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Referendum#1131
Discussion#2455

Polkadot India IIT Roorkee Workshops and Hackathon (1/5)

a year ago
education
outreach

TL;DR

This is the first edition of a series aiming to build a developer community in India for the Polkadot ecosystem from the ground up by hosting in-campus workshops and hackathons in the leading IIT universities, which are known worldwide for producing the largest number of leading developers. IITs have a vast untapped talent pool that needs to be curated through a well-defined path of learning, knowledge exchange, and a competition. We are looking to establish the path through this 3-in-1 event, which features workshops for accelerated learning, the foundation of students' collective for a series of tech & non-tech activities, and the final hackathon.

Why not events bounty?

We did apply for the events bounty twice, but the curators denied our initial and refined proposals because of reasons mentioned, like a limit on the number of organizing members involved, their misunderstanding of the review rating with a star rating for one of the cheapest accommodations, etc. We will post a detailed thread on our experience with the events bounty, especially the curators’ lack of thorough research later as our priority is the successful hosting of this 3-in-1 event in one of the best universities for which getting another approval (letter of intent) won’t be easy.

Due to the two-week delay caused by the events bounty, we are forced to post multiple big tippers, as a small spender could take significant time. We need about 15k USD out of our total requested amount to make the necessary reservations/bookings (partial token amount wherever possible). So we are looking to post four big tippers and one small spender for the same. Upon approval of the first big tipper, we will encode the rest of the proposals and proceed with the bookings.

Overview

We are excited to propose a first-of-its-kind hackathon and workshop for the Polkadot ecosystem in India, organized by Blockseblock in collaboration with Edgetributors SubDAO. This event aims to foster innovation, development, and community engagement within the Polkadot ecosystem by bringing together talented developers, students, and blockchain enthusiasts. The fundamental propositions of this event are as follows:

  • Hybrid structure: We will host the workshop and the hackathon two weeks apart, giving students time to review all the materials and the learning curve. Throughout this two-week period, we will guide/assist them virtually by forming a students’ collective.
  • Importance of IITs: IITs are often referred to as talent hubs in India due to their challenging entrance barrier for students and for well-known student activities like fests, workshops, hackathons, etc. Hosting this hybrid event in an IIT will attract enthusiastic students from the nearby universities as well.
  • Blockseblock's prior hackathon hosting experience, along with the technical curation/expertise of Edgetributors SubDAO contributors, will ensure that the event is not only successful but also impactful.
  • Being the first of this kind of collaboration, we focus on keeping this event budget-friendly yet accessible for everyone. We will implement our learnings in future hackathons across different IITs.

Problem:

Limited Developer Awareness: There's a significant lack of awareness about PolkadotSDK and Substrate within the Indian developer community.

Ineffective Meetups: Standard meetups often fail to capture the attention of developers from India's crowded IT sector.

Tech Exposure Gaps: For Indian engineering students, significant-tech exposure typically occurs only within their universities or nearby IITs.

Campus Placement Culture: The prevalent campus placement culture in India means students often only explore opportunities with companies that visit their campuses, missing out on the vast opportunities offered by Web3.

Lagging Behind Competitors: The Polkadot ecosystem lags behind competitors in hosting student-specific learning events like workshops in the Indian demographic.

Solutions:

Hackathon at a Leading IIT: Organize a high-impact hackathon at a top IIT to attract and engage talented developers.

Pre-Hackathon Workshops: Conduct workshops before the hackathon to build foundational knowledge and excitement around PolkadotSDK/Substrate.

Formation of a Students' Collective: Establish a students' collective to foster continuous engagement, collaboration, and learning within the Polkadot ecosystem. This will be crucial to the team formation and other activities after hosting the workshops, before the start of the hackathon.

What's success?

