Proposal “World-Crypto-Con-Sponsorship“ (Closed)Back

Title:World Crypto Con Sponsorship
Owner:Dashonomics
One-time payment: 553 DASH (21633 USD)
Completed payments: no payments occurred yet (1 month remaining)
Payment start/end: 2018-03-19 / 2018-04-18 (added on 2018-03-16)
Final voting deadline: in passed
Votes: 140 Yes / 515 No / 61 Abstain

Proposal description

Proposal for Dash to be the prominent sponsor at World Crypto Con. World Crypto Con is set out to be the largest cryptocurrency conference to date at the Aria Hotel and Casino in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada, from October 31st to November 2nd, 2018 (~ 7 months from now).

Introduction

Hello Dash Community,

My name is Jeremy Liu. Before getting into the proposal itself, I would like to give you all context to how this proposal came to be, and the complete process followed up until the submission of the official proposal presented in this document.

To begin with, I do not work for World Crypto Con (WCC) in any way, shape, or form. The team at WCC approached me to help facilitate the potential sponsorship of their inaugural event through the Dash proposal funding system. Following our introductory meeting, I questioned the team thoroughly about their conference, and later agreed to donate my time to assist with the proposal process through representing the Dash community. My main objective has been to streamline the process of communication between both parties and make the potential eventual submission of an official proposal as easy as possible.

To accomplish this objective, I worked directly with the team at World Crypto Con to make three (3) pre-configured sponsorship packages at various price points. From there, I submitted a pre-proposal showcasing the pre-configured options and asked for feedback from the Dash community on which pre-configured package they support the most, if any, and what items they would like to see removed and/or added to the sponsorship package. From those who contributed to the discussion, there was unanimous support for the “Go Big or Go Home” Sponsorship Package (presented in this official proposal). If you have the time, I kindly ask you to read the full Dash forum pre-proposal discussion here: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/pre-proposal-world-crypto-con-sponsorship.30107/

Progressing forward, as per the consensus from the first pre-proposal, I submitted a final pre-proposal detailing the specific “Go Big or Go Home” Sponsorship Package chosen by the community, introduced a changelog to highlight the changes from the original pre-proposal and the final pre-proposal, and added a detailed cost breakdown which included, in addition to the cost of the sponsorship package itself, the cost of both the Dash booth design/construction and the Dash branded items for giveaway purposes at the booth. Many critical and constructive questions were asked in this final pre-proposal, both about the proposal specifically and the conference itself, and I encourage (once again) those who have the time to view the discussion to do so here: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/final-pre-proposal-world-crypto-con-sponsorship.30493/

Although the final pre-proposal helped shape this official proposal, I was not yet convinced that I had reached enough Masternode Owners to get a clear signal whether or not the overall community supported the proposed sponsorship package or not. To remedy this inconclusive state, I joined the #mno-office channel (from the gracious invite given by Joel Valenzuela) on the Dash Nation Discord and asked the channel for their feedback on which sponsorship package they would be in support of. From those who contributed to the discussion, through both comments and positive Discord reactions, there was unanimous support for the “Go Big or Go Home” Sponsorship Package presented in this official proposal.

To conclude this lengthy introduction, I have done my best to make this proposal as community-driven as possible through an inclusive-by-construction pre-proposal process. I hope you all find the benefits to the Dash ecosystem from this proposal to be as great as I believe them to be and I thank you all for your time and consideration.

About World Crypto Con

World Crypto Con has set out to be the world’s largest and most exciting conference in the cryptocurrency space. The venue is located in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the beautiful Aria Hotel and Casino with over 200,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. This year the team expects between 2000-4000 attendees, over 150 exhibitors, and top influential speakers including two familiar faces from the Dash community - Amanda B. Johnson, former host of “DASH: Detailed,” and Joel Valenzuela, editor of Dash Force News.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=epzasvRGNGA&app=desktop

Website: http://worldcryptocon.com/

Sponsorship Package

Please visit this link to view the custom Dash “Go Big or Go Home” Sponsorship Package: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z64wjNwszYNnWZmjUhhfxrwXYCrqBpNS/view?usp=sharing

Additional Items

Due to the upcoming rebranding of Dash, all material related to the exhibit (including both the booth design/construction and giveaway items) will have to be newly purchased to stay coherent with the new branding.

