Introducing Harmony Summit 2022
A community-organized conference taking place in Madrid, Spain in April 2022 (DEFI TIMES & The Stable Europe Validator (@jbeltran))
Proposal overview
Summary
The goal of this proposal is to fund a community-organized conference for the Harmony ecosystem. If this proposal passes, €350,000 will be allocated in order to finance the “Harmony Summit” in April 2022 (Madrid, Spain). We believe this will bring immense value to the Harmony ecosystem as the conference will attract investors, builders, and developers around the world and spread awareness about the growing Harmony ecosystem. Harmony Summit will bring the community together and incentivize more developers to join. The event will be a great opportunity for the existing Harmony developers and community members to exchange experiences and knowledge in a familiar and cozy atmosphere.
What is Harmony Summit?
Our goal is to organize a Harmony community conference called Harmony Summit 2022. The conference will take place in April 2022 in the Riu Plaza Espana Hotel in Madrid, Spain. It is a fantastic, brand-new hotel in the city center of Madrid with a stunning roof-top. We will rent the hotel for two full days of speaking, networking, and - of course - a lot of fun!
We plan to host this event with 500-700 people. The attendees will experience two value-packed days, including keynotes, panels, lunch, coffee breaks, free merchandise, booths, side events, and more. Harmony Summit will educate the community and incentivize developers to join the Harmony ecosystem.
For all the people who can’t attend, we plan to live-stream, record and upload the event on YouTube so that even the non-attending Harmony community can be a part of it.
We will invite 30-40 speakers within the Harmony community and also those who plan to join the ecosystem in the future. This includes core Harmony contributors and builders in the following categories:
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Infrastructure
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NFTs & Art
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DAOs
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DeFi
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Validators
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Broader EVM world (Bridges, DApps, etc.)
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Wallets
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Investment & Growth
Harmony Summit is all about bringing the Harmony ecosystem together, educating the community, and creating unforgettable experiences! Of course, we will also organize an after-party taking place on the second day of the conference.
Why Will Harmony Summit Take Place in Madrid?
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Crypto: Many people in Madrid are interested in crypto. But, as in most cities, crypto education is in its infancy. So, it needs to continue its path to maturity. That’s why people in Madrid need to learn about Harmony. And they will, sooner or later.
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Computer Science: Based on the national Stats, Spain has more than half a million people working in the Computer Industry. Out of these 500,000 people, 321.000 are developers (According to Stackoverflow).
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Internet Communications: Madrid is also one of the best cities globally in terms of Internet speed with more than 600 Mbps.
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Surroundings: Madrid is the capital of Spain with almost seven million people living there. It has a Mediterranean temperature. People are warm, inclusive, friendly & welcoming. Anywhere you go around the city, a mix of cultures surrounds you.
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Not only good weather, but also a strong commitment to leisure and culture, with some of the best museums in the world, and it is also a good shopping tourism destination.
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Airport: Madrid has the 21st most important airport globally, with more than 50 million passengers/year. So it’s considered one of the most critical hubs globally - and of course, it’s directly connected to major European cities.
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Safety: Madrid is also a safe city. In fact, it has always been above average (The Economist 2021 Index). Eating and sleeping is easy to choose, as you have all types of international food & hotel categories.
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Language: The city’s main language is Spanish, although most of the city speaks more than one language: English (main), French, German, etc.
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Transport: Transport in Madrid is cheap. The Metro takes you everywhere you want to go, and it costs 1.50 € to 2 €. Also, the bus is cheap. Uber & Cabify are two apps that can be installed and are inexpensive to use. It has a train to Barcelona directly connected, where you have an Internet connection during the 2h 45 min trip (average price ticket: 66 €).
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Gastronomy: Madrid has its own gastronomy, with its typical recipes, including stew in three stages, tripe, snails or tapas. However, Madrid also allows you to savour the culinary specialities from all over Spain. All of the autonomous communities have “gastro” delegations in the city, so it is not difficult to try the best Asturian beans, the best sucking piglet from Segovia, the best calçots from Catalonia or the best Galician octopus, to name just a few examples.
