How Many Grants Will Your Team Approve?
Other Accomplishments From Rio To Celebrate (open forum):
All three Blu3 hackathon teams won ETHRio (100% success rate!)
(1) DAO - Omnisig (installed swapping abilities for Harmony multisig wallet on mainnet)
(2) Social Token - Black Leaders DAO (launch BLK token to support small businesses for black communities in Brazil)
(3) NFT - KreadivDAO (proceeds from photo NFT will be donated to local communities)?
Retrospective Step 1: Start / Stop / Continue
Start: Actions we should START taking to improve future events.
Stop: Actions we should STOP taking to improve future events.
Continue: Actions we should CONTINUE to do for future events.
| Start | Stop | Continue | |
|---|---|---|---|
From now on, the video team needs a rental car straight from the airport for any foreign activation like this. Safety is paramount and we need the ability to move quickly and dynamically when situations change. Even if we park the car for two or three nights and not use it, it is better that the access is there for when we need it. It really becomes a safety issue.
One thing we need to start doing is creating a connecting thread between events. What made ETHDenver special was that each activation led to a bigger purpose or celebration. By engaging people to participate early with incentives such as a party or gathering on the final day, we are building a week long narrative as opposed to disconnected events that touch on different things. The entire experience should reward those who “show up” and engage the most. With 1Wallet approaching release, we can use that to activate more people into our ecosystem and incentivize a ramp up in participation as word begins to spread.
Additionally we need to see a conference through. I understand it was a special circumstance with SXSW, but if we go to a conference, those that go need to stay until the conference is over, not leave mid-way through. This is how longer term relationships are built. | Guidelines should not be given to projects wanting to get funding for any Project X or Y. Guidelines instead need to be given to the staff similar to ETHDenver (example: no doubling up on investments/grants, etc... those guidelines keep the staff on point). To go into a new territory and impose limitations on grants is not the right spirit, when in fact we really just need to go out there and listen to the people and their needs. Nobody knew what a Social Token was. To have that be a guideline was completely out of touch with the community and made us seem very “1st world” in our approach. The people on the ground were very clear that what mattered to them was education and accessibility. A social token by nature actually limits accessibility. It essentially is a membership. That’s fine in a 1st world country when you are trying to create exclusive experiences as incentives. But in a 3rd world country we have to be more sensitive in how we approach this by creating funding that is entirely inclusive and without barriers to entry. | I think that we need to continue to go to places like Brazil that are in need of Web3 infrastructure. It was very clear to me after going that this is where the opportunity is, this is where we will have the biggest impact. Places like South America, places like Africa... we can really make a world of difference in those parts of the world just by being present and listening to the needs of the people and cultures and communities of those regions. There is massive opportunity to empower people in those regions, and I would argue that it is in Harmony’s best interest to double down on it’s LatAm and African initiatives. | |
Have guidelines over grants initiatives clearly outlined for team members in an IRL session, more preproduction for shoots so we’re not carrying extra equipment | We should stop imposing our own “guidelines” on project funding in LatAm and other markets because many projects fall outside the scope of our 1st world conception of where the industry is at. This imposes limitations on great projects where Harmony can have an impact. Then we will be their blockchain of choice when more mass adoption happens. We should listen to what builders are already working on for their own communities. | Continue to host regional specific events, such as the soccer tournament, NFT workshop for locals, and boat hangout. We had a great time, the community loved it, and in the end, our efforts resulted in 5 out of 12 hackathon projects deploying on Harmony, including the winner and runner up. Also continue to sponsor scholars: this makes a huge difference because not only do they serve as Harmony ambassadors, they are also talented and may build on Harmony as well, as seen in Rio. | |
If we are going to keep doing grants/funding á la Harmony X or Y, we should have a specific section for that in notion.
Also, we need to fund a community project for the multisig. Blue3 DAO won the hackathon on the premise, perhaps they should keep working on that.
We should start giving more power to local organizations, so we can give them more power in organizing the local events.
