POAPs: What it means, and why it matters

POAP is an exciting new way of easily proving your participation at NFT events. This is a huge breakthrough as we have seen in the age of social media, that sharing your involvement at events you love is valuable. Often when you attend an event you also receive additional benefits such as access to exclusive parties and events, discounted tickets and offers, and even access to new products or services. Now imagine that you could get a unique NFT badge that undeniably shows your attendance, this is where POAPs come in.

The meaning of POAP

This acronym stands for Proof of Attendance Protocol which is an Ethereum based app that allows you to verify your participation at an event. This means that POAPs are NFTs that can represent memories on the blockchain.

POAPs provide opportunities for both the attendees of events and the organizers. For event organizers, POAPs promote engagement and a stronger sense of community amongst attendees. For those who love to go to events, POAPs can offer exclusive invites to more events, access to raffles and discounted offers, and social proof of being a part of a community. The last part can help you gain access to networks of people, which is incredibly useful in the NFT space. They can also be used to verify if users have completed an action or task as part of a competition or giveaway, and can be used as prizes.

Advantages of POAPs

• Free for anyone to use
• Boosts engagement
• Strengthens community network
• Gives holders a unique token that represents their valuable moments that lives on the blockchain forever
• Grants exclusive access to content, discounts and special merchandise or collectibles
• Cannot fake a POAP
• You can customize the design of your POAP badge

Examples in the wild

Several well known projects and companies have used POAPs with their communities which yielded positive results. Super fans and dedicated individuals that actively participate in events have evidence of their involvement for everyone to see. It allows them to connect and bond with like minded people and create a network.

• WomanNFT during Art Basel Miami
• NFT NYC for their volunteers
• Ethereum Community Meetup
• Art Blocks First Anniversary
• Decentral Games during Crypto Casino Night
• EthGlobal and Protocol Labs at their virtual Hackathon

Creating a POAP

If you like the idea behind POAPs and want to offer them to your community, here are the steps to take:

1. Create the event at poap.xyz
2. Enter the description, dates, and details of your event
3. Select the number of POAPs you want to issue according to the number of attendees.
4. You're done! You'll receive the links through your email. You can choose to distribute these links in several ways such as a URL or QR code.

Elevate your experience

For collectors, you can use the POAP app to keep track of your badges or use the POAP scanner. It is important to keep these badges in one place as they are the keys to accessing the exclusive benefits associated with them. Another way for collectors to use their POAPs is to sell them. This is similar to selling a ticket to a popular concert you attended although it is up to the collector if they choose to give away this memory.

POAPs are here to highlight and celebrate the many memories created in the crypto space. As the NFT space continues to grow, these memories will become more and more valuable, imagine having proof of your contribution to the new era of the internet. More than 20 thousand holders have at least one POAP in their wallets so far, with a growing number of events distributing them. As we are still in the early stages of Web3, there are many opportunities to get involved with the community, including joining new projects, attending meetups and conferences. So why not start your collection of POAPs?