How to make Polkadot Events Relevant (again?)

Notes from EthCC and Decoded

There has been a ton of discussion around the future of Polkadot-branded events following the Decoded event in Brussels. Most of the feedback collected from the ecosystem and outsiders after last week highlights several recurring points. Issues span from production strategy, such as size of the venue, the lack of catering, and “ecosystem station” setup; to concerns about branding and design, poorly executed digital marketing and advertising, and inconsistent creative direction. These significant concerns from the community have spurred existential questions about the future of Polkadot Decoded and its technically-focused little sister, Sub0.

Interestingly, even EthCC stages weren’t filled and the main venue couldn’t be called packed by any means either. Though this conference has provided a stage for hundreds of side events (Polkadot Decoded included). After a week of event-hopping and talking to hundreds of people, we have noticed an interesting trend. People are less interested in large scale conferences and long keynotes; they prefer topical side events where they can meet and network with similarly minded people and builders. EthCC once again took over the whole city, but it wasn’t the conference itself, it was through the community they built around the event throughout the years.

We have compiled feedback from various channels and individuals into a structured list. We also aim to put the feedback and new ideas into productive use and suggest a way forward. We aim to put these ideas into actionable and specific plans that will be implemented in the future of event production.

The Way Forward: Polkadot Events 2.0

Global Events

Recommendation: Combine a static European event with the benefit of rotating another around the rest of the world (US, LATAM, Asia, Africa). This would mean that if Decoded is held in Europe, where most of the community is based, while sub0 would rotate to different locations (or vice versa).

Rationale: This strategy caters to the ecosystem’s core needs while welcoming new audiences and communities. By diversifying locations, it aims to mitigate the unwillingness of the general public to attend more than one Polakdot-based event in a year on a single continent.

Topical Events

Feedback from Brussels and side events indicates that topic-focused events offer the best ROI and value for attendees and sponsors.

Recommendation: Instead of focusing primarily on Polkadot infrastructure, which attracts mainly a highly technical audience, we should talk more about the diverse topics being developed within the ecosystem branches.

Rationale: It has become clear that in this current market, Polkadot’s name alone will not fill up an event (even Gavin’s talk at Decoded failed to bring a crowd big enough to fill out a 1000- seat strong room). Topical events bring together crowds that share a common interest, and create sub-communities within the broader, very colorful crypto space, attracting teams, builders, VCs who want to invest in the topic, and people who want to learn more. People will unlikely attend just to learn more about Polkadot in general, but they will flock to events centered around specific, trending topics around RWAs or AI in crypto.

Word of mouth

Recommendation: Leverage word of mouth by sending team members to promote events in person and encourage attendance through personal interactions.

Rationale: The power of marketing is strong when it comes to event attendance but word of mouth is stronger. How many times have you been dragged into a different event solely based on the recommendation of a friend? People at large crypto conferences hop from side event to side event solely based on distance, or if their friend is attending even íf they’re only distantly interested in the topic. Event Evangelism is important and will help scale events up. If you don’t have the name power you have to go Guerilla.

Networking, community, relationships

Recommendation: Design events to prioritize networking opportunities and community building over lengthy presentations and keynote speeches.

Rationale: In the last few years, a noticeable shift can be felt in the way people attend conferences. While people still show up for large keynotes and big announcements, the attention span of most participants dies after the first 7 minutes of a regular presentation. Many attendees can be seen zoning out into their phones, or leaving to catch up on networking conversations.

People come to events to network, make valuable connections, get more funding, or hire new employees. They come for the sense of community, and to come out of their shells. Events should be built around fostering these connections rather than focusing on talks and speakers. By providing people with the right networking opportunities, we significantly increase the value our events bring to attendees.

This doesn’t mean talks don’t bring value—quite the opposite, having someone from your team present can provide substantial marketing benefit for a project. However, it is just one component of a successful event. The unfortunate truth is that even amazing speakers do not assure high attendance, and if you’re just a founder of a small startup, most people will not come or stumble upon your talk anymore. Prioritizing networking ensures that attendees derive maximum benefit from the event.