  • We expect 100-150 participants for the Workshops and Hackathon with at least 20-30 quality project submissions.
  • Formation of the collective that can feature the Polkadot Ecosystem in the IIT Roorkee, acting as a self-sustainable incubator/space for the new age developers.
  • This hybrid event aims at enhancing the visibility of the Polkadot ecosystem from the foundational level by cultivating more developers which will contribute to the natural growth and demand.

Event Details:

Venue: IIT Roorkee

IIT Roorkee, one of India’s premier engineering institutions, offers an inspiring and technologically advanced environment. Known for its rich history and commitment to excellence in education and research, IIT Roorkee is the perfect venue to host a hackathon aimed at driving innovation in the blockchain space.

Letter Of Intent:

IIT Roorkee LOI.pdf

Timeline

The workshops will be scheduled for September 26th and 27th, providing participants ample time and resources to prepare for the hackathon. The hackathon will commence on October 11th and conclude on October 13th.

1. Pre-Hackathon in-campus offline Workshops (26th Sep - 27th Sep):

  • Introduction to Polkadot: Introducing Polkadot’s history, architecture, key features, and ecosystem.
  • Technical Deep Dives: Workshops on building with Substrate/Polkadot-SDK, ink!, XCM’s cross-chain interoperability, and parachains/solochains.
  • Hackathon Preparation: Guidance on hackathon best practices, tools, and resources available for participants.

2. Activities for the students’ collective (28th Sep - 10th Oct):

3. Physical Hackathon Kick-off (11th Oct - 13th Oct):

  • Mentorship and Support:
    • Dedicated Mentors: Experienced mentors from the community and industry experts available for guidance.
    • Technical Support Desk: On-site help desks to assist with technical issues.
    • Resource Library: Access to documentation, APIs, SDKs, and other relevant resources.
  • Project Development:
    • Work Sessions: Participants work on their projects, with periodic check-ins from mentors.
    • Regular Stand-ups: Brief updates from teams to track progress and address any roadblocks.

4. Judging and Awards:

  • Submission on BlockseBlock: Submit projects, including code repositories, decks, and demo videos.
  • Evaluation Criteria: Projects will be judged based on innovation, technical complexity, impact, feasibility, and presentation.
  • Demo: Teams will present their projects to the judges and audience, followed by Q&A sessions.
  • Prize distribution:
    • First 3 projects; 1500, 1000, 500 USD equivalent in DOT
    • Best pallet: 500 USD equivalent in DOT
    • Best ink! contract: 500 USD equivalent in DOT
    • Shared pool for valid submissions from teams participating in all the activities hosted for the students’ collective: 1000 USD equivalent in DOT

5. Post-Hackathon Activities:

  • Mentorship Continuation: Offering support and mentorship for winning teams to help them refine and develop their projects further.
  • Incubation and Acceleration: Extending opportunities for standout projects to join incubation or acceleration programs within the Polkadot ecosystem. We will provide them with a dedicated letter of recommendation.

TEAM:

About Blockseblock

BlockseBlock is a global hackathon hosting platform with a strong developer community in SE Asia. We are already a global hackathon platform for ICP blockchain. With our unique approach of providing personalized support to developers, we are helping thousands of builders start their projects in the web3 and blockchain domains. Some of the key stats of the platform:

  • 100,000+ developers
  • 600+ university partners
  • 100+ hackathons

Snippet from the Previous Hackathon hosted by Blockseblock:

About Edgetributors SubDAO

Edgetributor SubDAO is a collective of currently active solo contributors from the Edgeware DAO, one of the oldest substrate projects from the Polkadot ecosystem. Edgetributor SubDAO is also the maintainer of the recently treasury-funded Universal Substrate Faucet project. The Edgetributors SubDAO members’ bring 3-4 years of Polkadot/Substrate ecosystem experience and expertise from different domains.