As such, I have been in contact with Freeman (https://www.freeman.com/), the company WCC is working with for the booths, to design and construct an exhibit for Dash at World Crypto Con. After discussions with Joel Valenzuela, we decided for the exhibit construction attached to the proposal below (Figure 1), with the exclusion of all furniture, shelves, flooring, and lighting (to keep costs down and space open). As a result, we will only be purchasing 2 x 20’ back panels which are around $5,000 each, bringing the total around $10,000 (asking for $12,000 for taxes and artwork preparation fees). Being that Dash (from the feedback so far) wants to be the prominent sponsor at the event with a large impact, I did not want to cut corners on the actual exhibit design and construction, which is where all the giveaways/demos/interaction will take place.

For the giveaway items, I did not get any specific quotes but based the amount after looking at various bulk item suppliers (for shirts and stickers) while operating under the assumption of 2000-4000 attendees. Under this assumption, I have proposed to get the items in quantities of 1,000 in which printed shirts are around $3.50-4 and stickers are fairly cheap. In addition to these items, we will be giving away $5 in DASH at the mobile wallet creation station. From this, I have added the total cost for Dash branded giveaway items to be $10,000.

Benefits to the Dash Ecosystem

  1. DASH Payments/Discounts - World Crypto Con will only be accepting a few cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for tickets to the conference, DASH being one of the few. This is a huge signal for anyone who may not know what Dash is to check out why the conference picked DASH to be one of the few payment methods accepted. In addition, for those who do know what Dash is and/or own DASH, it opens up another avenue for us to showcase/use our beloved currency. Furthermore, subject to the passing of this proposal, World Crypto Con will offer a 5% discount on all tickets purchased with DASH.
  2. Long-Term Business Relationship - The team behind World Crypto Con is not attempting to sell the Dash community merely a simple day-of-the-event branding opportunity. Instead, they desire to create a long-term business relationship providing the Dash ecosystem with real-world benefits. This partnership includes the following:
    1. The Dash community will receive Right of First Refusal (ROFR) for the Diamond Sponsorship (top sponsorship) for the next four WCC events (estimated timeline of lasting until the end of 2019). Said differently, following the inaugural WCC event, if the Dash network feels that the sponsorship and prominent presence at the event was a success, we have “first dibs” to be the prominent sponsor at future events.
    2. If the inaugural World Crypto Con is successful and Dash has a fruitful experience sponsoring the event (we, as a community, believe the event provided good ROI, exposure, target demographic, etc.), then any future event the team at World Crypto Con organizes that Dash wants to have a prominent presence at will accept DASH as the exclusive cryptocurrency payment option.
  3. On-site Dash Ecosystem Interaction/Showcase - The current plan for the Dash booth is to have two main sections, a giveaway section and a demo/showcase section. The giveaway section will be where we have general Dash discussions and give away all of the Dash branded items purchased (fairly standard conference set-up). The demo/showcase section will be equipped with a DASH ATM, the team behind the booth showcasing available DASH POS systems, a Dash mobile wallet creation station coupled with giving away small amounts of DASH, and a demo/showcase of Evolution (if available).
  4. General Brand Exposure - World Crypto Con will be at the largest venue (by far) a crypto conference has ever been hosted at. The Aria Hotel and Casino is in the middle of the famous Las Vegas Strip and World Crypto Con has access to the giant Aria Marquee (look it up on Google Images if you have not seen it yet) and Dash will be on it. Furthermore, the Dash brand will not only be exposed impactfully during the event, but both before the event (through World Crypto Con’s advertising) and after the event (through carefully chosen take home items given out in the gift bags and at the Dash booth). Moreover, the Diamond Sponsorship gives Dash the most prominent presence at the conference over other exhibitors, the lanyards give Dash arguably the most kept take-home item from conferences (in addition to everyone wearing it at the event and taking pictures with it on), and the Welcome Reception Sponsorship makes the Dash brand the first thing attendees see when arriving on the first day.
  5. Exemplify Community Strength - This sponsorship proposal is 100% community-driven and shows how powerful the DAO/Treasury is in its ability to further the Dash ecosystem. The individuals representing the Dash community at the booth will not only be explaining why DASH is the best cryptocurrency for payments, but also why the Dash community is the strongest in the space. Our community strength is shown both directly (by explaining what Dash is to the attendees) and indirectly (by having the community members lead the booth) during a time when many other crypto communities are being divided.

