Wow, I had no idea you went to Steemfest as such a young Steemian. 4 months in, you already saw the value of Steemit/STEEM on the blockchain.
I was introduced to Steemit early as well. In spring/early summer 2016 a friend sent me a link on Facebook (of all places) about some huge amount that was made on a post. I thought it was a scam and clicked away.
I finally joined in July, 2017 costing me over a year when I could have been networking with the early (now) whales. Lesson learned...
I'm hopeful we've seen the backside of this crypto-winter and look forward to the future of STEEM!
You lost some time, but still got here much earlier than most!