Proposal: 2024 Polkadot Decoded Asia (Singapore) on September 16-17 (during the Singapore Token 2049 week)

Proponent: 12Qn81nJ9DAPxQ6iz2jPxLcrbcpveWFbAAyvDLwnAGL6nPjG

Beneficiary: 12Qn81nJ9DAPxQ6iz2jPxLcrbcpveWFbAAyvDLwnAGL6nPjG

Date of proposal: Jan 24th, 2024

Requested: $328,053.04 (54,121DOT)

Short description:

Polkadot Decoded is back for its fifth edition in July 2024 at Brussels Belgium, with a fully hybrid experience of online and in-person events. Attending the live flagship conference in-person in Brussels Belgium is cool but it may be difficult for the Polkadot Asian community given the logistic cost, visa issues and language barrier. The simultaneous Decoded Asia event  hosted regionally in Asia two weeks after the flagship Decoded is a good plus for the Polkadot ecosystem. This proposal is for the 2024 Decoded Asia, aiming to be regionally focused with local team speaking opportunities, exhibitions, social gatherings and lots of fun!

[Update: Please note according to the feedback from many voters, we are rebranding the Decoded China Satellite to Decoded Asia. Please note it is not a watch party. It is a region-centered event in Asia alligned with the Flagship Decoded.]

[Update as of July 15th, 2024: Please note we decided to move the event to Singapore during the September Token 2049 week instead of HongKong two weeks after Brussels, in order to better capture the Web3 foot traffic.]

[Update as of Oct 10th, 2024: Please see the summary and the recap report of this event here]

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1.Context of the Proposal

Polkadot Decoded’s Flagship event will be held in the summer of 2024 in Brussels Belgium overlapping with EthCC on July 11th and 12th . This is the largest annual conference focused on all things in Polkadot. It brings together the Polkadot community, web3 enthusiasts, new/curious DOT holders, and builders to hear about developments in the Polkadot ecosystem. To align with the global Flagship event and continue the excitement with the regional focus at the strategic local markets of the Polkadot community, Decoded Asia event covering the Asian region ( China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and the rest of SEA) will be held two weeks after the Flagship Decoded in Europe so that the folks participant in the Flagship Decoded will have time to travel to Asia.

The 2024 Decoded Asia event will therefore create pivotal experience to the fast growing Polkadot China community and the nearby markets such as Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and the rest of SEA. The Decoded Asia is not a watch party. It is the region-centered event with featuring presentations, panels, workshops, demos and aligned regional events (i.e. APAC hackathon), delivered in the language of Chinese and English. The latest update and news of the Polkadot ecosystem teams, Parity, the Web3 Foundation and the community KOLs from Asia will be shared. The event is focusing on the content curated for a broader audience, as well as for decision makers, investors, entrepreneurs and Web3 Medias.

The target audience will be crossing over all six of our target personas: Business Decision Maker, Technical Decision Maker, both from startups and Enterprises interested in Polkadot, Builders from teams in the Polkadot ecosystem, DOT Holders,  Developer, Polkadot enthusiasts and supporters. Polkadot Decoded Asia aims to be a general assembly for all things Polkadot/Kusama happening in Asia.

Along with one main stage with the presentations, demos, panels and flagship event (Decoded Brussels) highlight playbacks, 2024 Decoded Asia event will have networking areas, private meeting areas, exhibition areas (for parachain and ecosystem teams) and one after-party to celebrate with the community. The Decoded Asia event aims to have between 400 attendees, 30 speaking slots (presentations, demos, panels and Flagship Decoded highlight session playbacks are all included), 20 exhibition booths (for selected parachain teams and the Polkadot 2.0 dApps), and one Substrate job fair. 

The 2024 Polkadot Decoded Asia event will be facilitated and hosted by Aitijia’er, an event agency based in Asia, who produced the 2020 Web3 Forum at Shanghai (Rebranded from Web3 Summit) and 2022 Decoded China at Hangzhou and 2023 Decoded China at Shanghai. More details of these three events can be provided upon request.