We need to start doing events for local partners like we did in DCentral Miami. Also we need to start sponsoring local small events, what we have named Harmony Hangouts (HHO) | I think we need to improve things in general, I don’t think there’s something we need to stop doing altogether. | We need to keep doing regional events with a regional flavor. As we did this time, we should hire local event organizers, find local contributors, bring local scholars.
We need to keep thinking in a scalable way. Bringing projects that are ready to reach larger amounts of people, like we did with Play4Change, Museu de Favelas and AfroGames. These organizations does not have to go and find members, they already have hundreds or thousands of members, affiliates, etc. | |
It would be amazing to have a QR code to access directly to the grants or some easy form for the booth visitors, so we can point them to it and once we get back to our desktop computers have a list of them, with the content. Having them to search where the grant or proposal in the talk forum isn’t easy for them. Also this time the Project Y wasn’t specific there. I’ve shared my “Hi Hello” app with all my details with my QR code (during the event I’ve added the talk.harmony one to it so they could add the proposal). HAving in this app or similar all the details and all the team with the same details coordinated would be amazing. | More than waiting for project to come, I think that Harmony should search for the best ones and try to attract them. Trust in Harmony work better than in the luck of them coming. (I’m saying this without knowing if already Harmony is doing it, so please forgive me if it’s already happening) Peace | There has always been an atmosphere of respect and good vibes, which defines the people that Harmony wants to attract. This will never change. | |
Communicate important initiatives such as Project X/Y ahead of time and having someone run a Q&A meeting/group chat to ensure everyone has indeed been notified, the guidelines have been understood, and any pending questions are clarified. | I believe it’s important to keep the event-specific investment figures private. If we announce figures that are extremely high in certain regions, we risk attracting unwanted attention, “cash-grab” projects, and we lose authenticity in the interactions with the builders.
A solid idea/project will surface by itself, as it should have that intrinsic motivation to be fulfilled, with or without a grant. These ideas/projects that have authenticity and a focus on themselves are the ones that will bring sustainable value. | Ensuring adequate representation of Harmony core team and contributors given the local context. For example, team members speaking the local language or coming from the region.
Empowering attendees that are “in the field” with event-specific investment projects for the purpose of generating greater personalized impact in the ecosystem and in people’s lives.
| |
Host/sponsor LOCAL workshops on how to DAO, how to launch/mint NFT collections, etc as well as host local “Hacker Hubs” to help foster the sustainable adoption of Web3 in these communities. Additionally, encourage/compensate the local communities to translate materials/videos in Spanish and Portuguese to increase access to existing/new materials. | Specific to the LATAM region, I believe we should enter these spaces listening more than talking. There is trust that needs to be built with these communities, which takes time and actions speak loudest. The more we enable local projects/organizations to lead in putting on events, hosting TGIs, etc. and have Harmony play more of a “supportive role” the quicker we can reach the community in an authentic way. | Continue sponsoring scholars who are new to Web3, with an emphasis on bringing women into the space in order to produce a ripple effect within the communities we seek to reach. | |
Thinking in making a template for the next rounds of Project XYZ
That way we can provide the form for grant candidates and they fill in what is expected for us to know
Once ready they submit it and makes it easier to track and identify all of them and how many of them
This can provide the link for the https://multisig.harmony.one/#/welcome
link for https://harmony.supply
Our site https://www.harmony.one/
Our metrics(if special for the case) | In a DAO perspective the most common issue i get is 3 months Rotation for a DAO proposal funding.
Open to discuss why i believe its wrong in many ways
| The collaboration from all members in rio to help each other and figure the best way to do things, specially when need to improvise.
