[Proposal] NEAR representative at the 2022 European Blockchain Conference in Barcelona

[Kemal]

Hey NEARians,

I hope you are all well!

First of let me give you some background information about me for those who don’t know me:

I’ve been part of the Project Ops team for 6 months now, which is a subteam of the @ConciergeTeam initiative.
You can read more about both initiatives here:
→ ConciergeTeam Introduction
→ Project Ops Team Introduction

My tasks include, as you can read in the introduction, contacting existing projects and supporting them in various areas. We have expanded our scope and now also help projects that have not yet started on Near, or entrepreneurs who so far only have an idea and want to start their own project on Near.

Summary of this initiative:

About 4 weeks ago, I launched the “Near Representative” initiative, as my scope of work overlaps a lot with the Business Development team and I also have several years of experience in this area, as you can see on my LinkedIn.
Basically, it’s about representing Near at blockchain events, getting to know existing projects I’m already working with personally, and of course making new contacts.

I received a lot of positive feedback from the community on my first proposal for the PBWS event in Paris.
You can read more about it here:
→ Represent NEAR at PBWS from 13.-14.04

I also followed @satojandro’s suggestion in my first proposal to directly approach the Near Foundation for funding and already had a meeting with @jcatnear and @mecsbecs and both agreed to the initiative.

Therefore, with this proposal, I am asking for funding for the following two events:

1. European Blockchain Convention June 26-28, 2022
2. Blockchain Economy Istanbul July 27-28, 2022

Expected impact and goals

• Deepen existing partnerships
• Increase brand awareness
• Make new contacts
• Onboard interested projects/founder via Project Ops QR-Code (Picture below in details)

Project Ops QR-Code

Funding details

• Total $6,730

|Type|Activity|Budget|
|—|—|—|—|—|
|European Blockchain Convention|Flight Costs (round trip)|$350
|European Blockchain Convention|Transportation -><-|$200
|European Blockchain Convention|Hotel Costs (4 nights)|$920
|European Blockchain Convention|Ticket Costs (inkl. VAT)|$920
|European Blockchain Convention|Additional Costs|$360
|Blockchain Economy Istanbul|Flight Costs (round trip)|$420
|Blockchain Economy Istanbul|Transportation -><-|$240
|Blockchain Economy Istanbul|Hotel Costs (3 nights)|$990
|Blockchain Economy Istanbul|Ticket Costs|$2000
|Blockchain Economy Istanbul|Additional Costs|$270
|NEAR Hoodie with QR Code|Brand Awareness, Onboarding|$60

JC, Rebecca, and everyone else, I look forward to your feedback and answering your questions.

Cheers

[FritzWorm]

@Kemal

IMG_89371920×1920 246 KB

Whaaaat !!!

Amazing partner ! Well done!!!

Full support!

[Kemal]

Thx partner! I can send the design over to you, if you want?

[FritzWorm]

@Kemal

if you want?

Please do

[HaiVu]

Support @Kemal, plz bring glory to NEAR & @ConciergeTeam!

[Kemal]

Check your Email, partner!

[Kemal]

Thanks partner, appreciate the support!

[satojandro]

HI Kemal,

Just to clarify, you’ve spoken with JC and Rebecca and they agreed to the initiatives, as in, the Foundation will be paying for these trips as part of your current work duties or they’ve agreed to you seeking funding through the Marketing DAO? I’m assuming the latter but just to be crystal clear.

Overall, I do believe there is scope within the Community Funding bucket to pay for some members of the community to attend events and conferences in person.

While we all assess and continue to refine the criteria of what qualifications should members from the community have and which type of events are eligible for funding on a case by case basis, it seems clear to me that in this specific case there is a lot of value in having someone in your position attend these conferences.

I am happy to support these proposal.

A few extra notes: you’ll be required to provide a report after each conference. Please ensure to include the final expenses (we know the budget estimates can change) and details from the experience - lessons, teams met, new leads, etc. It may even be a cool idea to try to document the experience in the form og a blog - or whatever medium you feel comfortable with - so that we can all learn from the events even if we are not able to attend in person

[mecsbecs]

Hey @satojandro, this is a proposal for the @community-team’s attention not the Marketing DAO’s as a test case for individual sponsorship / ambassadorship support for community members looking to represent NEAR at global blockchain events. And agreed on reports after-these appearances as we hope this will encourage more of a decentralized pathway for trusted community members to better be empowered to go out and talk about NEAR!

@Kemal - looks like a good breakdown, thanks for this. For the below section, more exact detail is required however so we can better measure your success / the outcomes of your appearances at these two events:

@Kemal

Expected impact and goals

• Deepen existing partnerships
• Increase brand awareness
• Make new contacts
• Onboard interested projects/founder via Project Ops QR-Code (Picture below in details)

Let’s add more measurable items to turn this into actionable goals perhaps answering the following questions:

• which existing partnerships?
• how # new contacts are you planning on developing at each?
• how # new project leads are you looking to generate / onboard via the QR-code (so how many new Google form submissions are you hoping to generate)?

Related: please elaborate on which scheduled events you’re planning on attending at both (panels, networking, etc.) since I presume the ticket costs outlined are related to the passes / tickets you’re purchasing for each?

Before we can approve the budget amount, let’s see more of a researched plan which answers the question: why you? how will you be planning on representing NEAR and the Projects Ops team in particular at these events?

@community-team other thoughts or questions?