Spanish as a recognized global language
A total of 580 million people speak Spanish (7.6% of the world’s population). Of these, 483 million are native Spanish speakers, making Spanish the second most important mother tongue in the world by number of speakers. In addition, it is studied by nearly 22 million people in 110 countries. Spanish is the third most used language on the Internet, where it has great growth potential.
How will Harmony Summit add value to the Harmony ecosystem?
Strong communities are crucial for crypto projects to succeed. This community conference aims to point out how strong and active the Harmony community is - this will incentivize developers and other people to join the community as well. Besides, we want to strengthen the existing community. Zoom calls and discussions on Discord or Twitter are all fun and games - but nothing brings people more together than a real-life conversation with a nice drink/beer (change my mind!).
Considering the large Computer industry in Spain, we can expect that Harmony Summit 2022 will attract attention from the local developer communities. Finally, Harmony Summit will educate people about the ecosystem and create an opportunity for Harmony projects to exchange ideas and experiences.
In simple words, Harmony Summit 2022 will add value to the Harmony ecosystem by:
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Strengthening the community
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Incentivizing developers to join the Harmony ecosystem
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Educating the community
In a few years, people will recognize the true value that Harmony Summit will add to the ecosystem with newly founded projects, a stronger community, and more developers.
What is Our Vision?
What shapes your memory the most while attending a crypto-conference? Is it the speakers? Or are panels the most important aspect?
In the early days of this industry, the community and its meet-ups were much smaller than today’s conferences. Today’s conferences, such as Bitcoin Miami, Solana Breakpoint, etc., are massive. But they are also very expensive! For example, a regular ticket for the Solana Breakdown conference in Lisbon cost $1000 - in a country where the minimum wage per hour is 4,01€. If you are not lucky enough to get your hands on a ticket at a reduced price, have fun staying at home. In addition, most of these conferences have VIP areas, separating speakers from attendees.
What does this mean?
It means that today’s crypto conferences exclude the community and the little guys! But is this a sustainable approach going into the future? Is this the way we want to incentivize community members, developers, builders, and investors to join our ecosystem? In our eyes, no! Crypto is all about empowering the community because only the projects that have a strong community can achieve a sufficient amount of decentralization in the long term.
In November, DEFI TIMES organized Cosmoverse 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal. We wanted to bring the Cosmos community together, spread the word and help kick-start new developments in the ecosystem. And it was a massive success!
We hosted a two-day conference with over 700 attendees in a five-star hotel in Lisbon. But even though the number of attendees was quite high, the atmosphere stayed familiar and cozy. The community feeling remained in the foreground! 700 people experienced:
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Two coffee breaks per day
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One five-star lunch buffet per day
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Free merchandise
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A fun afterparty
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Close connection to the speakers (no VIP areas)
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Booths and networking opportunities
And the best thing? We sold the early bird tickets for 39€. And we sold the last and most expensive tickets for 89€. Our philosophy is that a ticket for a crypto conference shouldn’t be much more expensive than a ticket for a concert or a football game.
This is what the people remember the most at the end of the day! The personal conversations, the decoration, the speakers, the taste of the coffee, and yes, also the food! Community conferences are all about giving value to the community!
In the end, Cosmoverse got covered on Cointelegraph, and we brought #cosmoverse into Twitter trends in Portugal:
This is what we stand for: Community conferences where the experience of the individual matters. That’s why Harmony Summit will be “By the community and for the community” - inclusion rather than exclusion.
We want to turn Harmony Summit 2022 into a community conference with the same vibe as Cosmoverse 2021 in Lisbon.
How Much Will Harmony Summit Cost and Where Will the Grant Go?