I think it’s important to keep this more open minded talk, specially between the team.
everyone realize for example the metrics were different and tried to reach consensus to get a accurate answer. | |
Agree with Gabriel on the fact that communication could be improved. At the first day of the event I was super insecure on talking about grants because I didn’t understand properly what was my role. | I don’t like the fact that we’re trying to fit latam projects into social tokens. I feel like some projects here need a lot more infrastructure before thinking about actually deploying a token or an nft | Team collaboration was great. People are super open minded and open to start conversations with. | |
Start lining up more slots for Harmony related projects to speak at events. Speaking is a great chance for all of us to bring more attention towards Harmony and these slots should be identified before the event | Agree with comments from Gabriel where we need to be careful with how money is talked about with projects. The mission has to be the first thought every time | Agree with Josh’s points | |
Communication between partners and the harmony team for targets during the event we can hit together to help the Harmony brand and out individual projects too | Working together effectively on the booth, at interactive events and at hackathons. By helping align new contacts with projects and teams that they would work well with, we are supporting the overall growth of the ecosystem as well as our relationships of cooperation and friendship | ||
Onboarding and clear process for Project Y to ensure all teams and subsequently scholars receive consistent messaging including training and support for minting social tokens prior to releasing grant funding. While writing things on notion is good for ideation and communication, having a 45 minute zoom call to kickoff such a project is critical for everyone to get on the same page prior to a trip. | Requiring scholars to put a $1k deposit for the hotel; while the hotel was AMAZING and we love it, some scholars especially local LATAM had to skip meals due to not having funds to spend. | (1) Collaborating on Blu3 travel scholarships were so powerful in enabling highly engaged and talented scholars with five-star service from onboarding, hotel stays, networking, educational workshops, conference ticket, grants and more!
(2) Project Y as immediate real-time opportunities to kickstart passionate projects and enable over 10 new DAOs to launch on Harmony
(3) TGI soccer + beach day + dinner + afterparties + conference VIP lounge + JUST INCREDIBLE BONDING moments that we will remember for life. So many scholars have already expressed how this trip has changed their lives and inspired them to build their dreams with harmony. 🙂 | |
1. Training and Communication on giving out the grants:
A. Timeline
B. Process
C. Requirements
D. Forms for grantees
2. Institute a clear process to assist and help grantees:
A. How to write an effective proposal & where to submit and by when.
B. How to start a DAO, create a multi-sig, how to mint social tokens. etc.
Basically, if we are funding something and have a requirement, we need to have a proper roll out in terms of education and training.
3. Suggest to start planning earlier so that folks have more time to communicate to attendees and participants.
I think the Team is doing the best they can, given the timeline - and the outcome couldn’t have been any better. But the above, would significantly help to smoothen the process and to alleviate burn-out.
| Agree with Gabriel and Noura on the points stated above.
Also agree on the point about “cash grab” - something we have to be careful about.
However, I have realized that some of the local folks require nurturing and support for them to “grow and step into the leadership roles”. Most of them couldn’t believe that this is true or even possible. But with the support and influence of the Blu3 core team and Harmony team, they were able to do what was once thought to be “impossible”.
To be successful, we need to provide them with on-going support, training and network. Funding alone is a start but not sufficient to be sustainable.
Suggest to have the Harmony event person be alleviated from their “ordinary responsibilities” because it takes A LOT to organize events such as this. The person has to be 100% on ground solving issues and be 100% engaged. It is impossible to do both jobs well at the same time and also to avoid any burn out with amazing core team members. | I love the regional events: The boat ride, the soccer tournaments, the TGIs, visiting the Favelas, etc.
I also think that the Blu3 scholarship program was a huge success (totally unbiased lol) - providing real impact to local scholars, obtaining their contribution to the DAO and also support of Harmony’s events. This is a win-win situation for all. It makes me tear up, seeing humanity at a very authentic and real level - with scholars helping each other write proposals and going their way out to “make each others dreams come true”.
