[APPROVED] Starting Near Book Clubs In Tertiary Institutions

Marketing DAO Marketing DAO
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Hello everyone!

I’m Hephzibah.

I’m a graduate of English Language and Literary Studies, a bibliophile, a chef, a fashion designer, a beautician, a singer, a farmer and a nature lover :smiley::smiley:.
Since I joined Near Protocol, I’ve been astounded by how few people in my region know about Near, the works it’s been doing and about Web 3 in general. Although I have onboarded all my friends to Near, I know it’s not nearly enough and there’s 1 billion more people to go.
To contribute my quota to the vision of NEAR to onboard 1 billion web 3 users, I have come up with an initiative that targets Ungerdraguates mostly. I call it the Near Book Club. Starting from Tertiary institutions near me, I plan to revive the culture of reading and encourage Web 3 research and engagement by starting a Blockchain-themed Book Club.

OBJECTIVES

  • Create an at least 50-member strong Book club on every tertiary institution campus in Nigeria.

  • Ignite a passion for reading in youths.

  • Serve as a platform where NEAR can directly interact with students all over the country.

  • Identify and engage young talents that will build on the Near Protocol.

  • Expose young talents to the educational opportunities in NEAR protocol e.g. Near University, LearnNear, etc.

  • Explore mass onboarding opportunities and events.

*Create a NEAR platform that students can relate with.

MODALITIES

This initiative will be executed in 3 phases where we will first need to ease into these institutions by hosting a publicity rally to create an awareness for the Book Club; second, inaugural Book Club meeting and onboarding event; and finally, regular monthly physical or virtual meetings and other activities.

More details on these phases are provided below:

PHASE 1

Publicity Rally

First, we will traverse the length and breadth of the campus, handing out fliers, talking to people and inviting them to the Near Book Club’s first meeting and onboarding event. Pamphlets, fliers etc. will be distributed, gearing the students towards attending the event.

PHASE 2

THE INAUGURAL MEETING AND ONBOARDING EVENT.

This event will be the official launch of the NEAR Book Club. It will be massive. The target is to have no less than 500 people in attendance. Activities lined up for the event include:

  • A workshop/talk/AMA introducing Near Protocol to the students, including a showcase of some functionalities on the Near Blockchain and answering questions.

  • A “How To Open And Fund A NEAR Wallet” demonstration/session.

  • Quizzes to be rewarded with Near tokens, Near souvenirs and NEAR Book Club souvenirs, etc.

  • Comedic and Music acts

  • Registration of Blockchain Book Club Members.

PHASE 3

CONSOLIDATE THE CLUB

After Club Members have been registered and established, regular monthly meetings will commence. Social media platforms will be created to foster continued engagement. Activities for the club will include:

  • Monthly “Book Talk” Meetings
    The “Book Talk” (tentative name) Meetings will feature discussions on book(s) previously agreed upon by club members. Special Book Talk Meetings will be covered documentary-style and streamed on YouTube and the Nearhub.

  • Building a physical and virtual collection of books (Library).

*Bimonthly “Spread The Book Near Rally”
Members of The NEAR Book Club will take to the streets talking to people about the benefits of reading, asking them what books they last read, giving out books to a lucky few and inviting them to the Near Book Club.

BUDGET

Publicity (banners and fliers) $150

Logistics (transportation, PA System) $220

Airdrops to facilitate opening of wallets $30

Prize for Quiz winners $50

Near Book Club Souvenirs & Merch $100

Refreshments for attendees $100

Renumeration for my work $200

Books $150

Total $1000

Wallet Id: fabdab.near

I look forward to doing this already. It’s going to be massive.

Near to the moon​:rocket::rocket::rocket:

@cryptocredit
@Klint
@Shashi

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@MktngDAO_Advisors :grinning:

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I would suggest you meetup with @Hsmoney as he is in charge of NEAR UNIVERSITY HUB in Nigeria as this is a good initiative and this can be incorporated into the current university plans For NEAR NIGERIA

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Pls spend some time to read this
You can be our ambassador

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Good evening, thank You for your proposals. I believe we need to know more details,

Logistics (transportation, PA System) $500 , what stands for “PA”, and how transportation expenses were calculated?

Airdrops to facilitate opening of wallets $500 , what the amount per one wallet ?

Prize for Quiz winners $500, do you have a plan of quizzes, topics?

Near Book Club Souvenirs & Merch $1000 , what kind of souvenirs?

Thank You

@damboy22 , @Hsmoney thanks for comments

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Thanks @Dacha for the questions.

LOGISTICS (Transportation,PA System, etc.)