Piggybacking

Recommendation: Implement a strategy of piggybacking off larger conferences to host Polkadot-centric events, bringing in new crowds and maximizing value.

Rationale: The idea of piggybacking off larger conferences is not a groundbreaking idea; it was introduced to Polkadot back in 2022 when Jakub Greguš from Hydration (then HydraDX) suggested holding AmsterDOT in Amsterdam during Devconnect and Amsterdam Blockchain week. The idea was to create a series of Polkadot-centric events around the world that would leverage the larger events to attract new audiences.

This strategy was further developed by the creation of two editions of ParisDOT.comm, which was a continuation of AmsterDOT, and a collaboration between organizers from the French community, efforts led by David S, Polkadot France Head Ambassador and Benjamin, known as Bld- Core member of Astar team, and Distractive’s events strategist Elisabeth, when she was part of the HydraDX (now Hydration) team.

AmsterDOT was considered a huge success, with packed audiences, full-day catering, and an open bar for two nights. Held right after the end of covid lockdowns, it was the first event post Polkadot launch and the perfect space for the community to reconnect. With a total attendance of 356 people and a main stage capacity of 250, this event proved to be the perfect scale to host most of Polkadot’s active community.

AmsterDOT proved to be the perfect community conference. Comparing AmsterDOT or ParisDOT to Decoded however, is like comparing apples to oranges; community conferences have a very different purpose than large-scale flagship events.

The only fair comparison is in the pricing and production value: AmsterDOT hosted 356 people, branded the venue inside and out, provided full day catering, and cost $264,000. ParisDOT did the same with less branding, with costs ranging from 181,387.69€ for 320 attendees in the first edition to 323,360.37€ for an estimated 618-700 attendees in the second edition (accounting for a rooftop party as well).

In contrast, Decoded 2023 brought in 1,123 attendees at a cost of 1,378,013€ while not offering much when it comes to catering (croissants, coffee and soft drinks), and branding for the venue inside and out. Sub0 Asia 2024 was priced at $816,211 and brought in 314 visitors. Neither Decoded 2023 or Sub0 Asia 2024 piggybacked off another large event.

Properly executed, piggybacking, brings in new faces, lowers travel costs for already existing community members, and the cost of the event itself, and provides opportunity to show off your project on several different stages and events. Utilizing this strategy correctly can bring immense value. The challenge is in the execution, ensuring we capitalize on these benefits to enhance our events.

Audiences

Recommendation: Different types of events should target different audiences, and structuring conferences accordingly is crucial for success.

Rationale: The distinction between Decoded and Sub0 was obvious in their conception, with Sub0 being at its core a developer conference. However, Decoded has a big identity issue, as It is supposed to showcase Polkadot’s strengths, innovations, and updates, highlighting the flourishing ecosystem and its teams.

By positioning Sub0 as the “Devcon” and Decoded as the “EthCC or EthDenver” of Polkadot, we need to structure the conferences accordingly to attract and accommodate the right crowds effectively

Decoded was intended to bring in crowds of possible new teams, new VC blood, new users, and general crypto enthusiasts. Instead, it became an overpriced community echochamber. To bring in the intended audience, we must cater to their specific needs. For example:

New builders: If you intend to bring new builders and sell them on the idea of building their project on Polkadot they need to know who are the right people to talk to and provide them with guidance on how and where to find them.
VCs: offer a cohesive overview of the projects that are raising funds and opportunities for project pitches and a space to network.
New users: show off the projects themselves and have well branded demo stations to highlight use cases.

Audience should be the main thing to keep in mind while structuring the agenda. Well positioned blocks of talks around similar topics for the same audience are key to attracting the right crowd. Allocating proper time and timing for the right teams and blocking them together so that people can digest the content accordingly and spacing them in the right way, is key. Given the fast-paced nature of the internet era, most people’s attention spans don’t last past seven minutes.

We are advocates of shorter talks, overall:

Keynotes should be around 30 minutes
General talks should be around 10 minutes
Pitches should not exceed 5 minutes.

