Proposal “conf-travel-201609“ (Closed)Back

Title:Conference & Travel (Sept)
Owner:babygiraffe
One-time payment: 1044 DASH (40212 USD)
Completed payments: 1 totaling in 1044 DASH (0 month remaining)
Payment start/end: 2016-09-05 / 2016-10-20 (added on 2016-08-20)
Final voting deadline: in passed
Votes: 1081 Yes / 91 No / 0 Abstain

Proposal description

This is a cross-post from the Dash Forum

This proposal is to fund Dash’s sponsorship and participation at the 4th annual Latin American Bitcoin & Blockchain Conference (laBITconf) November 4th & 5th in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It will also cover a small amount of additional expenses for the Atlanta Blockchain
presentation.

laBITconf

laBITconf is the premier Bitcoin and blockchain conference in Latin America, and features speakers that are amongst the most prominent participants in the industry. This year’s event features high-quality live streaming, over 400 on-site attendees, and extensive media
coverage. Speakers include Andreas Antonopoulous, Peter Todd, Erik Voorhees, Trace Mayer, Sergio Lerner, and Anthony Di Iorio.

We participated in last year’s conference in Mexico City, and the conference marked the beginning of the dramatic increase in visibility, mindshare and market capitalization that we’ve experienced over the past 9 months. In addition to increased visibility among key investors and digital currency industry participants, we received numerous mentions from other presenters.

Our participation last year consisted of a small exhibit table at the conference –manned by Evan, Daniel and David (Lebubar) – and a slot on one of the panel discussions.

For a better idea of the impact we saw, this video should give you a good sense for the positive response we received at the 2015 conference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQAuWYq3-Pc

This year, we would like to increase our presence, visibility, and participation in the event dramatically, by becoming a Platinum Sponsor. In addition, Evan Duffield will be presenting one of the main stage speaking slots, rather than being a panelist.

The Platinum Sponsorship package consists of the following:
-  The Dash logo appearing on the on-stage banner, which will be in the background of all speeches and live streams
-  Platinum Sponsorship logo on the main event webpage
-  A booth on the conference floor
-  Four VIP passes (valued at $400 each), which includes a private dinner with the other speakers and networking events

We would also send our head of business development – Daniel Diaz – to attend the event to enable him to establish and deepen relationships with potential business partners.

Finally, Daniel has donated use of his Dash ATM to allow us to conduct demos in the Dash booth. We are requesting funding for transport of the ATM to and from the conference to enable this demo.

The estimated costs for our proposed participation in the conference is as follows:
-  Platinum Sponsorship package ($7,500 USD)
-  Two flights and ground transportation from Phoenix (Evan) and Panama City (Daniel) - ($3,000)
-  Dash pamphlets and conference giveaways ($700)
-  Transportation of the Dash booth banner (oversized international checked bag fee - $200 round trip)
-  Round trip packing and shipping of the Dash ATM ($700)
-  Hotel costs – 2 rooms for 4 nights @ $250 per night ($2,000)
Total estimated costs: $14,100

The break-even to the network on this investment would equate to about 0.002 USD / Dash, which we think could be dramatically exceeded through our participation in this conference.

Atlanta Blockchain meeting presentation

In addition, we have encountered higher than estimated costs for the Atlanta Blockchain meeting on August 24th. Flights were not available for the day of the event that arrived in Atlanta with enough leeway to ensure Evan’s timely arrival to the event. Therefore, Evan will need to fly in the day prior to the event, requiring an additional night at a hotel. In addition, the organizer of the event is providing pizza and soda, and we agreed to contribute toward those costs with a 25 Dash donation, in part because they are expecting a dramatically larger turnout than normal. We should be able to handle most of the unanticipated expenses because of the appreciation in Dash’s price, but will need additional funding to cover the 25 Dash food expense.

Requested funding is as follows for the September 4th budget cycle:
Total: 1,044.10 Dash

Note: Any unused budget will be applied toward future conferences and travel expenses

Show full description ...

Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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0 points,7 years ago
In case you didn't notice, as of this week, there are 3 MNs hosted in Argentina and one in Colombia... voting YES. Wish I could be there. Maybe next year!
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0 points,7 years ago
#1, labitconf should be in the title of this thread (so I can find it easier!
#2, I watched the Atlanta meetup video today, and although that mic needs to be put higher on the lapel, Pete did an exellent job (2 cameras, awesome!) and Amanda was a great opener along side Evan. I would like this proposal to give the two of them the extra tickets to handle (extra if need be) videotaping and have Amanda do an introduction and interviews and perhaps other creative work (ATM demo, etc...)
#3, If this proposal can't fund Amanda and Pete, then they should add a new proposal. But definitely hold those two tickets for these two at the conference. We NEED them! Thanks!
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3 points,7 years ago
Hi everyone, I'm new here, just set up my masternode yesterday. I feel that this is a good proposal, but I feel it highlights some of the other weaknesses in Dash marketing. As the 5th largest crypto and the 3rd oldest (in top 10), EVAN and DANIEL should be guests of honour at any so called blockchain conference. We shouldn't be paying at all? I think the energy we expend here, would be better suited to developing and proposing Dash owned public facing media entities. More things like dash detailed, so the exposure and prestige that the conference gets from having the best performing stable crypto at their event easily outweighs any platinum package. I vote yes, hoping that by next year, we're prominent enough to not have to pay.
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2 points,7 years ago
since most of the cost is for the Platinum Membership - is there information available on the difference between Platinum, Gold, Silver ... membership?
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4 points,7 years ago
Let's be honest about these expenses. This is really to bring Evan/Sara and Daniel/Danielle right? Why else would Daniel be negotiating 2 'extra' tickets. (Sara would be great to bring along and don't see that as a negative)

Just a quick search on cheapair.com (they take btc)
Phoenix flight is $795
Panama City flight is $585
So is the $3000 airfare going donate $1600 E/D? or am I right?
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3 points,7 years ago
Did you search for the actual dates (day before and after the event)? The cheapest rate I found on an aggregator site (in coach) was almost $1,600 from Phoenix. Panama City was over $1,000. Even if there are sales on specific flights, I'm not sure they would be available by the time this passes and is funded. So we need to leave a bit of wiggle room. Also, there will be ground transportation costs. I assure you, $3,000 is only to fund Evan and Daniel's transportation.
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0 points,7 years ago
Yes, I used the correct dates on cheapair.com. Let's leave out the wiggle room. We know that another proposal can be submitted if there are extra costs.
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0 points,7 years ago
I just did a search for November 4th to November 7th on the site you suggested from PHX to B.A. and the cheapest is now up to $1,542 in coach... and that flight includes two stops and gets him in at 1:15am... not ideal to present in the morning and have a late night networking event the following evening. There are simply always extra costs... ground transport is impossible to predict, flight prices usually go up by the time funding pays. We need to plan for those or we end up wasting time and money submitting multiple proposals for the same expense. We are trying to be practical.
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1 point,7 years ago
+1
good questions.
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0 points,7 years ago
Wow, that's quite some project. Could you elaborate on these:

The Platinum Sponsorship package consists of the following:
- The Dash logo appearing on the on-stage banner, which will be in the background of all speeches and live streams
**** last time, there was nothing but a big screen. Are you sure they will be a banner that will be seen by people who watch the videos afterwards? How big will it be? Like others, I was pretty disappointed in the "Dash Across America" bus logo. I thin we were told it would take up 1/4 of the rear or something like that. It ended up rather small :/ I just want to know if they're promising something that will be delivered.****
- Platinum Sponsorship logo on the main event webpage - OK
- A booth on the conference floor
****how does this booth differ from the one we had last time? Was it not on the conference floor? I remember it was last minute and small :P Still, how many tables or how many seats across can it hold? Will we have a booth surround? I would hope that we can have at least 4 people there to mind the booth when other things are happening. Perhaps we should hire Amanda and Pete to video tape this as well. ****
- Four VIP passes (valued at $400 each), which includes a private dinner with the other speakers and networking events
****Any word on who else is attending? ***

