3 min readApr 30, 2021

NFT.NYC Weekly Clubhouse Session 1: “Happy Hour” Conversation with Founders and Selected Speakers

“Every time I leave NFT.NYC, I feel fired up” remarked Brendon Cooper, director at Panini America to Cameron Bale, co-founder of NFT.NYC.

The first NFT.NYC Clubhouse session, held at 4 pm ET April 28, drove thoughtleader conversation about NFT adoption.

The session commenced with an “Ask the Founders” segment with the conference founders Jodee Rich, Cameron Bale and Alex Atallah (also co-founder of OpenSea) — They discussed:

The maturing NFT Conference in its 3rd year
A powerful NFT Community with mainstream appeal
Statements from selected Speakers

The maturing NFT Conference in its 3rd year

Jodee Rich, CEO of NFT.Kred and co-founder of NFT.NYC, introduced a new concept in NFT identity; Rich said that this year NFT.NYC will be making Profile NFTs for each speaker and attendee. Profile NFTs allow you to showcase your NFT gallery, websites, and social profiles in a more interactive way than with a digital wallet. They also serve to drive traffic to your sites.

Cameron Bale, co-founder of NFT.NYC, also shared with Clubhouse guests his vision for this year’s conference:

A Powerful NFT Community with Mainstream Appeal

Bale explained that since the outset, NFT.NYC has maintained a powerful internal community. This year Bale said that he wants to retain this community while also zooming out and bringing NFT knowledge to regular people by injecting mainstream appeal into the event with real-world use cases.

The founders then invited several speakers from to talk about the current state of the NFT world, particularly its rise in the first quarter of 2021.

Follow the NFT.NYC Clubhouse moderators on Clubhouse at:

Jodee Rich: @wingdude

Cameron Bale: @cameronjohnbale

Ian Utile: @ianutile

Statements from Selected Speakers

Jodee Rich posed a question to speaker Ian Utile, founder of ATTN.LIVE and co-producer of all NFT.NYC live streaming: “What would you like to see at NFT.NYC this year?”

Utile suggested that in addition to seeing NFT artists on display, he would like to see an interactive implementation of games — where attendees would be able to get their hands on games and play with them. He also suggested a strong interest in the conference providing viewership for a live stream audience.

John Clippinger, who is designing smart tokens to incentivize the transition to sustainable energy, when asked his opinion on the unfolding of NFTs in recent months said that “the next generation of NFTs will be dynamic and self-organizing.”

Theo Goodman, a digital artist and producer, brought a thought-provoking context to Clippinger’s analysis. Theo told the audience:

“I started with green frogs (CryptoPepes) — sending green frogs to people- before it was unheard of, and now everyone wants one!”

Goodman continued:

“NFTs are like an entry-level drug;

Let’s get people comfortable with creating and trading NFTs so that they can embrace more complicated use cases for them.”

Brendan Cooper, director at Panini America, a company that makes officially licensed products for the NFL and other major licenses, told the audience: “It’s a completely different conversation this year with new products surrounding NFTs being launched.”

Cooper shared an example using the rebranding of the NFT project he is directing: “Before, we called ourselves ‘Panini Blockchain Cards’. Due to the mainstream interest and the public’s newfound willingness to understand NFTs, this week we are rebranding the project ‘Panini NFT.’”

* * *

What’s Next

If you’re passionate about NFTs and have an interesting use case to share with the community, please apply at our website NFT.NYC.

Speaker applications will be accepted through July 31st, 2021. Priority is given to early submissions.

Weekly Clubhouse “Happy Hour” sessions will be hosted every Wednesday at 4 pm ET in the NFT.NYC Club.