Dear Aave Community,
My name is SpoonyBard and I am reaching out to ask if Aave would like to give me a grant or to sponsor my high quality event series idea.
The event series would be branded The Unchained Web and it would take place monthly all across major cities of European countries starting one by one from Antwerp Belgium where I personally reside.
The aim of the events would be to build crypto communities across the EU and possibly long term in the world that would come once a month together to learn, network and discuss about the industry these events WOULD NOT be to shill coins but to focus on the technology, its impact and how it improves people’s lives in making money and governance more inclusive around the world.
Problem Statement:
There are two problem statements, one short term and one the long term vision I am trying to solve with this:
Short-term: Antwerp is a vibrant entrepreneurial city located in Belgium with people coming from all over the world and speaking all kinds of languages. There is a big interest in crypto and blockchain but no consistent events or communities - of any major blockchain - to feed this interest and educate people on the technology in depth so that they can take their first steps in the industry and build something worthwhile. Every once a year, a larger crypto event in scale would be organized that would involve investors, companies, start-ups and other ingredients under development.
Long-term: Although there are a number of crypto and web3 events around the world taking place, the majority of them are not consistent enough to build local communities in any city of the world. Most of the events may be taking place yearly which is not enough to engage with people who may show interest in blockchain technology and maintain a consistent and engaged community throughout time. Some of them are also cash grabs as they offer no insights to the attendees while having ripped them off a significant amount of money for them to be able to attend the event and then never organize it again. Leaving people who would otherwise be interested in learning in depth about the technology, its use cases and developing skills in the industry with a taste of ashes in their mouth as they may have been conned by not in any way receiving value for their money back. Therefore, people become alienated with the technology and may even not attend a crypto event and have a very bad idea of the industry as a whole due to their bad experience.
Proposed Solution
Short term: The Unchained Web is going to be Antwerp city’s dedicated crypto community consistently organizing high quality events at least once per month in content, location and speaker management and success. This would be every Last or First Wednesday of the month (day to be decided upon receiving the grant). The Unchained Web will be inviting speakers from the Blockchain Industry and Community worldwide to speak about the projects they are working on, the impact those projects have on people’s lives, educate attendees about the technology at large and encourage them to take their first steps to build something in the industry themselves to grow it.
Long-term: As TUW will hopefully expand and become popular, Additional City specific crypto community events will be organised in other cities around the world on a monthly basis using the same formula and working under the same umbrella, for example “The Unchained Web Brussels, “The Unchained Web Dubai, “The Unchained Web Paris, “The Unchained Web Barcelona" etc and be consistent. This would allow crypto communities to come together consistently, exchange views, become friends and expand the community. Additionally, after community in a number of cities has been built The Unchained Web Summit would take place once a year bringing many industry leaders and players together for a multi-day event where people would discuss DeSci, DeFi, Decentralised Identity and more. The Unchained Web would also launch its own school allowing people to learn about crypto and blockchain in depth both non-technical and technical courses would be included.
How would the The Unchained Web Antwerp work?
The events would take place once a month either every first Wednesday of the month or every last Wednesday of the month - exact Wednesday to still be determined. Each event will last 3 hours between 19:00 to 22:00 to make sure people have enough time to come to the meeting after their work, school, university or anything else they may be occupied with during the day.
The event would be broken into the following parts:
18:30 to 18:59: Doors open for attendees to arrive.
19:00: Event starts.
19:00 - 19:15: Introduction of The Unchained Web Antwerp.
19:15 - 19:30: Icebreaker activity: A few icebreaker questions presented to the attendees to talk with one another and meet new people.
19:30 - 20:30: Speaker speaks about the topic of the monthly event.
20:30 - 20:45: Break.
20:45 - 22:00 Speaker continues to speak about the topic of the monthly event.
22:00 - …. After event drinks
DISCLAIMER: THESE LOCAL CRYPTO COMMUNITY EVENTS ALTHOUGH HIGH QUALITY WILL NEVER, EVER PROMOTE CRYPTO INVESTMENTS BUT WOULD FOCUS ON THE TECHNOLOGY, IMPACT AND HOW BLOCKCHAIN CAN CHANGE AND IMPROVE THE WORLD AS A TECHNOLOGY.