2. Problem Statement

The Polkadot/Kusama community is fast growing globally. For the community members and projects who couldn’t personally travel to Europe (i.e travel restrictions from Visa applications, logistics cost, language barriers), a regional-focused satellite event is necessary for the important regions such as the Asia market. The Decoded Asia event will align with the global flagship event, carry out the excitement with regional focus, and create an opportunity to allow the Polkadot community and the ecosystem projects in Asia to gather together and celebrate another good year of the ecosystem building and growing. 

For this edition of Polkadot Decoded Asia, we want to broaden the audience and expand the coverage outside of mainland China. A certain number of speaking slots and attendees are offered to guests from Korea, Japan, HongKong, Taiwan, VietNam, Singapore and the rest of SEA. (Please note the Visa of PRC is required and the guests are responsible for acquiring the visas on their own costs and efforts.) 

3.Proposal Objective/Solutions

Primary Objectives

The 2024 Decoded Asia has the primary goals aligned with the Polkadot Decoded 2024 Flagship event in Europe.

• Attract, engage and convince decision makers in startups, web2 companies and enterprises who evaluate platforms to consider and join Polkadot.
• Inspire and excite attendees by showcasing successful and innovative projects, new use cases from Enterprise and Web3 companies. 
• Update the community and audience on Polkadot’s ecosystem development and groundbreaking technologies.
• Grow, engage and enthuse the global community of developers, token holders and fans, strengthening their interest in and belongingness to Polkadot, turning them into advocates and “Polkadot citizens.”
• Send a strong message to the market about Polkadot’s momentum and the success of teams in the ecosystem.

Secondary Objectives

With a regional focus on the China market and the markets nearby, the Polkadot Decoded 2024 Asia will bring out more regional festival spirit for the ecosystem and the community in Asia.

• Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing in the Polkadot ecosystem in Asia.
• Deepen relationships and friendships in the Polkadot community of Asia.

Ticketing and NFTs

Polkadot Decoded Asia is free to all Polkadot community members, ecosystem projects and the general crypto audience who are interested in knowing Polkadot (Kusama and Substrate included). It will require the registration of attendee’s name, contact details (emails & phone numbers) and other required information for the purposes of the security and regulation of public gathering per China’s policy. The registration numbers and registrant profile will also be used for the post-event recap analyses for the purpose of the improvement for the future events. 

There will also be free NFTs as proof of attendance post events. Whether and how to receive NFTs from attending the regional events will be finalized later. Possibly it will be through a Polkadot ecosystem NFT parachain project such as Unique Network.

 Marketing

The marketing effort of regional satellite events will go with the global marketing plan such as the Polkadot official social medias. Besides the global marketing effort of call-for-papers through the various marketing channels, Asia event will go with the local Chinese channels including but not limited to 

• the marketing channels through Wechat groups, Wechat official accounts, bilibili of Parity Asia and the affiliated partners and selected vendors
• The crypto focused media covering Chinese speaking audiences such as Jinse Finance, Odaily, Techflow, 8btc.com and etc

Agenda Finding and Speakers

The agenda and speaker selection of regional Decoded will be aligned with the flagship Decode, though a regionally independent content and focus will be added as needed. All Flagship Decoded speaker applicants are welcome to apply for the regional Decoded for the regional efforts of marketing and community development. Decoded Asia is two weeks after the Flagship one so people who commit to Decoded Brussels still have plenty of time to travel from Europe to Asia. Please read the speaking agenda of the 2023 Decoded China Satellite. 

Location and Venue

Hong Kong is a very central and accessible city in China hence it is always a top option for Decoded conferences in Asia. A public vote in the Polkadot community will decide the city of the 2024 Decoded Asia event.  Please note the final city and location is TBD pending on the contract finalization with the desired venues. So the change of the city and the location may be possible. 

Budget

The 2024 Decoded Asia is planned for the same size of 2023 Decoded China Satellite, estimating for 400 attendees, 30 speaking slots, 20 exhibition booths and along with one Polkadot hackathon (APAC). The Hackathon will have a separate budget. Hence the budget request for 2024 is based on the numbers of 2023.

See the categorized numbers in the table below. 