Blu3 scholars serve as Harmony ambassador and are multi-talented given our rigorous screening process. Many people now hear about Harmony or Blu3 because of the scholar representation. |
Retrospective Step 2: Survey
Survey Summary (1-10 scale)
- Event Ops worked effectively together: 8.9
- Event Ops worked effectively w/venues, sponsors, event managers: 8.6
- Event Ops fulfilled the goals of Harmony @ EthRio: 8.3
- Event Ops met their deliverables: 8.1
- Event Ops produced high quality work: 8.6
- I would work with the Harmony Event Ops again: 9.9
Retrospective Step 3: Qualitative Feedback.
| Name | Best Thing about EthRio | Worst Thing about EthRio | Would you want to work w/ Event Ops again? |
|---|---|---|---|
@Adrian Robison | The worst thing about ETHRio was the logistics. The venues were in nice buildings that were far from the hotels. Traffic was pretty bad to and from. All that being said, the venues were beautiful. | Absolutely. This team really does care. Two things I would work on: Get multiple points of view as far as scouting activation locations. While our hotel activations were awesome, I feel it’s the easy way out. A more memorable experience would be to do proper scouts, either in person or via proxy. The second thing I would work on is the connective tissue of the events. Each event needs to have a purpose and have a connecting fiber to the next. That aside, I really do think that our events team is top notch from an operational standpoint and they really care about leaving each event with knowledge of how to make it better the next time around. The main things are that I think the creative could use a tad bit more investment. | |
@Danny Carranza | That I left too early. Was meeting great projects and builders and left early for SXSW. Although it went well at SXSW helping onboard users to 1wallet, I believe I could have more effective for the team by continuing to meet and further relationship in Brazil / LatAm. | Of course. We have some warriors on the event ops team who work relentlessly and it is a pleasure to be a part of it. The team is always supportive and we have each others back regardless of the situation. Aside from event ops, I feel like everybody on the team has the right personality and their own unique way to contribute to Harmony’s ambitions. | |
@Boris Polania | Blue Death Team in the Football (soccer) cup, got eliminated in penalty shots. So unfair. | Yes. | |
@Matty McDonald | |||
@PJ Conley | |||
@José Ramón Couto Albarado | |||
@Juan | Can’t really think about the worst thing. | Of course. No doubt. | |
@Sammy | |||
@Gabby | Theft around pick-pocketing, that being during the day or night regardless. | Absolutely. Every individual has intrinsic motivation and is aligned with Harmony’s vision for ecosystem growth and radical social impact. It’s great to find a team with this synergy. | |
@Noura | General safety, theft of smart phones is common and unfortunately effected a few of our members | Most definitely. We have many different skill sets that compliment our efforts well. People are always willing to jump in to help, regardless the task. | |
@ | |||
@Semar Martins | Yes. Definitely | ||
@Jeff Williams | |||
@Joshua Williams | That I didn’t get more time to spend with all the amazing people there | 1000000% yes. The team is fantastic and friendly, and if we work together effectively we can achieve some incredible change in the world | |
@Amy Soon | People’s phones getting stolen, fewer TGI events compared to ETHDenver | YES. While early planning would have been helpful, they never failed to deliver and get whatever we needed at the event. Given the fact that the event was put together at such short notice, truly incredible work! | |
@Novell |
Retrospective Step 4: Open Forum
Feel free to add in commentary below. This is an opportunity to call out particular “Heroes”, identify potential flaws that could have caused bigger problems, and basically add anything that isn’t captured in Step 1 - 3 above.
[Noura]
I’m super grateful for the team that helped put EthRio together and enabled us to be there. I particularly wanted to shout out Matty and Boris for leading the team before the event and on the ground. Coming off of a grueling two week event at ETHDenver, Matty was still recovering from being sick as he was planning for ETHRio. Despite this, he still managed to organize the team and create an impeccable Notion page, which is now being used as the template for all events. Moreover, even after the unfortunate event of Matty’s phone being stolen, and a painstaking process to regain control of his accounts, he was still able to power through the week professionally and effectively, along with extra support from the rest of the team and scholars. Boris led much of the LATAM efforts and made it a point to have Portuguese/Spanish speaking staff/contributors in order to show up authentically in Rio. I saw many people step up in admirable ways, including Jose who maybe spoke to every scholar at ETHRio and provided priceless feedback/guidance on funding proposals. Juan who rocked the Harmony booth, made many connections and helped engage conference goers about Harmony Protocol. I saw Amy, Novell, and Al work around the clock to make sure the Blu3 DAO scholars were well informed and taken care of. Many people that I have not mentioned played a significant role in making ETHRio a success which all goes to show that you need a village to produce the quality that we do.