The members of Edgetributor SubDAO and their roles in this event hosting are as follows:

Edgetributors SubDAO’s Role

In this collaboration, Edgetributors will provide their expertise in substrate/PolkadotSDK and ink! development. Our contributions include:

  • Development Expertise: Providing deep technical knowledge and guidance in Substrate/PolkadotSDK.
  • Tech Talks and Workshops: Organizing and delivering workshops and technical sessions to educate and inspire participants.
  • On-Ground Mentoring: Offering hands-on mentoring sessions throughout the hackathon to assist participants in overcoming technical challenges.
  • Proposal Curation and Operations: Manage the curation of Polkadot proposals and oversee related operations.
  • Involvement with Polkadot Blockchain Academy Graduates: Inviting graduates from the Polkadot Blockchain Academy as mentors and judges, ensuring high-quality guidance and evaluation.
  • Infographics and social media: Creation of infographics for online/offline activities and awareness creation on social media channels
  • Establishment and activities for Students’ collective: Setup the foundation framework and guidelines for the students’ collective, host tech/non-tech/hybrid activities to keep students engaged in the 2-week learning period between the workshops and the hackathon.

Benefits to the Polkadot Ecosystem

This hackathon will provide numerous benefits to the Polkadot community, including:

  • Innovation: Encouraging the development of new and innovative solutions in the Polkadot Ecosystem.
  • Community Engagement: Strengthening the Polkadot community by connecting developers, students, and blockchain enthusiasts.
  • Education: Enhancing knowledge and skills related to blockchain technology, Substrate/PolkadotSDK through expert-led workshops and mentoring.
  • Visibility: IIT Roorkee being the top 5 Engineering college by ranking in India, it’s an ideal hub to host such a hackathon as it will attract students from other major universities as well. Increasing the visibility of the Polkadot ecosystem within the Indian technology landscape, potentially attracting new developers and contributors.

Financials

Proposer: Blockseblock & Edgetributor SubDAO

Multisig address: 14XNJmoUzkvmh9cYoqG4axBRR4BWzWRbnFP79oiZgKu7V9bz

Required amount: 29978.18 USD

Amount including 10% refundable liquidation buffer: 32975.998 USD

EMA7: 4.466 USD/DOT

Total: 7383.78 DOT

Requested amount in the first tipper: 1000 DOT
Remainder amount for follow-up tippers/spender: 6383.78 DOT

💰Budgets Breakdown → Polkadot India IIT Roorkee Workshops and Hackathon Budget Proposal

Conclusion

We’re excited about this collaborative hybrid 18 days of event and believe it will bring huge benefits to the Polkadot ecosystem. By fostering innovation, education, and community engagement, we aim to make a real impact. With the experience/expertise of Edgetributors and the organizational skills of Blockseblock, this event is set to be a standout moment for web3 development in India.

We look forward to the Polkadot community’s support in making this event a success.

Comments (7)

DV Badge
a year ago

Can we get a comment from the events bounty members to know more about the issues with this referendum?
It is good to see a LOI from the IIT, we hope to see more documents like this in the future.

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EventsBounty
a year ago

Events Bounty would like to provide some clarification to the community since we were mentioned in this proposal. Yes, we received this proposal submission twice, and we decided to reject it on both occasions.

We provided specific feedback to the proposers to help them refine their proposal to better align with our funding criteria. For the first submission, our decision to reject the proposal was based on several key concerns, which we communicated to the proposers.

Here is a screenshot of our initial response outlining these concerns

  • Breakdown of Funds: The initial proposal lacked a detailed and transparent breakdown of expenses, which is crucial for understanding how the funds would be allocated. The presented budget can be viewed here
  • Team Budget: A significant portion of the budget (almost 50%) was allocated to team salaries and related expenses (Blockseblock team costs and Edgetributor SubDAO costs), which seemed high given the overall event budget. We needed a clearer explanation of how these funds would directly contribute to the event's success.
  • Overall Budget: Feedback from community members from India, suggested that the overall budget was high. We recommended starting with a smaller-scale event to build familiarity with the process and demonstrate impact before moving on to larger events.

