As former Global Head ambassador Community Moderation, i took Husni on board in the moderation team. He certainly deserves a spot in the sponsorship. Hope you get it brother.
3 Likes
Thank you for the kind words ser. It is an honor to be on the moderation team, especially with you as the head 
2 Likes
Hey boss, thanks for the support!
I can still remember how you mentored me back then,
it was and still is a pleasure working under your wing
1 Like
Hello, I understand my application is after deadline, but unfortunately I did not know there is a deadline, so I am trying my shot. As a public official my budget is quite small and without the sponsorship, I don´t think I will be able to make it to Brussels. Thank you for your consideration.
PolkadotAgent
Europe Czechia
I have been very active withint the Polkadot Community since early 2021. In the last 6 months, I have joined the European Blockchain Partnership as a representative of Czech republic and I started advocating for PolkadotSDK being used instead of Hyperledger as the tool to be used for the creation of infrastructure for the european blockchain. I have started to create a network of contacts with european policy makers to enable new opportunities for Polkadot wihin EU and EU member states. Besides my activity in the EU, I am also doing BD in the Middle-East where I am currently in contact with Tonomous, which is a company behind [NEOM](https://I am planning to do a working dinner together with Web3Foundation where we would start establishing connections with policy makers.) that is working on building digital infrastructure for a fully autonomous and sustainable city being built in UAE.
I would use the sponsorship to help Web3 Foundation organize the working dinner with EU and memeber states official, use my network to introduce them to the Polkadot ecosystem and lay a groundwork for PolkadotSDK being used by european governmental institutions. Besides the working dinner, I would use my participation on Polkadot Decoded to network and meet with relevant teams within Polkadot ecosystem that would be able to help me increase my BD activities towards governmental institutions in EU and the Middle-East.
4 Likes
I know @Frodol-Bohemian from the PolkadotPrague event in 2023. I can state that he is a true advocate for Polkadot, with a broad understanding of both the ecosystem and the traditional governmental sphere, as he is a lawyer. This allows him to effectively promote collaborations and business developments between Polkadot, companies, and governments. You have my support. 
Thank you for your interest but unfortunately we cannot allow applications sent after the deadline.
Polkadot Decoded 2024 Sponsorship Applications - Great News!
Weâre thrilled to announce the recipients of the Polkadot Decoded 2024 sponsorship! We received a fantastic response with a total of 42 applications: 14 from the Americas, 19 from Europe, 5 from APAC, and 4 from Africa.
Weâre happy to announce that all applicants who submitted their applications according to the guidelines will be sponsored! As there were more applicants from Europe than other regions, the total sponsorship amount comes to âŹ49,600, which falls well within our âŹ50,000 maximum budget for flight and accommodation assistance. On top of this, each participant will be given a ticket that grants them free entry to the event.
This means that all applicants can book their flights and accommodation and start getting ready for an incredible experience at Polkadot Decoded 2024!
Now what?
Next step is to write an email to decodedsponsorship@gmail.com with your:
- Full name & nickname (if any)
- Region
- Telegram handle
- DOT verified address*
- Link to the submitted application (your forum post reply)
- Hotel reservation or travel ticket to Brussels.
*This address will be used to send you the reimbursement after the event, once you have submitted all necessary receipts, so please double-check for correctness.
The deadline to send this information is Friday 7, 2024 at 23:59 UTC. People who havenât confirmed their participation by this time will not be eligible for sponsorship.
One of the team members will contact you and make sure you are clear of what is expected of you. An individual online folder will be created for you that you can use to upload all the necessary documents. We would also like to know what you expect from the get-together (side event) that weâre planning to organize for all active community members during Decoded.
Hereâs How to Get Your Reimbursement
To claim your sponsorship reimbursement after the event, please follow these steps:
- Gather Receipts: Make electronic copies of your receipts/invoices for both your hotel costs and flight tickets.
- Proof of Attendance: Snap a selfie from the main event and show yourself in action. Share it on social media (or send it to us if you prefer).
- Submit for Reimbursement: Upload the receipts/invoices along with your selfie to your folder (link shared over email). This is to be done immediately after the event but no later than July 31, 2024.
Important: We will convert any fiat-amounts on your receipts to DOT using the closing rate of the second event day, Friday, July 12th, 2024.
Be mindful of the maximum allowance for each region:
- Americas & APAC: 1,600 âŹ
- Africa: 1,000 âŹ
- Europe: 800 âŹ
This is the maximum amount you can claim after the event: You donât need to spend the entire allowance.
Important Dates
Polkadot Forum Application Deadline: May 31, 2024, 23:59 UTC- Selection by Sponsorship Team: June 3, 2024, 23:59 UTC
- Sponsorship Announcement: June 4, 2024
- Receipt Submission Deadline: July 31, 2024
- Reimbursement Payable (in DOT): August 31, 2024
Disclaimer: Please note that the sponsorship team cannot assist with securing visas or providing letters of recommendation for visa applications. If you need assistance, you can be in touch with events@decentered.studio
Weâre so excited to see you all at Polkadot Decoded 2024! Get ready for an event filled with learning, networking, and celebrating the future of Web3.
