Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

Monty Munford, Sienna Network – Interview | Selected

After what feels like an eternity of never-ending lockdowns, we get into Monty’s thoughts on meeting Kim Kardashian, the future of events, launching a blockchain / crypto podcast, co-founding the DeFi company Sienna Network – and finally getting him to consider launching his own creator coin… as soon as he can figure out his own value 😉

blank
@MontyMunford

Let’s start with events:

What was your last big international event, before the pandemic?

My last gig was emceeing the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), a three-day event in Armenia in October 2019, but I did manage to make a keynote speech in Karachi, Pakistan during the UK’s Lockdown Two in November, 2020.

That experience told me a lot about travelling in the future and how difficult it’s going to be and how much paperwork there is, not just for countries, but for airlines.

What’s the backstory behind that selfie you took with Kim Kardashian?

Ha! That was the Armenia event and there was a lot of work involved. We met backstage with ‘her people’ and it seemed inappropriate to ask, but we had a good chat and I asked her if I could take a selfie later on-stage and she has very happy to do so. She even touched me on my shoulder as she did so. I think she wanted more than a selfie – haha.

Now that most events are shifting almost entirely online what has your experience been like re: speaking online? Any interesting lessons learned from your experience speaking online?

Awful, depressing, ineffective and bad for the brain. I did a few at the beginning and I was conducting interviews for my crypto podcast BlockSpeak.io, but I think even a voicecall is better than a videocall, using one sense instead of two is less of a brainmelt. I’m trying to stay clear of them and that’s the one only lesson I can offer.

When borders finally start opening back up to global travel, where will you travel to first?

Blimey, good question. I know it won’t be a conference for a while. I would say somewhere like Greece and just lay on the beach/by the pool for a week (with my son).

blank

What about blockchain events? Which ones do like the most that we should have on our radar?

I’m kind-of out of the Zoom events and I think conferences may take a while to come back, so difficult to guess. But I like the SiGMA events in Malta and might even put on my own small conference, but let’s see how vaccination goes.

Speaking of Blockchain

Via BlockSpeak, you’ve interviewed some of the world’s biggest names from marketeers to FinTech to blockchain to Bitcoin Billionaires – which interview(s) did you enjoy recording the most?

I started BlockSpeak last summer and we managed to bring onboard 30 excellent speakers and allowed me to learn from the best as well as realise who the idiots were.

I always like talking to John McAfee (wherever he is now), but the conversations with Alex Mashinsky of Celsius and Charles Hoskinson of Cardano were my favourites.

I see you recently updated your LinkedIn page as the Co-Founder of Sienna Network. What is that and how deep is your involvement?

Yes, we’re very excited about this. I’d been approached several times to be commercially involved in blockchain and crypto projects, but nothing grabbed me. However, Sienna Network not only grabbed me, but threw me over a wall. We’re a DeFi project that launched last week and things have gone crazy since.

blank
Sienna

We’re solving a problem that the crypto industry needs and many figures, including those I interviewed on BlockSpeak, are talking to us about how they can be involved. We have a roadmap over the next two months that may astonish many in the industry, watch this space!

Do you see any viable business cases for event organizers to start using blockchain?

I think the world is finally catching on about blockchain and early adopters such as charities and logistics appreciate the transparency of the protocol. Smart Contracts and proof of transaction are going to streamline all industries and even democratic elections.

What event organisers do with the technology is a little bit more complicated. Perhaps it will make payments easier, but there’s nothing else that springs to mind right now.

What about the rise in monetization of speakers (ie. Creator Coins) – when will Monty Coin hit the market?

Hahaha. Well, I might be behind the curve here and would love to know more, but I’m ALL OVER this idea. Let me talk with ‘my people’ and I’ll see what I can come up with, happy to work with anybody on this – haha.

It sounds a little preposterous, but I much prefer speakers’ fees to be made in crypto, so why not base a coin on your own creativity? However, I’m not sure how valuable I am, so I may wait on this one.

you might also like

blank
Events 2 days ago

Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

blank
New Materials 3 days ago

Lios Group, the Irish startup behind SoundBounce, was a winner of JEC Composites Startup Booster 2018, and has been making significant strides since taking home the award.

blank
New Materials 1 week ago

Tree Composites aims to accelerate the energy transition with innovative composite joints.

Subscribe to
our Newsletter!

Stay at the forefront with our curated guide to the best upcoming Tech events.