Shortening talks offers space for much-needed Q&A sessions that add immeasurable value to the attendance and the speakers. Although Q&As can be logistically challenging (bad sound, need runners for microphones, hard to film) they are very beneficial.

Attendee experience enhancement

Recommendation: Enhance the attendee experience by addressing basic needs and adding engaging features to make the events memorable.

Key enhancements and must-haves to consider include:

Technical add-ons: provide automated calendar scheduling of talks they want to attend, or an interactive map of the event.
Unique merchandise: interesting merchandise is a huge plus for people who are tired of coming home with suitcases full of T-shirts.
Clear information:
- Flagship events deserve their own beautiful website (let’s ditch swapcard!), with easy to find information and virtual spaces.
- Provide easy-to-find information on where attendees can go to find what they’re looking for, including who to talk to to learn about their topic of interest

Rationale: Most event attendees have simple needs: they want to expand their network, have a good time, learn something new, and be well-fed and hydrated. After covering these basic needs, they seek entertainment and memorable experiences.

With these small but important enhancements and additions increase the probability of them coming back, hopefully with a group of friends.

ROI for participating teams

Recommendation: Provide interactive and visually enticing spaces for teams to showcase their product.

Rationale: Many teams that exhibit at such conferences end up spending a large amount of their marketing dollars without receiving anything in return. We talked to several teams who held “ecosystems showcase stations” this past Decoded and unfortunately not many people stopped by, nor was the setup in any way visually appealing or memorable. We should create interesting ways to demo products and new projects because placing them in a booth or station without any specific incentive(s) for attendees to go there doesn’t bear many results.

Showcase Polkadot’s strong visual assets

Recommendation: Leverage Polkadot’s vibrant and colorful brand identity in event production to create visually enticing and interactive experiences.

Key enhancements to consider:

Interactive showcases: We are lucky to have an incredibly diverse ecosystem with many different teams building on a wide spectrum of possibilities. Why not showcase them in an interactive way rather than just HUGE blocks of talks on talks? This can be done via POAPs, interactive treasure hunts/quests etc.
Interoperability layouts: Interoperability can be beautifully illustrated when designing an event, with layouts showcasing how the projects are interconnected; it only requires some creative direction. A good example of an attempt of taking Polakadot’s events in this direction is WebZero’s House of Chaos. This event, artfully imagined by XyloDrone, did not reach its intended attendance or outreach mostly due to rushed production and issues with EB payments, but the immersive onboarding experience had the right idea. However, it was unable to market itself properly and was a little too “meta” for the general audience to grasp.
Theme-based pods: Utilizing the different ways you can interact with Polkadot can create a great experience and storyline for an in person event. The world of Polkadot layout we, Distractive, utilize in our booth activations, which brings visitors on a journey, can be translated into a conference experience as well. Creating “pods” for the right teams and people to congregate around based on the following themes will help outsiders navigate through the complex nuances our ecosystem offers.
Incorporating NFT artist collaborations: With new artists coming into the Polkadot NFT space (shout out to KodaDot!), we have an opportunity to showcase their art at our venues. And it should not be just on small screens in a tucked away room. There are many studies on how the aesthetics of your surroundings affect you. Let’s go big with this, and embrace it.

Rationale: Visual and brand identity is a big part of a successful event. Polkadot is lucky to have a colorful and vibrant presence that stands out in the dark and minimalistic brands of today’s crypto, but much of Polkadot’s past events have lacked in terms of visual identity. Why not celebrate the energy and dynamism of our brand? It’s infectious. For example, Distractive’s 80’s inspired Polkadot booth at Consensus 2024 drew great crowds for its aesthetic quality and it was positively commented on by many booth visitors.

What we want to see

A significant shift in creative direction and strategy is essential. While “Polkadot Decoded” and “Sub0” are established brands, neither of those events have achieved consistent success in the past few years. A complete departure from these brands and names is the right way forward.

New Event Concept

After attending events in Brussels this past week, an idea started to form. What if we move away from the traditional, very corporate conference setup? Instead, let’s utilize the wide spectrum of projects building on Polkadot to create a series of topical side events to major conferences and cultural events, driven by the concepts detailed above? By bringing together projects from different ecosystems and subcultures, we would gain new audiences and expose many new attendees to the wide scope of the Polkadot ecosystem.

