Event Retro: ETH BCN 2023

This July, the Endaoment team headed to Barcelona to celebrate the launch of the Universal Impact Pool, and share our suite of developer tools with impact-minded builders during the ETH BCN Hackathon.

What we did:

The ETH BCN adventure brought together Noah, Robbie, Dae and Vishal, as they were all crucial to the ideation and technological strategy around the Universal Impact Pool (UIP) initiative, while Bruxa produced the UIP Launch party remotely. For some team members, it was their first time meeting in person, which added an extra element of excitement to the event.

As for the conference itself, Noah gave a talk with Zakk of Allo & Gitcoin titled “Maximizing Single-Donation Impact through Retroactive Quadratic Funding for Global Nonprofits”, where he had the chance to discuss the tech behind the Universal Impact Pool. Robbie led an NDAO Workshop/Demo of the UIP and Endaoment’s developer tools.

Hypothesis going into ETH BCN:

Endaoment embarked on a multi-faceted mission at this event. Firstly, the team aimed to launch and celebrate the Universal Impact Pool (UIP), seizing the opportunity provided by a connection with the conference organizers, Doin Gud.

This was our first time at ETH BCN and organizing in Spain. The scene in Barcelona was focused on bringing together impact-oriented Web3 enthusiasts, which aligned with the team’s aspirations to build connections with the dev community. This was also our first time organizing and running an in-person Hackathon, which aimed to heighten awareness among builders and encourage the utilization of Endaoment's developer tools, reinforcing the platform's commitment to driving innovation in the impact-oriented space.

Impact Metrics

• A spike in UIP engagement from June 29th to July 9th.

• Engaged with multiple local organizations from Catalonia

• 6 Hackathon submissions of quality projects

• 50+ attendees at the UIP Party

• Dozens of interactions at the party, several insightful conversations yielding partnerships at the conference

What went well:

Endaoment's engagement at the event was marked by a series of strategic moves that successfully aligned with our goals. Establishing a direct rapport with Doin Gud allowed us to agree on a tailored sponsorship package that effectively balanced the available budget and the aspiration to spotlight the UIP and engage with developers. We were also able to seamlessly coordinate the UIP Launch Party with the hotel, which allowed us to focus on participation.

The Pool party's success nurtured a solid connection with Gitcoin, and ongoing interactions with Zakk and Noah's joint presentation showcased a collaborative synergy, laying the groundwork for amplifying UIP's outreach from Q3 to Q4. Moreover, the engagement at the Sir Victor event was pulled off with ease, leaving a positive impression and contributing to the overall success of the endeavor.

What was challenging:

Despite ETH BCN not being one of the most mainstream events, our focus is on creating impact wherever possible. Creating an all-encompassing hackathon prize is tricky, as you want to cast a wide net while keeping it specific. A smaller event was conducive to a smaller audience showing up to talks and to a smaller result in fundraising efforts, so maybe POAPs and previous fundraising have0 to be required for attendance to see a significant donation.

It was tough to accurately gauge how engaged participants were and the value they gained from the hackathon. There was a conversation initiated around Endaoment doing grants to fund more impactful work, but we would need to justify a funding base for this. It was unclear that we had to add more money to the hackathon prize payouts leading to some last-minute adjustments. Negotiating brand visibility and addressing mixed feedback on the POAP showed the complexities of event management, which we navigated with a practical approach.

What did we learn:

In the future, we might want to consider a more intriguing title to our talks in order to attract more attention. Having a good central product to talk about at the conference in the UIP and the POAP partnership were great talking points although it was tough to sell due to the current market conditions.

The level of activity at the Barcelona conference was lower than expected, which has prompted us to consider a more strategic investment in sponsorship funds. Lastly, our hackathon prize challenges could be more open-ended to encourage builders’ creativity and elevate protocol implementations.