[Josh]
This was an incredible trip that I will always remember. I’d like to give a few shoutouts to the harmony team members I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to more.
Boris - An incredible commander who wants to make a difference for Latin America and anyone he can help. Always a phenomenal person to talk to and it was a pleasure to have more interactions with him.
Matty : So friendly to the point it can hurt him (sorry about the phone mate) Only wish I got more time to speak as our goals are clearly aligned.
Jose : The friendly giant with a heart of gold! Jose brings a super vibrant and happy presence to the Harmony team, and his excitement for helping create change is a testimony to his character.
Cristiano : An incredibly bright guy who was constantly aware of what was going on at Rio. He has some great projects in the works and I have no doubt they will do amazing with his brilliant mind helping lead them.
Juan : How many friendly people can you meet at one event? Juan was a pleasure to be around and was nice enough to start teaching us very valuable information about staking! A great teacher who seeks to help others succeed!
Semar : Semar is a brilliant person with immense levels of intelligence. Having a few drinks with him I learned about his journey into harmony and I hope it will be a long one so I can talk to him again and again! He was very helpful with MAD and introduced us to our amazing new dev Pedro. Thank you again!
PJ : My new amigo who I had many good times with! PJ is dedicated to helping people and has so many great people skills (not all of them involve backflips) He was always on hand with anyone who needed help, and besides being a bro, he’s an incredible asset to Harmony and will continue building a great atmosphere within harmony.
Danny : Danny is that guy everyone wants to be friends with. An extremely vibrant personality while also being an incredibly hard worker! There’s nothing but love and happiness in his heart and he spreads that to everyone he meets. And with his video skills he helps share that happiness for everyone who wasn’t able to make it to these amazing events!
Adrian : A super easy person to talk to who instantly makes you feel welcome. Like Danny his dedication to his work is commendable, starting early and finishing late to make sure the mission is captured. Only wish we got to speak more!
Noura / Gabi : I pair these two together for obvious reasons, they’re both incredible. From meeting them in Miami to a reunion in Rio, I never felt the absence of their pure energy in our communications. Two seriously brilliant people who deserve all the praise in the world for their immediately warm and welcoming personalities. Love you guys!
Douglas : Saving perhaps the best for last, Douglas… well what can I say? The most helpful, friendly and encouraging person Brasil could offer. Always thinking of other before himself and is a beyond sincere person. This man deserves everthing good to come to him because he will pass on that good 10 fold. Thank you again Douglas!!
[Boris]
ddI am so grateful that we were able to organize this event the way we did it. It was a pleasure to work with every member of the team.
Matty. We were charged to make this happen and we succeded, it would not have been possible without you. Even when you faced the less-friendly part of teh city you kept working and helping people. I am infintely gratful and lucky, let’s this be the first of many projects!
Danny. When we started this converstion back in November I never thought it was going to be this big and complex, so your support, extremely good vibes and over-the-top work ethics made it easier for everyone to make it happen. I sincerely hope you help us increase our reach in Latam, and lead our way so we can create a narrative of what we want to achieve here.
Adrian. I am just so happy that you could make it, not only your input on how we should present our narrative is invaluable, but your grasp on Harmony’s culture has helped me a lot on how I talk and think about Harmony.
PJ. You helped us in so many aspects that I don’t even know where to start. These conferences require that everyone steps up and get their hands dirty, so I am glad you were in the trenches with the team. Also, I am impressed on how you approached the community and the scholars, so they could get closer to Harmony.
Crisitiano. One can only be grateful of counting with someone with so much knowledge and so in-line with Harmony’s culture, so I am happy you came, and I am looking forward to the next time I have the chance to work with you, and also would like to see how you can help us take what we learned here to events in Europe.
Jose. Thanks for becoming our go to guy for DAOs, grants, etc. I have heard so many good things about how you help anyone and everyone, that I sincerely hope we can keep counting with you to help us grow the ecosystem. You did an amazing job!!!