Item Description	Amount in USD	Note
1. Venue costs	$55,455.00	- Includes 4 days venue rental for i) pre-event construction, ii) 2 day event  and iii) post-event dismantling, electricity, cleaning, venue security, venue staff, permit filing and license obtaining, and etc. - This amount is based on the average cost of the previous Polkadot conference in China (2020 Web3 Forum, 2022 Decoded China and 2023 Decoded China) - See the budget proposal of 2023 Decoded China Satellite -  More details to see below section Category 1
2. Tech equipment and construction	$46,581.00	- Audio, video equipment, staging, lighting, recording, temporary walls, and tech staff cost for these categories - More details to see below section Category 2
3. Food and beverages	$61,200.00	- Budget is based on 400 attendee headcount and 75USD/person/day. - 400 attendees are estimated based on the registration numbers and attending rate of previous Polkadot major conference in China ( 2020 Web3 Forum, 2022 Decoded China and 2023 Decoded China) - Registration numbers and attending rate can be found in the recap article here - More details to see below section Category 3
4. Entertainment /Closing party	$10,000.00	- The amount is based on the average of the actual spending of the after parties of Decoded China 2022 and 2023.  - See the afterparty events of 2022 and 2023. - More details to see below section Category 4
5. Marketing cost	$15,000.00	- The global marketing alignment will be through Distrative (the spined off marketing arm)  - The local marketing effort will go through i) Polkadot China community KOLs and Parity Asia’s marketing channels) - Free - The top-tier local crypto medias and tech medias - Ads purchase - China local social medias - Ads purchase, SEO purchase - More details to see below section Category 5
6. Staff costs, agency fees, mark-ups, production travel, etc.	$52,136.40	- More details to see below section Category 6
7. Swag, printed material, branding, misc	$64,395.00	- More details to see below section Category 7
8. VAT Tax - 6% China Tax (Category Applied)	$18,286.04	- More details to see below section Category 8
TOTAL	$328,053.44	The 2024 budget request is 5% higher than 2023. The extra cost is in the marketing category. Please note 2023 Decoded China’s marketing budget was zero. It was through the global marketing pool and  free partnering channels. 2024 Decoded China request 15,000USD for the social media ads purchase, SEO purchase and promotions.

4.Payment and Details

Payment Schedule

We request one lump sum payout.  The critical milestones are planned to be delivered in the below schedule, upon the recipient of the requested DOTs. 

• One week after receiving the proposed DOTs 
  • Source and secure the venue and the dates (deposit will be paid) [We have four venue options in different size and location presented to Parity for the early input.]
  • secure the key suppliers such as the food catering service, the SWAG designers and manufacturers, the printing factories and etc [Please note we may use the existing service suppliers from the Decoded China 2022 and 2023]
• One week before the event. 
  • The final prepayments to suppliers to pay off tech equipment and food & beverages as per above table.
• One week after the event.
  • The post-event payment to the venue, if any (i.e. the PG&E bill, the fees for the event dedicated broadband network/VPN or any unexpected costs)
  • Any unpaid balance to the suppliers/vendors/service providers
• Two weeks after the event
  • A completed post-event report with all the information proposed in the section of  “How do you submit the reports with comprehensive deliverables” will be delivered and published along with this proposal. 

How does this amount cover the work of the proposal? 

Below are the more itemized details and descriptions of each category in the budget table. 

Category 1 - Venue

• The number includes i) 2-day venue rental, ii) the day before for the stage construction exhibition booth setup, and entrance setup iii) the day after for the dismantling and removal of everything
• The venue category cost is the same as the 2023 Decoded China. The prices of the 2022 Decoded China venue at Hangzhou Culture Publishing Center is used for the budget estimation in this proposal. 
• The actual venue will be depending on the availability. The venue will be announced upon the signing of the contract.

Category 2 - Tech equipment and construction

The number includes below items

• the production and installation of main signatures (12mX4m), direction signs, pull-up banners, illumination boards, photo board
• setup of entrance and hallway, setup of the check-in lanes and desks
• Customized stage
• Stage wall
• Polkadot signs (on the stage)
• Standard exhibition booth (desk, background panel and signage)
• Videos & LED screens: main screen, side screens, special effect screen, video processing console, switchers, power distributor, video server, monitors and etc
• Control console station
• Lights & others: profile light, beam light, pattern light, special effect light, color light, light control console, TI dimmer rac, amplifier and etc
• Audio, recording and others: speaker full range, subwoofer, foldback, audio processor, audio control console, M32 Master, and etc
• Transportation & truck rentals
  • i) Entrance and Hallway 
  • ii) Stage
  • ii) Exhibition booths
  • iii) Technical equipments 
• same with the 2023 Decoded China. 

