Bonnie Chan Woo: Turning ComplexCon Hong Kong into a digital theme park

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This year’s ComplexCon Hong Kong event was historic—not only was it the first outside the United States, it was also the first ComplexCon event where blockchain anchored the event’s mobile app.

The app, developed by global tech company nChain, allows users to check in to the event, receive exclusive collectibles from their favorite designers and artists, and keep up with its happenings.

“It almost felt like going to a theme park,” Bonnie Chan Woo, the owner and CEO of ComplexCon China, told CoinGeek Backstage reporter Becky Liggero at the London Blockchain Conference.

Woo has been running ComplexCon Asia as a media brand in Greater China, offering the youth access to fashion, style, music, art, collectibles, and more. This year, she took it upon herself to bring the ComplexCon experience to Asia for the first time; the event has been a fixture in Los Angeles for years.

When Woo started the app development partnership with nChain, she was charged with bringing her creativity and event experience to help create “a better experience for the attendees.”

Being on the blockchain, the attendees’ tickets and information are stored permanently and can be used in future events.

“I think some of the most popular features were the access to merchandise and limited souvenirs. We had them planted at different places in the conference. When the people entered the event, it was almost like a game for them, but in real life,” she told CoinGeek Backstage.

Woo took to the stage at the London Blockchain Conference alongside nChain CIO Christine Leong to discuss the experience. On stage, she revealed that the team was focused on ensuring that blockchain remained in the background and that the users didn’t have to know what technology powered the app.

“Once you introduce terminologies like blockchain into the user experience, it just confuses people…we made it very clear that the users don’t need to know. Second, the whole experience needs to be completely seamless—they need not have any prior knowledge. This has to be so intuitive.”

Watch: Complexcon Hong Kong explores the unseen potential of blockchain