Thank you for adding this here, for transparency’s sake.
A bit of background: We were encouraged to submit our draft proposal ASAP (the day the new EB went live). We submitted two days later and we were hoping to get the feedback in a Telegram group, as mentioned in the new EB process, but I apparently misunderstood that. We thought we can then work on this together, that the whole point of the bounty was to help make better proposals. The proposal was by no means ready, when we submitted. It still isn’t. Therefore, it is great we can now have this back-and-forth here. We are happy to improve the proposal further, in open dialogue, together with the community. To ease that dialogue, I will address those points in the initial feedback that are still relevant. After that, let’s move ahead, together.
- Match XR ask is 4,000 € for the organizers + ca 1,000 € for drinks to be given out for the participants in the lounge area.
- “Operational fees” have now been downscaled considerably, based on the feedback. These were not only for the panel preparation, however, but for all investor/founder program, details of which are still being ironed out and to be confirmed with the Slush team, as they return from their vacation in August.
- 16 hours of videography/photography is for the entire duration and can extend over the four days that we are there. This professional videographer will then use another 28 hours to go through the captured material and to edit it into a) a set of 50-100 of the best images, b) a 3-minute feel-good reel for Polkadot marketing purposes, and c) a 10-20 minute compilation of SLUSH for the Polkadot community. This is with a reduced rate of 70€ per hour and totals 3,080 €. If this is excessive, then I have nothing to add. Their normal rate is 122 € / hour. If the above deliverables are not satisfactory, then let’s ask the videographer to produce something else that will be more useful. They want us to give them that kind of guidance, and we are prepared to do so. All community ideas are welcome.
- The Networkers are not paid for their work, so the “team building” was added as a way to thank them, and to guarantee that the follow-up to turn the leads into real opportunities is seamless. We don’t want to lose the leads we have collected, do we?
- 100 EUR per head was budgeted to create Polkadot hoodies, shirts and bags for the team, so that they look uniform, approachable and can be spotted easily at the venue. The critique on this was most likely a misunderstanding and we have kept this line item in the budget.
- We reduced the marketing expenses based on the feedback, although we have now received a strong expert recommendation to spend more in digital marketing so that there would be some awareness among the target audiences when the Networkers start approaching them. We are also getting full support from Distractive to make this a success.
- We wanted to try a no-booth approach to “go guerrilla on them”, but since most everyone wants a booth, we’ll see if we can still get a booth or a “Partner Pod” (a space at the main venue where we can host people, demo the tech and talk with them more intimately). It will be an additional cost of about 60,000 € (40K for Slush + production + management) but we’ll see if we can get a good deal.
- Everyone had confirmed their participation. If this feedback is regarding @ingo.ruebe then it’s a misunderstanding. One of our Networkers @Gabo asked to add him, so we did. Having said that, Ingo continues to be supportive of this initiative, although he is no longer mentioned as one of the team members.
- We agree that 100 high potential, qualified leads is a relevant goal. Those come from a pool of 13,000 Slush participants. I hope 12 Networkers is enough to obtain these, given that most of them don’t even know what Web3 is (yet those 100 could definitely benefit from building on it or investing in it). We are not there to collect business cards. We are there to bring in new tangible opportunities and real, impactful change into the Polkadot ecosystem.
- Coordinating things locally takes a lot of effort. I have done this since January, mostly alone. We have now put a price tag on the preparation work already done (retroactive funding for @Patricia and I) so that it is clearly separated from work that still needs to be done, both before and during the event.
- If the community thinks that venue bookings, partnership negotiations and other local preparation are not needed, then let’s try to do this without it. And if we think that these are needed, but it should be fully voluntary work, let’s look for someone willing to do this work free of charge. I’m more than happy to step aside, as long as this gets done.
In summary: This is not a proposal to create an event. It’s a proposal for direct marketing, business development and investor relations activities that happen during an event. Our intention is to create a replicable concept, tools and materials that can be used in other events after this, and again in Slush 2025. We are grateful for the valuable feedback received. We commend the Events Bounty curators for their proactive approach in sharing these insights directly. In response, we affirm our commitment to crafting a revised proposal that comprehensively incorporates the feedback from both the community and the Events Bounty team.