[jcatnear]

Thanks Kemal! In addition to the points mentioned by @mecsbecs, it might also be useful to invite those you meet to the NEAR TG or Discord (Discord allows you to generate your own invite code to track members who joined through your link). Will you be using a digital business card? That might be good to incorporate in your networking

Other than that, I don’t mind funding this. We’re
looking forward to seeing the results and any data in your post-event report. This will be very valuable for us to understand how to better support other community leaders who want to represent the NEAR Community in future events.

Best of luck! I know you’ll represent the Concierge Team well.

[expressuser]

This is really great

[Kemal]

@mecsbecs

• which existing partnerships?
• how # new contacts are you planning on developing at each?
• how # new project leads are you looking to generate / onboard via the QR-code (so how many new Google form submissions are you hoping to generate)?

Hey @mecsbecs, thank you for your valuable input, I appreciate it.

1/ I have not approached any partners directly if they will be at the events. However, the two events I picked are very well attended events. So I assume that I will meet existing partners there.

2/ I plan to make about 10 new contacts per day.

3/ I plan to generate about 5 new Google Form entries.

@mecsbecs

I presume the ticket costs outlined are related to the passes / tickets you’re purchasing for each?

Correct, the indicated ticket costs refer to the passes/tickets.

@mecsbecs

please elaborate on which scheduled events you’re planning on attending at both (panels, networking, etc.)

Neither of these events have panels or a schedule posted online. I think it is still relatively early, but have already requested one and am waiting for the overview.

@mecsbecs

why you? how will you be planning on representing NEAR and the Projects Ops team in particular at these events?

This is not just about me. I think that anyone who has sales/business development experience and whose responsibilities fall into this area should be given the opportunity to represent NEAR at events.
But to answer your question “why me?” I have a background in sales and have over 15 years of professional experience and have built several startups. I think the experience I have gained over those 15 years is the answer to why me. Here is the link to my LinkedIn.

I hope this answers your questions.

[Kemal]

@jcatnear

it might also be useful to invite those you meet to the NEAR TG or Discord

Yes, I also plan to invite the people I meet to our Telegram and Discord channels.

@jcatnear

Will you be using a digital business card?

Great idea, I didn’t think about that bc I already use the QR-Code. Do you know a specific app to create one?

Thanks and appreciate the support!

[Kemal]

Hello @community-team, Unfortunately I have not heard anything more from you, what is the next step now?

[David_NEAR]

@Kemal

I think that anyone who has sales/business development experience and whose responsibilities fall into this area should be given the opportunity to represent NEAR at events.

My main concern here is should those who are not direct employees of NEAR Foundation and/or Pagoda be officially representing NEAR at any events?

[Kemal]

Hey @David_NEAR,

I understand what you mean, but can’t relate to it. What reasons can you give that would argue against someone with enough work experience, whose area of tasks overlaps with that of the business development team, not also going to such events to network? Besides, doesn’t the community also represent Near?

Looking forward to your feedback!

[David_NEAR]

@Kemal

I understand what you mean, but can’t relate to it. What reasons can you give that would argue against someone with enough work experience, whose area of tasks overlaps with that of the business development team, not also going to such events to network? Besides, doesn’t the community also represent Near?

Because you don’t work directly for NEAR, how are you able to align yourself with the internal Do’s and Dont’s of the NF? If something goes untoward and you’re involved, it reflects on NF directly if you’re officially representing.

I’m not saying any of that will happen, and nor do I think the post is inappropriate or that you’re not a good fit to attend, but I don’t think it’s within the remit of the Concierge team to ‘officially’ represent NEAR at any in-person event atm.

That’s not to say it can’t be funded, of course.

[KriptoRaptor]

@Kemal

I’ve been part of the Project Ops team for 6 months now, which is a subteam of the @ConciergeTeam initiative.
You can read more about both initiatives here:
→ ConciergeTeam Introduction
→ Project Ops Team Introduction

My tasks include, as you can read in the introduction, contacting existing projects and supporting them in various areas. We have expanded our scope and now also help projects that have not yet started on Near, or entrepreneurs who so far only have an idea and want to start their own project on Near.

happy to have you onboard.

@David_NEAR

Because you don’t work directly for NEAR, how are you able to align yourself with the internal Do’s and Dont’s of the NF? If something goes untoward and you’re involved, it reflects on NF directly if you’re officially representing.

this is an issue to consider.

btw prices for Istanbul Blockchain event is crazy, too high for an avarage Turkish guy. wonder if they are charging people those who roam in foyer area too
ps I hacked it when you spend sometime on the site it gives a good(weird ) amount of discount

[REK]

@KriptoRaptor

btw prices for Istanbul Blockchain event is crazy, too high for an avarage Turkish guy. wonder if they are charging people those who roam in foyer area too
ps I hacked it when you spend sometime on the site it gives a good(weird ) amount of discount

There was a campaign last week. If you buy 1 ticket, they give 1 free ticket.
These prices for the other country, If I want to buy ticket price will be like that:

• Standart $90 VIP $390

@KriptoRaptor

btw prices for Istanbul Blockchain event is crazy, too high for an avarage Turkish guy.

I agree that

[mecsbecs]

Any NFT marketplace can help you mint business card NFTs - it’s just a question of what image you decide to go with and a QR code could work. I’ve used Mintbase in the past personally but Satori’s Creator Studio does offer an easier functionality for NFT drops/campaigns where you generate a collection of business card NFTs. Message me and I can help arrange this.

Thank you for contributing more KPI considerations and makes sense that the full agendas are not published yet.

Consider this proposal approved. Please proceed with completing the Google Form and issuing an invoice for the amount stated above to community@near.foundation (instead of an Astro DAO poll) for processing your payout.

Since this is a trial run for this kind of funding request, we look forward to a very detailed report following these two events.