Who will manage all of this?

General - I, Jeremy Liu, plan on managing the relationship between the World Crypto Con team and the Dash community including all branding components, all sponsorship materials, and any other aspects not mentioned here. I have been in contact with members of the Dash Core Business Strategy team to ensure everything stays coherent with the Dash brand. In addition, Joel Valenzuela has offered to assist where needed.

Booth - The booth will be managed by any Dash community member who wants to help grow the Dash ecosystem and believe they can represent the brand well. As of writing, the booth will be occupied by myself and Joel Valenzuela, with Joel taking the lead on booth management at the conference. In addition, the Diamond Sponsorship comes with 6 VIP conference access badges. Initially, these will be offered to any members of Dash Core Group who would like to help manage the booth. Any leftover tickets will then be offered to top members of the Dash community (chosen/approved by the community) that would like to assist.

What if the price of DASH increases/decreases?

With the current sponsorship package, we were offered a 15% discount. I have submit the proposal for the full amount, therefore having a 15% buffer for price declines. Any excess funds will be placed back into other conference-related costs, including but not limited to, gift bag inserts, branding material for the booth, items we can give away at the booth, travel expenses for top Dash community members assisting at the Dash booth, etc.

In the case of a price increase, I will use those excess funds to fulfill more of the same items listed above, as well as purchasing other interactive branding opportunities offered by World Crypto Con if the price increase is large enough to do so.

If World Crypto Con is not for 7 more months, why submit the proposal now?

The team at World Crypto Con has been getting many inquiries for the top sponsorship packages (especially the Diamond Sponsorship that is within this proposal). I have communicated with them that the current sentiment (up until the time of writing) is that the network wants Dash to be the prominent sponsor at the event and I have asked them to put the others on hold to allow for the Dash community to discuss and vote on the proposal. However, as a business, World Crypto Con cannot continually reject/hold other potential business and partnerships in hopes of partnering with Dash (for obvious reasons).

Will this be a repeat of the BTC Miami controversy?

No. World Crypto Con will not be mimicking BTC Miami in any regard. To touch specifically on the inclusion controversy relating to BTC Miami, many of the speakers at WCC are women, there will be a Ladies in Crypto Panel at the conference, and although being in Las Vegas, there will be no WCC parties located in any form of strip club. The team at WCC is going to great lengths to make their event as safe and welcoming as possible.

What has Dash Core Group’s involvement been up until this point?

Dash Core Group’s involvement up until this point has been myself contacting a member of the Dash Core Strategy Team, him reviewing the pre-proposals/proposal and agreeing to aid in the Dash branding (booth design/construction, giveaway item ideation, etc). I did not ask Dash Core Group as a whole to give support of this proposal, only that if it does get passed if certain members would help in the branding aspect.

What does the inside of the venue look like?

In addition to what is shown in the video (located under the “About World Crypto Con” section of the proposal), I have attached images from inside the venue (Figures 2-5) to the bottom of this proposal.

Have you accounted for the recent decline in the price of DASH and the possibility of this proposal not allowing for other proposals?

Unfortunately, for all of us, the price of DASH has declined quite substantially as of late. As a result, the price of this proposal, in terms of the amount of DASH, is fairly significant. After much deliberation internally, in addition to suggestions from MNOs, we have decided to submit this proposal for the full amount. However, in the case of a scenario where it is clear that this proposal will not allow for other proposals to pass due to competing for space in a maxed out budget, we are open to submitting a second, multi-month proposal (most likely a 2-month payout), to decrease the amount of DASH needed in this specific cycle. We imagine this process being the submission of the multi-month proposal, telling MNOs to vote no on this current proposal, and those who supported this proposal to vote yes on the new proposal. The absolute LAST thing that the team at World Crypto Con and I want to happen is for this proposal to push out other good proposals from the budget cycle due to the decline in the price of DASH. Note, we are always open to suggestions in the comments below on different ways to address this issue if the issue arises.

