This weekend’s F3stival puts the emphasis on women in Web3

Organizers Annee Park and Valerie Song have gathered some of the metaverse’s more influential names

Both excitement and panic are evident in Annee Park’s voice when I reach her driving her car around the Lower Mainland. The latter is due to her confusing the two Columbia Streets (in Vancouver and New West). “Something that happens when you haven’t driven a car for two years,” she admits with a laugh.

You chalk the former up to her anticipation for F3stival, the women-first Web3 conference she’s throwing with fellow entrepreneur Valerie Song at Emily Carr University in Vancouver on July 9 and 10.

“It’s been a wild last couple months and it’s all finally coming to life,” says Park, who happily reports that the event is close to selling out and will host some 1,000 people across the two days.

The initiative is geared towards women not only in Vancouver but across the globe and features over 40 female-identifying speakers, including Janice Taylor, who is a co-founder of Los Angeles-based EQ Exchange with recording artist Ashanti. There will also be a pitch event, with every ticket holder playing a role in deciding who takes home the grand prize.

“The whole experience is about not just learning, but getting hands-on experience and practicing a lot of the structural components and the theory behind Web3 technology,” says Park.

Park and Song are relative Web3 neophytes themselves. Park helped launch learning platforms ProtoHack and SoftServe and Song co-founded Ava Technologies and its flagship product—indoor smart gardens—before the two linked up to start F3 Ventures.

“The feedback you often get is that there’s not enough women to fill up the space for an event like this,” says Park. “But this was an event put on in a matter of three months by two women who are brand spanking new to Web3. And I think it’s a testament to what happens when the B.C. startup ecosystem comes together. It’s been almost all local support, it’s been incredible.”

F3stival goes July 9 and 10 at Emily Carr University. Tickets are available here.