ON PA SYSTEM

PA System stands for “Public Address” System. It includes microphones, speakers, amplifiers, etc. to be used for the events. In our case, it will also include power costs (generators and fuel, etc.)

As it stands, there will be a pre-event rally to publicise the main event with the implication that we will need to rent PA Systems two times - once for the publicity rally and again, for the main event.

Renting the PA System and all the other paraphernalia will cost $200

ON TRANSPORTATION

The proposed institution is Federal Polytechnic, Ile Oluji, Ondo State. It is approximately 68km away. I and my team of 4 will go over to the location twice: once for the publicity and again for the event.
Each journey will cost about $7.79/person. Total – $155.8 for 5 of us (for the two round trips).

ON EVENT MANAGEMENT

We’re looking to have up to 500 attendees for the event. Those who will help organize the audience, distribute souvenirs and refreshments, etc will be needed. – $100

Photos and Videos for documentation and posterity – $50

Total – $505.8

ON AIRDROPS

At an estimated 500 attendees, and $1 airdrop/wallet – $500

(In the unlikely event that less than 500 wallets are activated, the excess will immediately be remitted).

ON QUIZZES

As part of the activities lined up for event day, there will be a quiz session where the general knowledge of the attendees on basic concepts on NEAR will be tested, especially after the AMA/workshops, etc.
$500

ON SOUVENIRS

50 customized T-Shirts for pioneer club members – $400 (@$8/shirt :tshirt:)
Near-branded writing pads for every attendee – $500
Near-branded facemasks – $100

Total - $1000

I hope this breakdown suffices.

Thank you.

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@FabDab Were you able to connect with @Hsmoney about a possible collaboration here? It seems like it might be a good way to reach more people on campuses efficiently.

Also, will the books recommended to the group be general reading or focused on blockchain, web3, etc?

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@Hsmoney, thanks I have read it. Cool stuff!

Please could you give me more details.

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@damboy22 thank you!

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Both.
We plan that every other month will be dedicated solely to blockchain web3 studies and discussions.

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My gut sense on this proposal is that it would make for a stronger program overall to have an established collaboration/connection with a team/group/representative located at this university and any others you are planning to create events for.

I would like to see that in place before approving funding.

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@so608
You’re 100% correct. A collaboration as you suggested will definitely create a synergy that will optimise the effectiveness of this project far beyond what is highlighted in this proposal.

I am of the same mind too. This is why, after careful deliberation, I shortlisted two tertiary institutions for this first iteration based on 2 major criteria:

  • Proximity: Except for the temporarily closed University (FUTA), the shortlisted schools are the closest to me.

  • Familiarity: I have two friends who are students of the school I have chosen (Federal
    Polytechnic, Ile Oluji, Ondo State). They’ve been my eyes and ears “on ground”. I have, however, refrained from making some administrative moves until I was sure that the project was a go. Finally, growing up, I lived in Ilè Oluji, the town where the target institution is located. So this is also homecoming for me.

I have the basic collaborations and connections which can foster the successful execution of the initiative, which will in turn, serve as a model for subsequent reiterations.

Your advice and contribution have been of great value.

Thank you @so608

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Near University Hub Program is launching from Akwa Ibom State we are Looking at getting an ambassadors from university that will work with us give us more insight bout their campus

Just like @simeon4real every university has different structure model
And things are not done the same way in all the universities

So for near Hub to be physically present in this university we should know the operation of the institution

But though at the moment it’s only physically available at akwa IBOM state university

We would try all our best to ensure that near university hub is also physically present in other universities

But that doesn’t mean other universities can’t join our TG group
They can equally join our TG and participate fully of all our Online activities

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@Hsmoney

Thanks for the details. I definitely look forward to a collaboration

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Pls Join the Near University Hub
TG group

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Could you drop the link, please.

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I’m going to be blunt - if the reach of this campaign is limited to Nigeria, we must then consider the budget provided in local costs. Would you be able to provide us with itemised invoices and receipts for payment of services? I am wary of proposals with very clean, round numbers $500 for very different items (Refreshments, books, DJs, etc.)

The key question for every proposal is “How does this add value to the NEAR Ecosystem?”

Here are some thoughts and suggestions:

  1. The Book Club could have two different purposes: the first one would be to onboard people to NEAR and the second would be to strengthen and upskill existing community. I personally don’t think that a book club would be the best fit for onboarding new people to a blockchain protocol. Several hypothesis here: people are either interested in reading or interested in blockchain, reading blockchain books sound extremely limiting (not even I have read many blockchain books. However, running a book club for existing NEAR community members and upskill them would be very interesting.