Detailed Cost Breakdown

WCC “Go Big or Go Home” Sponsorship Package (w/out 15% discount):   $195,000
2 x 20’ Back Panels from Freeman (exhibit construction):                            $  12,000
1,000 x Dash Branded Items (T-shirts, Socks, and Stickers):                         $  10,000
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Total:                                                                                                                      $227,000
Proposal Fee:                                                                                                       + 5 DASH
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Total in DASH*:                                                                                                   553 DASH  

*Using CoinMarketCap price conversion at 12:37 AM PST on 3/16/2018 - $414.30

About Me

My name is Jeremy Liu and I am involved with the Dash sponsored Blockchain Research Lab at ASU and submitted the Dash and ASU proposal in November. Currently, my main focus has been helping build the content for the Dash funded Coursera course (filming will begin shortly), but have worked on Dash scalability as well as represented Dash at the Texas Bitcoin Conference.

Figures

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/HuQ0vNQ3MPoTj6YzmLfQWbBhbTZL-aPKVXN5XBeA6QuUgEdZ3-vXxube8HIA6xeQ_ljLjkRB6K6DPym6fWQ341kIYMp_-FH44QcxzvRjMkd057hpBHAYJ5Jz4E2rUhsJ2Eo5AiPQ
Figure 1 (Dash Exhibit Layout)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/iItvKFo0dO935xf987btQ3PP3LsbfmWz99SX1aJMQvJob2H6K5N-OcX1yp1TaP1KR65eQq8LwhbW4L_OOsfjf-4lKLGTqozPsBQ5sSzfdJcW3JZN4ONFnstyG_EVtEOhtvK5qB0E
Figure 2 (Lobby)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ts-fbPGdkt0Q1fUwe6f37GunVtMtK_ahCPETxqWCeA7x5nMEZfMiDqswxdg--Tokkq2DD2WLIF6M-ZEz2Bgpx8NiICmQ1r1ttuDV-6qct_VCyMiIcRbjGZyJ64-dPDcFiAGcoi05
Figure 3 (Lobby)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/HVG6zQP1e2L7Zbr6hywJqj9McxPtwtcz3wPzcSDMSU7YLzo8ky2hs58kB6VLR8uZIL_GnG4zCtZbIWWA9gvdzcTGly62qW6iGDlWjWm1eyefDIkMUyaHAXHZPkaCvlkjqc4sp2ew
Figure 4 (Lobby)
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/VQ8lk8j10GXjEFp-MJeSQcEuOu5swYaY6qKvl0rS_k8BsKK02iY4G8LIoUnKrbrdIC6vHq2qHO9rsp2wVdA3PzAcaYqJQO_rL1_cn5UOAx-7mKLaZFPopxxbpEpHlOhmGcS0WUpO
Figure 5 (1 of 4 Ballrooms)

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Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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2 points,6 years ago
Hello Dash Community,

As more and more proposals enter this treasury cycle and compete for the limited budget, it has become clear that this proposal will likely not get enough support to pass the funding threshold. This is completely understandable and competition for the limited budget, although not turning out the best for this specific proposal, should be very fruitful for the Dash ecosystem in the long run and I am all for it!

This leaves me a question to ask you, the MNOs of the Dash ecosystem, as to whether or not you would like to see a proposal to sponsor World Crypto Con in a future budget cycle. I can no longer guarantee the top sponsorship packages as they will most likely be taken by other organizations; however, I can stay in contact with the team at WCC and propose other options offered by WCC down the road if that is of interest to the network.

I suspect the next few months budget cycles to be as competitive as, or even more competitive than, this current cycle. With that, I will follow the budgets closely but will not officially submit another proposal unless there is clear overwhelming support as I do not want to lose another 5 DASH.