Semar. Our man in Brazil. I was thriled and really impressed with your tech skills, but even more, it was really amazing how you amalgamated with the group, it seemed that you have been part of the team for years! I am really looking forward to establish a strong presence in Brazil and Mercosur, and I hope you can help us lead the effort.
Juan. Vini, Vidi, Vici. Thanks for all the help. Yes you are a capable and knowledgeable person, but also are a people’s person. Your workshop rocked and every single person that went for information got what they were looking from you. Let’s replicate these experiecenes on the European front!d
Noura / Gabi. The dynamic duo! Thanks for doing such a big effort of coming to Rio, as always having you in the team is a BIG plus, let’s keep working on increasing our outreach all over the world. So, please keep coming and taking even bigger roles from now on. Douglas. This was a BIG surprise, Douglas helped us so much and blended prefectly with the team. So, I hope we can keep expanding the local community together, you have many ideas, let’s make them a reality. MUITO OBRIGADO!
ADRIAN:
When throwing events, there needs to be a creative thread that connects everything that leaves the user with the feeling like it was an experience. Currently we are approaching events as a day by day thing, but I challenge everyone to connect each day and build the narrative as each day goes by, ultimately building to a climatic ending where many projects are funded and a memorable gathering is had by all.
The team that goes needs to finish. We shouldn’t be leaving events halfway through.
It’s clear that 3rd world countries are who need Web3 the most. We can really empower so many people to better their lives if we come in with open minds, open ears, and really listen to the needs of the community. We need to create opportunities, not restrictions on funding. 1st world ideas like social tokens, etc need to be put aside for the greater purpose: onboarding people who have the will to learn but need access and the tools to succeed. The lady from Faveles made it very clear: The choice is oftentimes to either get involved in high risk work (violence, drugs, etc) or to educate and empower. I think we can have a massive impact, but we have to be open to listening to the needs of the people on the ground instead of trying to fill the mandates of the guidelines.
Overall I’m super proud of what we accomplished. We were able to shine with at least 5 extra speaking slots, most of which were given due to the importance of the value we were bringing to the table. We were able to empower the community with the proper funding they needed to onboard future generations of Web3 developers, and we most importantly gained perspective. I am looking forward to returning with the mindset of doubling down on our efforts to really empower the people.
Amy: SO many heroes to call out so let me try my best to summarize...
Lana and Kate and Novell - for truly making the impossible possible from promoting and running applications, selecting such an impressive batch of scholars internationally to onboarding in 5 days by working around the clock with no pay but just pure passion!
Jose for being so gracious in helping out all our scholars with their Project Y funding proposal. I’ve heard so many of them thank you for your genuine love and support.
Jeff for supporting Blu3 in every way possible and even inviting me to speak with you at the main conference hackathon to call out the racial discrimination event that happened the prior night so we can make a difference.
Juan, Semar, Al, and Estie for being so quick to present and speak during our Harmony workshop for Blu3 scholars so we can all level up together in Harmony.
Boris and Matty for being so ready to support us in every way possible so that Blu3 events can happen seamlessly with Harmony’s schedule - from allowing us to speak on a moment’s notice to ensuring scholars get what they need for an incredible experience.
And of course Riofiestaa crew PJ and Danny for making every night come alive because memories are created after 1am 🙂
And my teammate Christiano and new Brazilian favorite Douglas for sharing your insights and wisdom with me as we hosted ETHRio together.
Not forgetting some of our impressive Blu3 scholars: Daphne for being a true leader from ensuring scholars credit hold were released to standing up for racial discrimination for our local leaders and hosting a liquidity workshop on last day for our scholars. Jaycee for taking the lead and hosting TGI soccer cup. Melonie for being an amazing events lead and scholars check-in to ensure everyone was alright. Aminta and Will for taking beautiful photos and always making me smile especially on days that were hard. Chris and Al for taking care of me and my sister while we take care of everyone else.
Such. An. Epic. Trip. THANK YOU. 💖