A few ideas on how the first 6 events would look like on the topic:
The Unchained Web Antwerp #1: What is Money and what is its future?
The Unchained Web Antwerp #2: What is Aave?
The Unchained Web Antwerp #3: What is DeFi?
The Unchained Web Antwerp #4: What is an NFT?
The Unchained Web Antwerp #5: What is a DAO?
The Unchained Web Antwerp #6: What is DeSci?
The topics above are suggestive and not set in stone, below I propose other topics that may substitute them instead depending on what the community may want to cover and discuss next.
Other topics can include Blockchain and Sustainability, Metaverse, Decentralised Identity, Decentralised Social Media, How to learn blockchain skills? How to find a job in the Blockchain Space, What is tokenization, What is the Token Economy, What is Regenerative Finance? how to research transactions?
Established community communication channels - besides the live events - would be - subject to slight change:
- Discord
- Website
- Telegram
- E-mails
If the first 6 months of the event organization were successful, then I would come back to request additional funding for 1 year runway for Antwerp, would look to hire a few additional people and would focus on expanding the Crypto Community event to either Brussels or Ghent, the other two major cities of Belgium.
To make the project self-sustaining and scalable in the long term, after the 6 month testing period, asking for sponsorship from other organizations both non crypto and local to Antwerp but also crypto related
In order to make the events as inclusive as possible and invite international speakers, they will be taking place in English.
My qualifications:
4 - 5 years of cumulative experience in organising small and medium sized professional community events from 30 to 750 attendants.
More than 3 years experience in the Blockchain Industry
MSc in Blockchain and Digital Currency from the University of Nicosia, the first University in the world teaching to release and educate people about cryptocurrency and Blockchain. They released their first MOOC “Introduction to Blockchain and Digital Currency” back in 2013 and in 2014 released the first MSc in the world in Blockchain and Digital Currency with leading experts in the field teaching such as Andreas M Antonopoulos
Link to the MSc Website: MSc in Blockchain and Digital Currency - UNIC | Blockchain Programs
My online community:
6.000+ followers on LinkedIn who aim to learn about Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
675 of those (10%) are from Antwerp
85% of them are from the crypto and blockchain industry - thus, I have the connections to invite speakers
My The Unchained Web Daily Newsletter about news in the industry gained 750+ followers in 15 days of posting
Link to latest edition of the newsletter at the time of posting this post: The Unchained Web Daily Crypto News #15
My LinkedIn Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandros-ntolgkov/
How Aave Benefits:
The Aave community will benefit in a number of ways:
- Aave mentioned as a partner sponsor atop the newsletter for every edition for the next 6 months
- A How-to guide on how to use Aave will be written in the newsletter
- Aave will be mentioned as a partner and/or sponsor of the event on the TUW website
- During the introduction of the event Aave will be mentioned as a sponsor and partner of the events
- Aave will be invited to speak in one of the first events
- Aave Grant Announcement on social media
- Exclusive Aave Posts and news on community channels
- Social media banner with Aave as sponsor and partner
- Flyers and marketing material will mention Aave as a partner/sponsor
What I get:
- Crypto education and event organisation is my passion and would love to spread my passion through teaching people about crypto and decentralisation by organising events.
Timeline:
1st TUW event: April - May depending on whether or not the grant will be approved and when delivered
2nd TUW event: May
3rd TUW event: June
4th TUW event: July
5th TUW event: August
6th event: September - October if it would start in May instead
Cost breakdown:
One time costs:
Setting-up professional website: 2000 USD
Technologies and subscriptions required (beamer, email subscriptions and other tools): 1000 USD
Total: 3000 USD
Aave Swag distributed at the event: 800 USD - if the DAO wishes to do so -
Speaker cost: Flights, accomodation, speaker fee (if applicable), speaker gifts (if applicable): 1000 - 2000 USD
Location Renting: 1000 to 3000 USD
Professional Photographer: 200 - 300 USD
Marketing: 1000 - 2000 USD:
Food and drinks: 500 - 1000 USD
Total: 4,500 - 9100 per event x 6 + 3000 One time costs
30,000 - 57,600
If the DAO community does not trust me, a stranger and may think that I will take the money and run, I would be open to gaining the DAO’s trust by first organising just one or two events before the rest of the grant would be administered.
Thank you and i am awaiting your feedback.