Category 3 - Food and beverages

• This number is budgeted based on 400 attendees and 76USD per person per day. This includes two lunch buffets, 4 tea breaks (one tea break served in the morning and one in the afternoon for two days), 2-day snacks & fruits station (in the exhibition area and in the conference room). 
• This number also includes the 4 working meals for the working staff, securities and event volunteers for two days.
• This number also includes the fresh flowers and decorations on the buffet tables, tea break stations, snack stations and the check-in stations
• Same with the 2023 Decoded China

Category 4 - Entertainment & After- Party

• This is based on the average number of the after party of 2022 Decoded China and 2023 Decoded China. 
• Same with the 2023 Decoded China.

Category 5 - Marketing Cost

• The global marketing alignment will be through Distrative (the spined off marketing arm of Polkadot). 
• The local marketing effort will go through i) Polkadot China community KOLs, ii) Parity Asia’s marketing channels and iii) partnering marketing channels - The portion i) and ii) is free since the fees to KOLs and Parity Asia. iii) may request extra fees.  
• The top-tier local crypto medias and tech medias - Ads purchase and promotion. 
• China local social media  - Ads purchase, SEO purchase and promotion. 

Category 6 - Staff costs, agency fees, mark-ups, production travel, etc.

• This category includes four main portions of the labor costs and mark-ups. 
• • Labor of the constructions and dismantling folks
  • Labor of the service staff, technicians, security staff, cleanings
  • The cost of the conference permit application and filling to the local authorities
  • Traveling and accommodation expenses of technicians and producing teams
  • 15% of mark-up of total event quote for the agency fees 

Category 7 -  Swag, printed material, branding, misc

• This category includes swags for attendees, gifts for the speaking guests, badges, Decoded agenda booklets, Polkadot marketing materials, exhibition booth maps, all printed materials and etc
• The Swags is calculated based on 1.2X supply of the estimated 400 attendees, 50USD per person. 
• The miscellaneous cost, i.e. SWAG design, shipping insurance, large goods custodian fee (if applicable, depending on the venue, charge by days), delivery expedition fee and etc

Category 8 - Tax

• 6% VAT tax in the category of “Life Service” is applied. Life service - such as cultural and sports services, medical services, tourism and entertainment services. 
• See more details of 2023 China Business Tax Compliance here 

What is the address of the fund recipient?

Beneficiary DOT address (12Qn81nJ9DAPxQ6iz2jPxLcrbcpveWFbAAyvDLwnAGL6nPjG) and proposer address belong to Aitijia'er, a Ltd entity under China law, based in Hangzhou China. Please note Aitijia'er is a agency for event operation, commercial ads, visual design and etc. We facliatated and operated three major Polkadot conference in China 1)2020 Shanghai Web3 Forum , 2)2022 Hangzhou Decoded China, and 3) 2023 Shanghai Decoded China Statellite

How can we contact the manager of the funds? 

Email: [email protected]

What exchange rates are you considering and why?

All costs budgeted are in USD.

5. Success Measurement and Recap Report

How do you submit the reports with comprehensive deliverables?

We will submit the comprehensive delivery report and publish it to the Polkassembly for the community review as soon as the milestones are hit. This report will include but not limited to below items

• General Event (after the event completes)
  • The number of the registrations
  • The number of the attendees
  • The number of the speaking engagements
  • The number of the exhibition projects (based on the booth sign up)
  • The number of the media engagements (articles or videos published)
  • The event videos (youtube link)
  • The event pictures
  • The after party
• Critical milestones (ongoing till the completion of the event)
  • The venue (will announce the location and the dates upon the contract signing) with the venue information and the pictures
  • The Decoded China agenda including speakers, projects and time
  • The exhibiting projects (name, booth id and the map)
  • The status update of the event permit acquisition