sub0 Europe 2024 - prefunding proposal prep
Dear Polkadot ecosystem and DOT hodlers, sub0 is the conference for developers building at every level of the Polkadot tech stack — from custom layer-1 blockchains to dApps and smart contracts, infrastructure, tooling, cross-chain interoperability solutions, and more. Following the success of sub0 Asia held in Bangkok, Thailand in March 2024, we are now bringing sub0 back to Europe. This event will take place in Barcelona, Spain in October 2024. sub0 Europe will continue to unite the global Polkadot developer community, providing an introduction to next-generation multichain networks and deepening the skills and connections of existing Polkadot and Substrate developers. In order to secure appropriate funding for the event we will be publishing a referendum in the medium spender track in a week and link the proposal document here.
Comments (16)
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Hi, I'm trying to get in contact with you guys. I was told you were responsible for the Decoded account on X. Some in the community have noticed the overall quality of the tweets (formatting, tags) is really poor. This is the main event event of Polkadot and the shown quality on X is just unacceptable. Feel free to contact me so that we can discuss about the improvements you should engage. If i'm wrong and you don't manage it, let me know.
@CryptoSurfer
thanks for your comment. while it is not really related to this specific topic - we are happy to hear your suggestions and will reach out via TG
Hi, great to see sub0 back on so soon!
Two points about funding transparency:
One, given there have been 'surprises' at previous flagship events regarding the spending on these, and what they actually translated into during the event, would you object to presenting this section as line items?
They account for over 25% of the total amount and seem to be different categories of spending in both qualitative and quantative terms which (without wishing to cast aspersions on this proposal) is what people do when they want to hide things within accounts.
In particular, I would like to see:
* 'agency fees' and 'markup' separated out from each other with a note as to they were calculated.
* 'crew catering' and 'crew travel' separated out from each other and broken down — does 'crew' here include the Decentred staff, and if so, are they on the same level of travel and catering as the crew?
* 'venue scouting' and 'pre-trips' separated out from each other (if they are not the same thing) and broken down — what are the costs in scouting the venue?
On a separate point, I see you used a short term EMA (EMA7) with DOT at its lowest price for a year.
Obviously, if not hedged and DOT appreciates (as it is likely to), that's a profit for Decentred.
But in case DOT depreciates, can you confirm that you will not need to dip into the proposal contingency, either because the risk will either be hedged, or because Decentred both holds sufficient funds for, and will apply those funds to, the difference?
Cheers
@Mork
Hi Mork,
thank you for above comment, all valid points. Please let us answer these:
As for the DOT-price calculation: over the past 2 years we have always applied the EMA7 from the day of the proposal, just to have a reference point. If we are able to realize better prices when exchanging DOT to fiat, this will be fully reported and reflected in the post-event budget report in milestone 2. Any surplus from that, will be contributing to the milestone 2 budget. In case this even creates an amount higher than needed for milestone 2, than this surplus will be returned to the treasury. We added this explanation also to the proposal document now.
We just seperated out the markup as separate line item, it is at 15% - this is at the lower range of the industry standard and also applied by other event agencies in our eco.
Crew catering is at a same level for everyone involved onsite. It spans from security guards, check-in staff, technicians, stage callers, and of course the Decentered team.
Venue scouting is usually an external service provider that screens dozens of potential venues and shortlists those that are available and suitable. Only the top 2 are usually being visited by 2 staffers to check feasibility and to negotiate. Also to speak to potential local suppliers for AV and logistics.
We don't think we can go that granular yet and separate out crew travel for nearly 40 people yet. but we are confident, that Barcelona will come in at a lower cost for our team than Lisbon. and we will also continously update the budget sheet if we are more clear about local cost situation.
Best regards
The Decentered Studio team