After our initial rejection, the proposal was resubmitted with a more detailed budget breakdown. However, despite this effort, the revised proposal still needed to address our previously raised key concerns. Here is an explanation of our feedback on the second submission with an added screenshot from our email response:

  • Overall Budget: The budget remains too high, even after our suggestion to reduce costs. The proposed expenses still exceed what we consider reasonable for this event, which raised concerns about financial management and feasibility.
  • Marketing Invoice: The marketing invoice submitted was outdated (from 2023) and lacked specifics on the value it would bring or the services included. There was also a lack of detail on which influencers were involved and the overall relevance of influencer marketing for this event.
  • Accommodation Costs: The proposal included 4-star hotel for accommodation, which is not in line with the Events Bounty guidelines. On our public page is stated that we do not fund 4 / 5 stars hotels or luxury accommodation.
  • Website and Legitimacy: The Blockseblock website showed low traction, making it difficult to assess its legitimacy and effectiveness as a promotional tool. Additionally, the website was initially non-functional, complicating our ability to review it properly. The budget also did not clearly outline what was covered in the Blocksblock hackathon package, adding further concerns. When checking Edgetributors' social media, we also didn’t see any significant following or traction.
  • Team Size and Budget: A major concern remained around the team size and budget allocation. Nearly 50% of the total budget was still allocated to team expenses. The proposal indicated accommodating 26 team members, which we felt was excessive for the scope of the event. We believe the event could be executed effectively with a much smaller team, which raised questions about the necessity of such a large team and the team’s ability to deliver the event efficiently.

Also, the overall funding directed towards hackers appears low compared to the significant budget allocated to the team. For example, the Winners' Prize Pool for the "Best Pallet" track is only $500, which is quite minimal and does not adequately reflect the value of the contributions and efforts.

Taking all this into consideration, and noting that the team was not willing to adjust the proposal accordingly after we provided feedback twice, we have decided that we cannot move forward with this proposal. While we are strong supporters of initiatives aimed at promoting Polkadot and engaging students through hackathons, the proposal in its current form does not align with our guidelines and expectations.

a year ago

We received the email feedback once to refine the proposal upon first submission. We implemented the changes and also attended the office hour call. We explained and addressed all the concerns, and despite that, the curators told us it would be rejected and asked us to resubmit.

Here is the first email from the Events Bounty team: 

Image

And this was our response to the concerns raised: 

Image

This was the refined budget sheet after the first feedback: 

Image

Interestingly, after refining the budget and adding explanations, the key concerns about ‘Content’ and ‘Marketing’ from the first feedback were not included as reasons in the rejection email {which is already shared by the EventsBounty team above}.

Here is the explanation of the remaining concerns mentioned in the first rejection email:

  • Breakdown of Funds: After refining the proposal, we already had the explanations for all the expenditures along with the details of how those funds will be utilized. The attached budget by EventsBounty is the older one, before the feedback, and thus, it’s implying that we didn’t add the detailed breakdown when it’s clearly not the case. Here is the proof that we added the detailed breakdown on 16th Aug after receiving the feedback on 15th Aug and notified them via email on the same day: Image
  • Team Budget: For the first proposal, we kept the Edgetributor SubDAO’s curation and operation cost for the 18 days of work to 14% (4200 USD total for all six contributors), which we further reduced in the 2nd submission. Blockseblock’s standardized hackathon package costs 3000 USD, which is non-negotiable.
  • Overall Budget: The total budget for this 3-in-1 event across 18 days is ten times cheaper than one of the recent single-day Polkadot events hosted in India. Leaving comparison aside, to address this concern, we started collecting the quotations for each expenditure.

After the rejection, we submitted the proposal again, as suggested by the bounty curators in the office hour call. This time, we elaborated the budget even further and added multiple quotations, and reduced the Edgetributor SubDAO’s curation and operation cost for the 18 days of work to 2400 USD. We also attached the recently received Letter of Intent from NSS, IIT Roorkee. This 2nd proposal was rejected just before the working hour call on 28th August, without any feedback whatsoever.

