that are very small and like using social media as a way to do communication and engagement could be a really effective way at trying to get people who are outside of our usual circles of communication to some point, I feel like we can only reach so far within like mailing lists and IRC and these other established places that the Fedora project operates, but I think maybe we could work with the marketing team to get creative on some of these other things that we were already doing to some extent, and we could maybe engage a little bit more, but I think we have to think a little to kind of wrap this up. I guess we have to think about how we engage with the marketing teams. I think they've struggled with these really big, broad things that are very hard to approach, but I think we need to think really small. Like what's one thing we could do in the next two weeks, like the talking points or maybe a social media like strategy for release parties, two weeks before a release party. So let me ask this question. How many people have attended a Fedora release party? Show of hands. Oh, a little over half in the room. How many people have actually done a release party themselves? They've led one, a few less. How many people would be willing to and just didn't know that the funds were available to do that and that's something that we would help sponsor? A few. Great. So I guess we all need to pitch in and help Matthew make his numbers. It's just one idea. It could be other events, whether it's a local meetup, whether it's a hey, we're gonna get together and we're gonna focus on, it's a hack fest for Fedora IoT here. It's a container hack fest or something like that. Yeah, because it's, yeah. Appreciate Justin's implication that the marketing team exists and is functional. Cause that leads into my question is, the marketing team has largely relied on the volunteer effort of a single person with a couple of us pitching in very sporadically. But what is Mindshare doing or considering to help beef up these volunteer efforts where we can't really get sustained momentum because we're relying on people donating their precious spare time? Yeah, that's a really good question. I wish I had a perfect answer for it. I think one, just increasing communication and getting the word out that these things are happening is part of that. I think two, it may be that having a separate marketing team and a design team and a bunch of little teeny tiny teams that are maybe one or two people in the long run may not be as efficient of having some, maybe some consolidation there and maybe design and websites and marketing work together as I don't know what that team would be called, but it doesn't necessarily have to be individual teams. They can share work in a slightly larger team. There is no team of one. Every team should be big enough to feed with two pizzas but small enough that you don't need more than two pizzas to feed, right? All right, any other questions, comments, complaints, rotten tomatoes, funny jokes? All right, I'll don't let me keep you from, I think, is it lunch now or is it 12.30? Let's lunch now.  Thanks everybody.