This is very expensive, and I can see why, with the ATM being imported, etc..., but I just want them to really have our logo in a prominent spot. Also, if you have extra funds, please put up some signs around the lobby :) Like you see with Juan here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHklPfmHK_w
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0 points,7 years ago
I would ask these detailed questions on the Dash Forum and ping Danial (minotar) over there. The only question I can answer definitively is for who else is attending. I included some of the famous names in the OP, but for a full list, you can just visit the event website.
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0 points,7 years ago
Finally, Finally, Dash is already up on the site, why aren't Evan and Daniel's faces up as speakers? Will we hear Daniel speak?
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0 points,7 years ago
Daniel will not speak. He will be there for business development reasons.
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0 points,7 years ago
finally, how big is that Dash Banner that costs $200 to take? Have we seen it before? Will we be getting a back wall to hang it on? Thanks :)
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0 points,7 years ago
It was the banner we have been using at events. It is used behind the table and includes a retractable stand. It exends to a full height of about 7 feet I would guess. The issue with transporting it on a plane is that it is considered oversize because of the length of the box. So they charge extra for handling it.
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0 points,7 years ago
Are these people still being a-holes toward us? Andreas Antonopoulous, Peter Todd, Erik Voorhees, Trace Mayer, Sergio Lerner, and Anthony Di Iorio?
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0 points,7 years ago
Not all of them. Erik Voorhees founded shapeshift. Anthony Di Iorio gaves us the Jaxx wallet.
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0 points,7 years ago
Trace Mayer has been a long-time believer/supporter... has spent considerable time at past events talking with Evan and understanding the project, and John Bush sent him some Dash recently, so he's at least tried it.
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0 points,7 years ago
Thank you guys :)
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0 points,7 years ago
I would rather see the funds required to sponsor this conference be used to send Dash representatives to table at five or six conferences, instead. I think that'd be a better bang for the Duff.

As a side note, if the 25 Dash food expense for Atlanta is re-submitted on its own, I'll vote yes. Same goes for Evan and Daniel tabling/speaking at LABitConf. Actually, if Amanda does well speaking in tandem with Evan in Atlanta, she may actually be a better choice than Daniel.

Voting no on the expensive sponsorship.
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2 points,7 years ago
Far too expensive and far too little impact as seen from previous conferences. That huge pile of money could hire developers to accelerate Evolution. THEN we'd actually have something to present on conferences. Clear NO.
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1 point,7 years ago
i thought it was successful.
there is still plenty of money left this month if more developers are needed. we don't want too many cooks in the kitchen as someone pointed out to me months ago when i was complaining about the evo timeline. there is a point of diminishing returns.
from what i have read/heard we now have more devs (two separate teams) and evo is ahead of schedule. i don't know how far ahead but maybe someone could give any update.
plus, a big presence at the conf should attract even more high quality devs and partnerships.
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0 points,7 years ago
What partnerships are you referring to? Scamassu where after 6 months of pouring money down their gullets all we got was demo videos from the same machine over and over? Where can I order an original Lamassu BTM with Dash functionality? This is what the title of the proposal suggested. Instead we got nothing. Someone has been filling their pockets with this proposal.

There is no diminishing returns when you don't even have real cryptographers in the team. Charles Hoskinson's company IOHK has many world class experts in that area and they'd be a great asset to make Dash Evolution bullet proof. Instead we are wasting our time on (for the time being) useless conferences.
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0 points,7 years ago
Although confusing, Lamassu was not paid for anything. The only agreed to implement our code and help us with our questions. The contract, which I still don't understand how it pays out, was with Ira Miller. When Lamassu integrated Ethereum, it set us back because they changed their code, so Ira Miller's people had to redo theirs. We do have working Dash ATMs now though. They're working on getting people to update, as I understand it now. In fact, this proposal is to demonstrate Daniel's personal ATM at the conference.
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0 points,7 years ago
i don't know what partnerships will come from this event but these conferences always seem to attract new connections.
i agree that the atm proposal is way over budget with the current price rise and should be adjusted to the original fiat price quote when the proposals are reset, if it is not i will raise hell with you. there has definitely been problems and we got stuck with the bill so they owe us. it appears they are mostly on top of it now but i'm still watching it very closely. i'm not happy with the money that has been spent vs results. if they give solid deadlines (the original deadline) and readjust the price i'll be satisfied. so far they have been overpaid and under delivered.