Here is the explanation of the concerns mentioned in the second rejection email:

  • Overall Budget: We have nothing much to say here. We tried to keep costs as bare minimum as possible. We even opted for basic train travel from the start instead of flights, reducing the travel costs by 2-3 times on average. We request that community members from India verify the costs. The generalized cost for the whole 18-day event comes to 1666 USD per day.
  • Marketing Invoice: We were waiting for the marketing quotation at the time of submission. So Blockseblock provided us with the older quotation for reference, as prices are the same. The quotation has already been updated with the newer one. Examples of PR can be found here, here and here. We requested Blockseblock to finalize and share the list of influencers for the outreach.
  • Accommodation Costs: We searched the hotels based on the criteria of less than 1 hour of commute and availability of 12 rooms, and this was the only option. In fact, Edgetributor SubDAO contributors will be triple-sharing a room to reduce the cost slightly. (There are many 3-star hotels in the same region costing more than the selected hotel. Star ratings in India are not well regulated, and booking portals are allowed to have their own rating standards. So, in the majority of cases, these are review ratings from the booking portals and not the star ratings as per the global standards.)
  • Website and Legitimacy: The Blockseblock website’s traction shouldn’t be a concern as the majority of their business is offline. They were featured on ANI News, as seen in the PR example above. They recently collaborated with ICP, and thus, their website received an unexpectedly high amount of traffic. When we received the first feedback from EventsBounty regarding the non-functional website, we told EventsBounty that Blockseblock was having maintenance (as shown in the screenshot proof above). The website became completely functional just a day later and can now handle any traffic levels due to the server upgrade. The quotation for Blockseblock’s hackathon package mentions all of their standardized offerings. Edgetributors SubDAO is a group of solo contributors from Edgeware DAO, one of the oldest substrate chains in the ecosystem. We do have more than significant following and traction on our social media!
  • Team Size and Budget: Only 8% (2400 USD) of the total budget is going to the Edgetributors SubDAO. Apart from the usual curation and operations, we will have to invest a significant amount of time in designing the technical content for workshops, aggregated learning materials, and 2 weeks of guided learning activities in the students’ collective. To successfully execute this 18 day 3-in-1 event, we will have to dedicate almost a month of effort. We think this is a fair ask and no way near to the claimed 50%! We don’t think it’s wise to count mentors and judges among the team members. Those will be PBA graduates and Polkadot community contributors/members. There is a huge difference between joining events and hosting events from the ground up. Joining events like Token2049, HK FinTech Week, etc. can be done with a small team because the main organizers take care of all the logistics and arrangements. If EventsBounty curators are okay with paying hefty sponsorships costing 50k+ with just a one-liner or no explanations in their corresponding proposals, then calling out a well-elaborated proposal an over-budgeted one despite all the quotations is quite surprising. (Also, a proposal with 15k USD of miscellaneous expenditure, 70k USD of expenditure on 1 month of Airport Billboard and 100k USD on ‘Booth design, furniture, setup’ got accepted without any explanations or quotations!)

The total proposed reward pool is 5000 USD and many of the community members here can validate the adequacy as one team possibly can win the pallet development track as well as one of the main track rewards. And 500 USD for a specialization track is quite a normal reward for hackathon-level projects. The development journey of the hackers doesn’t end there; it starts there. It’s quite ironic to highlight the contributions and efforts of students while neglecting the same for the organizers.

Again, the feedback was provided only once, not twice as implied. When we clarified all these things in the EventsBounty’s working hour call, curators insisted on hosting this event with a few organizing team members (even suggesting 4-5 members are enough!). One of the curators said, “If you need these many people to host, then perhaps you don’t know how to host events.” We hold no grudge against any curators, but we would like to be treated fairly as we also contribute to the Polkadot ecosystem's development.

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