I wish you all the best and look forward to reading the comments about potential re-submission of a cheaper (or similar or multi-month or whatever the network wants) sponsorship package in the future. Lastly, I want to thank all of the MNOs who contributed to the pre-proposal process (through both the forum and Discord), it helps us proposal submitters a great deal to hear early feedback!

- Jeremy Liu
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1 point,6 years ago
As per the Pre-Proposal Discussion, I would urge other MNOs to consider that despite the high price tag, this proposal offers a lot of future opportunities including Right of Refusal for the same level of sponsorship in years to come in what could shape up to be one of the biggest Crypto Conferences in the world. Please take the time to look over what is being offered long term and not *just* at the price tag for this year.
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3 points,6 years ago
Good discussion on both the Discord channel and the Dash.org forum. Plenty of detail and options were presented. $234k is not a trivial sum of money, but if the venue turns out as big as we think, it should be money well spent. I would like to have seen more feedback, but that is not a problem unique to this proposal. Thanks for all the work Jeremy. Voting yes.

solarguy
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1 point,6 years ago
Voting Yes, after making good points in the MNO-Office on Discord, GL with it
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-1 point,6 years ago
I'm sorry for asking this way, but this con is in Las Vegas, so I suspect there will be events and mixer and such in locations that will be rather unfriendly to women, such as strip clubs. After the Bitcoin conference in Miami, I'm concerned that the environment be inclusive to women and any other gender by being mature and business like. How do we know that this conference will indeed be business like?
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0 points,6 years ago
Deleted rant-post about how many genders actually exist and being inclusive and politically correct.
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2 points,6 years ago
That Dash/strip club fiasco was press, but I'm not certain it was "bad press". Yes, don't host official events at strip clubs, agreed, but if the party happens to wander there... what better place to bond with people in the industry.

Sorry to be anti-politically correct, but some of my most important business relationships have been forged in places of ill-repute. Dash needs to form those type of bonds.
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1 point,6 years ago
Lol, this is actually quite true.
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2 points,6 years ago
No need to apologize for asking a very valid question!

The team at World Crypto Con is going to great lengths to be gender inclusive and professional. Many of the speakers at the event are women, with two out of the five keynote speakers being women. In addition, there will be a Ladies in Crypto Panel at the event. Furthermore, the WCC sponsored events after the conference will be held in venues located within the Aria Resort and Caesars Palace, both of which are NOT strip clubs.

I believe the issue at BTC Miami to be two-fold. Namely, both the lack of gender inclusion with regards to speakers at the conference itself and the actual sponsoring of an after-conference event located in a venue that was not thoroughly researched beforehand. The team at WCC recognized these glaring flaws and addressed both of these issues to the best of their abilities.
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0 points,6 years ago
I have no idea how much we have to spend this month, and money is tight. But I voted yes, and wish you luck.
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1 point,6 years ago
While this is expensive I think getting this prime spot with all its benefits is worth it. And so far there is still sufficient space in the budget.
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0 points,6 years ago
This is a very large amount of money; will there be an escrow?
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1 point,6 years ago
You can consider myself as the escrow for this transaction as I will be handling the payments for the sponsorship package to World Crypto Con, booth design/construction, Dash branded merchandise, organizing the individuals to assist with the booth, etc. All of which, through an official escrow, would most likely cost a sizeable fee, in which I believe to be unnecessary as I will be doing them for free.

I believe there to be many Dash community members who can vouch for my legitimacy and professionalism. In addition, being a student researcher at Arizona State University and including my full name explicitly in this proposal, it is not difficult to make inquiries about me through that medium verifying any information necessary.
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0 points,6 years ago
Why not have Dash as the exclusive cryptocurrency payment option right now with a Diamond Sponsorship?
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3 points,6 years ago
As this is the inaugural event for World Crypto Con, I think it is both in WCC and Dash’s best interest that the conference attracts the most attendees as possible, without potentially offending other cryptocurrency communities, while still signaling that DASH is the preferred payment method (signaled through the 5% discount when paying in DASH). I am confident in the presence and interactions Dash will have at the event itself to showcase our network and ecosystem, winning the attendees over (newcomers to cryptocurrency, businesses/integrators, maximalists, etc).
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