First, a moment of reflection. Let’s celebrate a few achievements:
NFTNYC 2022 is where Harmony took to the the floor at Studio Arte with 17 key partners to share the event floor. Spending was ___ for entire week with a team of 5. We were a floor space sponsor with shared space.
The Harmony sponsored event space was a lounge feel with bean bag and daily panelist speaking on mainstage while secondary room as gallery on Gaming, Metaverse, and Art. Conference goers could relax and host private meetings in the main room. Idea was a place to decompress from main NFTNYC venue where it was more chaotic.
The floor was an open office hours with a mix of NFT goers, Crypto curious, and DAO members from all around the world.
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.
Name | Start 🎬 | Stop 🛑 | Continue ✅ |
@Al Cheung | Start with a mandate of 1 TGI event on T+3 of event date to include Harmony and new partners to deepen relationships for strategic partnerships
Start to have a least one /Venture representative attend conference to solicit fundraising for Harmony, Harmony Partners, or Harmony Ecosystem Projects.
IF Side Event count is greater than 300 then add 1 Core and 1 Partner (1Wallet & DAO Rep) from a Team of 5. Side events per square foot as count size. Needed more /Venture Rep to scout for fundraising.
Create a repository for Investor Decks from TG → CRM for /Venture review and run analytics for /Investments | Attending the same side events with more than 3 people. We can cover the grounds better, even with [1 Harmony + new strategic partner] attending a side event
| Continue identifying strategic partnerships with Harmony /Venture.
Continue Guerrilla Marketing Team of 5🚹🚺:
1 Technical Core, 1 /Venture Rep, 1 Partner, 1 Ops, 1 Socialite
Continue any NYC (NFTNYC, ETHNYC, DAONYC) for the reason of epicenter to attract builders and investors. Ratio of builders and investors felt 50/50. Given NYC is a financial hub, it was easy to access IRL meetings at HQs of VC and PE firms. |
@Kayla C | Start with early preparation (draft of RoS). That looks like having a meeting with the team and creating bullet points of important qualities we need to see at the event.
The team then sorts out logistics—how many hands we need, potential partners/sponsorship, budget, number of expected attendance, programming, event materials, etc.
Ideally, there are 1-3 leading and delegating specific objectives.
Harmony could start to promote events on their social media/group chats with marketing materials, weeks before the event. | Harmony should not throw an event at this scale if we are unable to have enough hands to run operations, or funds to make a real impact.
We need to make sure that there is a steady line of communication with our partners if we plan on co-hosting. | Continue engaging and promoting projects that are considering Harmony’s ecosystem as their own, or are already a part of our ecosystem.
Strategically get involved with projects that have high potential.
Creating spreadsheets for satellite events branded with Harmony’s logo and website on the top. |
Retrospective Step 2: Planned vs Final Budget
1 - Not effective, do not spend in future and reasons why
2 - Effective, but need to make the following changes in the future to maximize its impact
3 - Strongly effective, should do more in the future, and reasons why
Name | Score (1-3) | Reason |
@Al Cheung | 3 | ➕ Follow “Guerrilla” style marketing
➕ /Venture Rep presences as fundraising scout
➕ NYC is the epicenter for builders and investors
💡Attendees were 50/50 split of builders vs investors. Able to meet in real life with VC and PE firms in their office. Opportunity zone for Investor Relations to engage business with /Partners |
@Garrick Hyde-White | 3 | Without the appropriate budget in place for an event of this scale, we really need to introduce some more organic and cost-effective strategies into this type of model. By simply adding a couple more team members we could significantly increase these events’ ROI.
I agree with Al, we had the space for Harmony and 1wallet to activate more in the lounge and we definitely had the turn out of builders, artists, and investors. |
@Kayla C | 3 | The team did a great job getting sponsors, considering how last-minute it was. We were on a tight budget and made the most of it. There were definitely ways we could have cut costs, but moving forward, we should not throw an event if we have to rely so heavily on sponsors. |
Retrospective Step 3: Survey
Survey Results:
The team was asked to rank, on a level of 0 to 10, 5 questions regarding the performance of Event Operations. The questions and the average response is listed below:
- Event Operations worked effectively as a team.
- Result: 7
- Event Operations worked effectively with the venues, sponsors, and event managers.
- Result: 8
- Event Operations fulfilled the goals of Harmony at Harmony x W3BTHR33 Lounge.
- Result: 8
- Event Operations met their deliverables.
- Result: 8
- Event Operations produced high-quality work.
- Result: 6
- I would work with the Harmony Event Team again.
- Result: 10
Retrospective Step 4: Qualitative Feedback.
Name | What is the BEST thing about your experience at NFTNYC | What was the WORST thing about your experience at NFTNYC | Would you want to work with Event Ops again? |
@Al Cheung | NYC is the epicenter for builders/investors. Strategy to density is the most compelling reason to go bigger at any NYC crypto events for the ease of accessing Strategic Investors Headquarters/Offices and many opportunity zones for Harmony 10x | Not enough Core, /Venture Reps, existing /Partners to promote Harmony. Events were too many and did not go “Guerilla” Style Marketing. | |
@Garrick Hyde-White | The attendance at our lounge was beyond expectation. The events team and I were able to create a safe place for people to come to escape the craziness of NYC. The decor was beautiful and people really appreciated us holding space for people to lounge around and meet new people and make new connections. We also saw teams of people meeting at our space daily to work on preexisting projects. With more staff members and resources for us to provide these builders, we could have had immense ROI from the event. | Not enough Core, /Venture Reps, existing /Partners to promote Harmony. Not enough resources to be able to drive builders home and provide them with real support/tools/information. It felt like I was the only person on the clock for this event on the Harmony team. | |
@Kayla C | The Lounge was a safe place where people went to get some peace of mind and really get to know one another. I was delighted to see such great synergies happening. There was a dedicated space where it was quieter, which allowed people to work and enjoy food/coffee. The panels felt intimate, and people felt comfortable listening to the talks on bean bags. Overall it was a cozy wholesome vibe. | Not enough Harmony representatives to help onboard, engage with potential partners, and promote Harmony.
We also would benefit from having a schedule for when each harmony representative will be at the lounge and knowing what task they will be responsible for. |
Retrospective Step 5: Open Forum
Feel free to add the 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 Steps 1 - 4 above.
In this retrospective report, Harmony aims to reflect on our experiences at NFT NYC. This feedback is taken from the Harmony Event Operations team, contributors, and ecosystem partners. Establishing an open forum allows us the feedback needed to celebrate victories and humbly review areas that we can improve on as we move forward.