  2. Local v Global: I would embrace the Metaverse and go global. Host on Nearhub or run a forum with discussions, etc. I believe that something like a Book Club is something that does not have to be constrained to a particular region (except for obvious language limitations). THIS would be the appropriate way to charge international rates - deliver global value regardless of the location of the operating team.

Some other alternatives would be to have ‘book clubs’ around technical papers, were community members can gather, read and discuss the latest technical pieces. Once again, this would be tailored to existing community.

Regardless of whether some of the suggestions above are considered and implemented, I think that some of the expenses are too high and unnecessary, at least during these early stages.

The launch event may also be at odds with a book club. Seems plausible to me to throw a fantastic party and no one ever reads a book after that. For all of the reasons listed, I am against going out with a bang for an entirely new project that is not strongly related to NEAR.

Would be happy to support a simplified proposal.

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If I understand you correctly, you’re requesting to have the running costs for the proposed project presented in Naira because it is “limited to” Nigeria?

Your request for receipts and invoices is weird and unusual - and disrespectful. Having gone through the length and breadth of the Forum, reading and apprising myself of the goings-on here, I have hardly encountered a request similar to this. But to your question, yes, I would be able to provide receipts and invoices where possible.

This comment is worrying. Does your wariness of “very clean, round numbers…” stem from suspicion of fraud?

Your comment leaves me wondering if you actually read the proposal before writing these comments.
Here:

Here:

Here;

Here:

Do these figures look round to you?

ON YOUR THOUGHTS AND SUGGESTIONS

You are right in saying that the Book Club could serve the tandem purposes of onboarding and education.

Then immediately, you opine to the contrary here:

Although your statement here immediately contradicts your preceding recommendations of what the Book Club could do, I will attempt to provide a short explanation as to why, on the contrary, a Book Club is a great “…fit for onboarding people into a Blockchain protocol”

Firstly, this is mostly what school is - a book club of sorts where discussions are had on books that have been recommended and read.

I learned a lot from “books” as I sought to understand what Near is about, what the Blockchain is, what NFTs are, etc. Till date, I have read and I still read many articles and papers explaining these concepts and technologies in various ways. All of these articles are “books” - potentially. I mentioned earlier how that both Blockchain related and otherwise books will read and discussed in the proposed Book Club.

What better way to onboard people into Near than to provide materials that educate them and make them understand exactly what they are getting into? If music has been considered a veritable onboarding platform, I wonder why you would suggest that a Book Club isn’t.

Your hypothesis of the mutual exclusivity of interest in reading and interest in Blockchain is null (to say the least). Your hypothesis suggests that one who is interested in Blockchain, cannot be interested in reading. This submission is worryingly wrong. Of course one can be mutually interested in reading and Blockchain at the same time. As a matter of fact, NEAR protocol has some fine educational tools and initiatives where tonnes of reading happen - and Near is a Blockchain protocol. This would have been tantamount to self-sabotage had your hypothesis been mildly true.

I continue my response in subsequent posts.

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How so? Where you see limitations, I see opportunities. How can reading about Blockchain be “extremely” limiting?

I’m a great believer in all the possibilities and use cases of the Metaverse. The Book Club will evolve to use the Metaverse thoroughly, as we will eventually hold interregional discussions, etc.

Blockchain communities are essentially global, no matter that they may be based out of a particular region: this is the very core of Blockchains. Blockchain technologies and functionalities provide a steady interfacing with the global NEAR community, no matter your region.

“Charge international rates”. What are you talking about here? Are you suggesting that presenting a proposal budget in dollars is not acceptable unless the project is delivering “global value”? This is the first time I’m seeing the budget for a proposal referred to as charging.

Your insistence that only existing communities deserve a book club is based on what exactly?

Kindly point out these expenses.

Again, you choose to look at unrealistic limitations. The launch event, in itself is a massive onboarding event. Ordinarily, this is significant by itself. But as a precursor to the inauguration of the Book Club, there can hardly be a more resounding, more meaningful correlation.

The event is hardly a party.

How many parties do you know that typically have workshops, AMAs, quizzes, registration of Book Club Members, etc. It would seem again, @satojandro that you have zoomed in on “Comedic and Music Acts” to derive the label by which you would define and discard this amazing project.

On the contrary, the Book Club that ultimately educates people about Near, Blockchains, Web 3, etc. is strongly related to Near and its goals of facilitating the onboarding of 1 billion onchain users.

I share this goal with Near.

Cheers.

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Hi @FabDab thank you for your proposal - and the efforts you have made to reply to the comments.

I like the idea of using an existing well known concept - a book club - to promote new ideas and act as a springboard to grow awareness and involvement in NEAR.

I note the other members of the Marketing DAO have their doubts but I am happy to give you a chance to show that you can make this work!

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