when we need expert cryptographers there is plenty of funds available. this proposal does not affect that.
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0 points,7 years ago
easy yes!
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2 points,7 years ago
+1
Labitconf was very good for Dash last year. We definitely need a strong presence there.
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0 points,7 years ago
I was at Labitconf last year. And meeting Evan and Daniel was one of the main reasons I finally decided to start a masternode, but over-and-above that it didn't seem like Dash played a big role in the conference (in my opinion). Additionally, as much as I like LaBitconf it seemed kind of like a blockchain party, and so I agree that I think the money would be better spent, either going to difference conferences, or on Evolution development.
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0 points,7 years ago
Copied from the 'official' forum:

How big is this conference compared to the recent d10e in San Fran?

The show promoters would have provided some metrics like the number of attendees and exhibitors for prior years. Please provide a link to those metrics/materials.

What is the cost of this conference compared to the San Fran d10e conference?
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0 points,7 years ago
last years conference was very successful for dash and i'm sure this year's will be too.
the info requested is now posted in the forum thread.
https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/proposal-conference-travel-sept.10303/
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0 points,7 years ago
Copied from the 'official' forum:

The proposal is to pay for attending the conference, but who will be attending is not clearly stated in this proposal. Based on 4 VIP tickets being available, and mention of the 3 who attended last year, plus a suggestion that Daniel Diaz attend this year, the readers are going to assume this pays for FOUR people to attend. However, based on the Dash Slack comments, this is not true. The proposal is for Evan Duffield and Daniel Diaz to attend only. This absolutely needs to be clarified so that people know what they are voting on.
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1 point,7 years ago
two other people who are willing to pay for their way or already live down there, and will help Dash out. Or maybe Amanda and Pete will make a separate proposal to report and film. I think they would be well worth having down there. Video documentation has REALLY been bad for us.
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0 points,7 years ago
does not matter. the price is the same whether it is 2 people or 4 people.
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1 point,7 years ago
Following that logic, the price is the same if we pay and no one goes. Conferences are about networking within the industry. Are you suggesting 4 people can network just as efficiently as 2? My bigger point in this is that other proposals have been vague, and that has been taken advantage of. It costs pennies to be specific and clear. Proposals should be.
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1 point,7 years ago
babygiraffe said:

Evan and Daniel
The standard Platinum package included only 2 VIP tickets. Daniel negotiated an additional 2 tickets, which could be provided to business partners or could allow any local Dash community members or those willing to fund their own travel to attend as well. The extra two tickets are just an added bonus. We are not paying for them.
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0 points,7 years ago
I know we are not paying for the extra 2 passes. That was not my point. If I am voting based on 4 people from the Dash core team networking for 2 days, that is actually wrong. We are only getting 2 people there networking for 2 days. The real value is 50% of what I was first led to believe. I know of others who read it incorrectly too - because it is not clear. That is my point.
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1 point,7 years ago
I have been very clear in the initial post, the follow-up questions, and the cost summary... this funds TWO people, specifically Daniel and Evan to attend. There are two flights listed, two hotel rooms, and no other persons from the core team mentioned anywhere in the description. The Platinum sponsorship does include 4 VIP tickets, not 2. I'm doing my best to be as clear as I can be. If you have specific wording suggestions that would avoid the confusion, feel free to suggest it, but the package does include four tickets.

By the way, while the conference is Nov. 4th and 5th, there is a networking event on the 6th (outside of the conference itself) included with the VIP tickets, so technically there are three days of networking.
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0 points,7 years ago
most of the cost is for the $7500 "Platinum Sponsorship package" which has nothing to do with 2 or 4 people, so it's not 50% of the value.

one way or another it looks like 4 dash people will be there networking so i don't see what the problem is.

solarmine did have some good questions though.
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