If this proposal passes, €350,000 will be allocated to help make this event a great success. Because this is a community conference, we want to be as transparent as possible about where the funds go. During the last few weeks, we worked hard to receive detailed quotes from all relevant parties involved. That’s why we are able to present a detailed cost breakdown in this proposal:
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Venue (Riu Hotel) in total: €140,000
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Including:
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Presentation Hall (2 days) €20,000
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Networking Room (2 days) €30,000
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Coffee Breaks and Snacks (2 days) €30,000
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Buffet (2 days for 600 attendees) €60,000
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Audio Visuals Company: €70,000
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Harmony ONE Merch: €30,000
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Legal Costs: €2,000
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Helper at Conferences €5,000
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Media and Marketing €13,000
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Afterparty €60,000
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Freelancer €10,000
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Team Compensation €20,000
Our goal is to keep the ticket prices as low as possible. As stated above, the motto of this conference will be: “By the community, for the community.” So we aim to keep the barrier of entry extremely low. The early bird tickets will start at 39€ - In our opinion, a very competitive price compared to other major crypto conferences around the world (where tickets start at $1,000 or more).
As you can see, we don’t plan to make lots of money with this conference. Also, we will have additional and unforeseen costs along the way (as is the case with every conference). For example, we are planning a pre-event for the speakers at the conference (30-40 speakers in total). Depending on the location, the pre-event will cost around €20,000-€25,000. However, we plan to cover these additional costs with the help of more sponsors as we advance.
Our goal is to provide as much value as possible for all physical attendees. However, we don’t forget about the non-attending Harmony community. That’s why we are investing in media coverage to provide high-quality, free broadcasting of the event. Each presentation will be live-streamed, recorded, and published on the DEFI TIMES Youtube channel.
If the proposal is accepted, Harmony will become the lead sponsor of this community-focused conference. Being the lead sponsor comes with several promotions:
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Most prominent Logo placements at the conference
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Introduction and shout-out in the opening speech
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1x high table in the networking room
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1x Stand-up banner
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Publicity in major news outlets
Proposal ask
€350,000 in $ONE
Metrics for success
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600-700 happy attendees
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Onboard more developers to the Harmony ecosystem
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Onboard plenty of new community members, builders, and investors
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Spread the word about the Harmony ecosystem in major crypto news outlets
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Onboard new projects to launch on Harmony
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Keep barrier of entry extremely low
External links
Please, feel free to follow the Official Harmony Summit 2022 Twitter account.
We are incredibly excited to hear the feedback of the Harmony community. Please get in touch with us and reach out on Twitter:
COSMOVERSE 2021 LISBON IMAGES
TEAM
DEFI TIMES
DEFI TIMES was founded in August 2020 and is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany.
The start-up has a rapidly growing podcast that focuses on DeFi, Web3, and NFTs. The company is known for its popular newsletter and Cosmos-focused YouTube channel. In fact, DEFI TIMES is also the company behind “Cosmoverse,” which is an annual community conference with the goal to unite the Cosmos community.
Fabian Klauder, Co-Founder DEFI TIMES
Fabian is a web3 native and Co-Founder of DEFI TIMES. He has a degree in Economics and Finance and also co-organized Cøsmoverse - an annual community conference with the goal to unite the Cosmos community.
Juri Maibaum is the Co-Founder of DEFI TIMES
Before founding DEFI TIMES, he used to study law and travel across Africa. He is also a strategic advisor of MGH DAO and introduced the project to the Cosmos ecosystem. This year, his start-up DEFI TIMES co-founded “Cosmoverse”, the very first community conference in the Cosmos ecosystem.
Lukas, Team Member DEFI TIMES
Lukas is a trader and investor and co-organizer of the annual Cosmoverse Conference. He studied Finance & Banking. Coming from traditional finance, he moved to crypto because he realized how sick the traditional finance industry is and wants to help creating a better future for humanity.
Juan, Tech Entrepreneur dude
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-beltran-it-manager/
Juan is a Computer Engineer and has been sitting in front of a computer since he was eight years old. He has been an early crypto user since 2013. Any new technology attracts him. So, he is an early adopter and tech evangelist in what he believes in (fundamentals are a must) - he keeps studying every day.