Connect with others and start planning: Telegram: Join Group Chat
14 Likes
I wholeheartedly support Vikk, he is a prominent member of not just the Hungarian Polkadot community, but also internationally. He organizes highly informative meetups in Budapest.
2 Likes
Congrats guys!!!
5 Likes
The Decoded 2024 Sponsorship Team has successfully completed its mission. Thanks to your support, more than 38 active members of the Polkadot community were able to participate in Decoded.
As part of our commitment to the community and the proper use of funds, we returned a total of 2,179.47 DOTs to the Treasury. Full details of our management can be found at the following link:
Decoded 2024 Sponsorship Report
Thank you all so much for making this achievement possible!
4 Likes
Nice work Ezio and team!
I have a small but meaningful suggestion to the next cohort of sponsorships for active community members:
Each person which is sponsored by the treasury / sponsorship team should be required to make a public blog post, forum post, vlog, twitter thread, or anything public describing their activities and experience at the event.
These individuals are literally getting funded to go to the event, so I think it is only fair they spend some of their own time to create content which captures their time at the event.
I could imagine that we could require they cover:
- their favorite talk / presentation
- something new they learned
- any new ideas they had as a result of going to the event
- suggestions on how they would improve the event next year
- someone they helped at the event (education, connecting people, acts of service, etcâŚ)
- a photo / video as proof of attendance
- etcâŚ
I think with these kinds of expectations, we can continue to bring more attention and visibility to how these kinds of sponsorships bring value to the Polkadot ecosystem, and also encourage people to join the narrative and share their experiences.
7 Likes
Thanks @shawntabrizi great suggestions.
We did ask proof of attendance, in private, and encouraged people to post in social media, if they so choose.
I hope one day everyone will get at least free attendance, if not full sponsorship.
Thanks @shawntabrizi for the suggestions! I think the suggestions you mention are good, especially to amplify what has been achieved in Decoded.
What we did ask for was proof of attendance with verifiable photographs inside the Decoded.
We also asked them privately to participate with their social networks, which many did.
Well I hope how you can see from my perspective that âprivateâ anything doesnât really help Polkadot.
If they are going to a public treasury for funding, they should produce public goods and services to the community.
Do recipients of the sponsorship receive compensation before or after the event? Is there is a list of the previous recipients?
I think in the case of compensation after the event, you could withhold compensation until they have satisfied the criteria.
In the case of compensation before the event, you can just not let them apply for the next event sponsorship until they satisfy the criteria for the previous sponsorship. In fact, probably if they donât make a post in a relevant amount of time after the event, they should pretty much be disqualified to get future sponsorships.
4 Likes
Certain sponsorship recipients wished to remain pseudonymous and didnât want to be doxxed. As we respected their right to do so, we couldnât really demand public selfies from anyone.
Yet, selfies shouldnât be the impact that we seek, is it?
We brought the community together, had hours of face-to-face discussions and most likely this leads to countless ways these people support one another and work together afterwards.
Personally, I hope the community doesnât need to do this type of activations ever again. It should be done by the organizers.
I have been toying with the idea that instead of wasting 1,500,000 ⏠for a poorly attended conference in Europe, letâs use 500,000 ⏠to organize a kick-ass experience in e.g. Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria or Ethiopia and spend another 1,000,000 ⏠to sponsor the Top 1,000 community members to join.
Dear @shawntabrizi ,
Thank you so much for your suggestions. We want to ensure that everything is clear and transparent, so hereâs a brief recap of the actions weâve taken:
- We selected active members of the community from the last six months through a public selection process voted on by the community. We recognize that this is an area where we can further improve in the future.
- We provided a refund after receiving proof of participation.
- In addition to posts and videos, we also requested a photo, which was sent via private message for privacy reasons.
- We created a specific event for the group during Decoded.
- We asked participants to fill out a form that also gathered suggestions and customer satisfaction feedback.
Weâre always open to improving and greatly appreciate your feedback. If you have any further suggestions or comments, weâd be happy to hear them.
Best regards,
Patrizia
1 Like
I donât think I said anything about selfies.
I mentioned a proof of attendance, which could a picture of their hand, in a thumbs up at the venue, or their own unique pictures of the main stage from their seat, etcâŚ
I respect their anonymity, but I do think they should make public posts under whatever anonymous account they want, else we are literally burning money on people who are not contributing back to the ecosystem.
I donât think it should be hard to understand this simple principle:
- If public funds are used, public output is expected.
Do you disagree with this?
I fully understand your point of view, and thatâs why we included requests for posts and similar activities. At the same time, the core purpose of the sponsorship was to incentivize participation and to foster a stronger sense of community.
Great! Super happy to hear we are aligned on vision.
Then I will look forward to see in the next proposal for event sponsorship, that these ârequestsâ will actually become mandatory requirements for receiving those funds.
And in your next sponsorship final report, I will be happy to see you collect these public posts so that we can all see the engagement generated by them, and actually be able to measure the participation and sense of community generated by these funds.
It is important to hold people accountable, especially in these decentralized systems.
1 Like
I donât disagree.
1 Like