Juan founded his first company and e-commerce business in 2005. Both companies are still running today. Besides, he takes care of Master Nodes and a Harmony Validator (The Stable Europe Validator).
You’ll see him trying to help, teaching, and most of the time learning in Telegram, Discord, Twitter, and several other forums. He enjoys helping and meeting new people at technology events.
Álvaro, Strategy & Business
Álvaro is a businessman, tech-focused, and investor with more than 20 years of experience. He has a developed capacity for representation, relationships, communication, and negotiation, with a permanent search for innovation, transformation, and excellence. High business and results orientation, a clear global vision, outstanding creative/disruptive desire, and decisive character. Great experience in execution, under a strong digital knowledge base, and always with a marked footprint of resilience and humanization. Alvaro became a crypto native a couple of years ago.
UPDATE - PROJECT EVENT ROI.
Return on investment - Harmony Summit 2022
Harmony Summit 2022 will create a lot of value! For the ecosystem, community, and the “brand.” This is
how we will reach that goal and what you can expect as a return on the investment:
1.) Developers, developers, developers
Besides creating noise for Harmony and bringing the community together, our primary goal is to
get more developers into the ecosystem. Therefore, we will collaborate with developer academies
in Madrid. We will give their students free tickets and invite developers outside of Spain to the
conference. All in all, we are confident to say that we will bring 150 developers into one room and
tell them about Harmony.
To make the most out of it, we will provide a small hacking area where people can spend time
building cool things. And to maximize the success of the hacking area, we will allow developers to
build products in advance and present their idea to judges that we will provide. The best project
will get $2000 in ONE token and the final speaking slot at the conference to present its idea in
front of all attendees, investors, and developers. This will make the developer scene in Madrid
even more excited about the conference and get more of them to the summit. If they are building
things by using the infrastructure of the Harmony ecosystem, who knows what cool projects will
emerge because of this?
2.) Bringing the ecosystem together and kick-starting new developments
One of the greatest successes of the Cosmoverse conference was bringing the community
together and building alliances. People who did not talk to each other in years picked up the
conversation again, which was essential for the whole ecosystem. Real-life conversations can
kick-start new projects and crucial developments for the ecosystem. More than 50 projects from
and outside of the Cosmos ecosystem joined the conference. We can expect similar outcomes
from Harmony Summit 2022.
3.) Bringing awareness to the Harmony ecosystem
We won’t only invite projects and community members from Harmony but also projects from
outside the Harmony ecosystem. From our experience with Cosmoverse, we saw many projects
considering joining the ecosystem in what way whatsoever. We will bring at least fifteen projects
from outside the Harmony ecosystem to the conference to spread the word!
4.) Incentivizing VCs to help the ecosystem grow
At Cosmoverse, we had more than six VC firms on the ground exploring the ecosystem and its
projects. We aim to bring the same amount of VC firms to the conference again - bringing VCs
and developers together in one place!
5.) Bringing active community members into the space
Moreover, we want to bring more active community members into the space. What we want to do,
e.g., is the following:
We want to provide a booth where people can purchase Harmony merchandise with a small
amount of ONE token. We will provide a QR code that people can scan to get an ONE airdrop.
With that airdrop, they can buy merchandise. But to do so, they have to set up a Harmony wallet
and execute a transaction. This is one of our concepts to bring active community members into
Harmony.
6.) Branding & Marketing
Of course, Harmony Summit will also create value for the “brand” Harmony. However, the
success of a marketing/ branding event is hard to predict and not really measurable. But our goal
is to brand the Harmony community as a friendly and cozy community that builds cool tech - this
is exactly what we accomplished with Cosmoverse’21!
All in all, Harmony Summit 2022 will:
● Bring more developers into the space
● Bring more active users to Harmony
● Strengthen the “brand” Harmony
● Incentivize VCs to have a closer eye on Harmony