These thematic side events would range from “Validator Hour”, “Drinks and DAOs”, gaming, AI, Defi, RWA, etc. Given the Polkadot brand’s current limitations to draw crowds (some might even call it a deterrent), these events would be “secured by Polkadot” but cross-promote with other projects from within and outside of our ecosystem.

After a successful buildup, the chain of events would climax in a smaller non-conference. Utilizing the five pillars of Polkadot we introduced at the Consensus 2024 booth, the programming and venue would be splint into the following sections and narratives:

Play: User-facing narratives and wallets
Interact: Defi projects
Enterprise: Corporate and enterprise deals, etc
Build: How to build on Polkadot and infrastructure projects
DAO: Everything OpenGov and community funded related

Incorporation of topical time booking slots for highly specialized ecosystem agents will be wildly helpful for newcomers who are trying to learn about the many facets of Polkadot. These would take place in Pods and Lounges central to the venue with clear direction for all attendees.

Culture

Community has always been at the core and center of Polkadot, along with its incredible tech solutions. Events should create a space for people to meet and share ideas. Parties, while extremely important and an integral part of conferences (and historically the best attended Polkadot organized events) are an extremely important part of the event strategy; however, they should serve as the climax of a productive week not a kickoff.

Creating an inspiring and inviting space for new ideas and collaborations to form, is one of the most important things an event should offer. And isn’t it easier to bond with a drink and some good food in hand?

Location

One of the biggest missed opportunities of many crypto conferences is failing to leverage their chosen location. Utilizing location-specific themes not only in branding, catering options, and side event themes is a huge asset as many attendees end up only hopping from event to event without really seeing the beauty of the country/city they’re in.

Conferences should look and feel different based on the location they’re in; events should reflect the unique culture of their host city.

The easiest way to achieve this is to engage local staff, onboard local ambassadors to support the event, and to work with local merchandise and other vendors.

The culture of each city should be felt and be visible at every event.

Business Development presence

The lack of an involved Business development team presence was notable during most of this year’s conferences. BD teams should have a visible presence at flagship events (and sponsorships and booths). This issue can be rectified with some current DF grantees along with the new Head Ambassador programme.

There should be dedicated spaces where future builders and potential partners can go and meet with Polkadot BD teams, along with an in-point lead generation collection service. These should also be clearly communicated on the event website.

Topical One-on-One Meeting sessions – OFFICE HOUR

To facilitate deeper engagement, we would suggest creating a space with a booking
system to allow attendees to book one-on-one sessions on key topics:

Building + Developer support (“I’m building on Polkadot and need support”)
BizDev (“I want to build on Polkadot”)
Funding for Polkadot Projects (“I want to fund my Polkadot project”)
Navigating OpenGov (“I want to ask the community for their support”)

This will provide a welcoming space for the existing community to address issues in a private setting and will open doors for future builders and contributors to learn more about the ways they can become part of it.

Live Governance

What if we created an OpenGov pitch stage? Let’s dedicate a few hours of the agenda for events to live pitch their proposals for the community. Let’s take the on-chain governance to the in-person stage, fostering real-time dialogue and showcasing how OpenGov works in action.

Transparency

A large topic around treasury-funded initiatives is the lack of transparency. At Distractive, we are big proponents of complete and absolute transparency, and we put as much effort into creating our proposals as we do to our post-event reports. We believe in the importance of providing thorough and detailed accounts of our activities, achievements, and lessons learned.
To illustrate our dedication to transparency, and to suggest a path forward for all ecosystem events, here are a couple of examples of how Distractive reports events and achievements:

These reports include complete financial transparency along with detailed rundown of achievements and lessons learned. This level of detail is vital for open funding, and reinforces our commitment to safeguard and justify the trust our community has given us.

By maintaining this high standard of transparency, we aim to set an example and uphold the values that are critical to the success and integrity of our community-funded initiatives.

Path Forward: Revitalizing Polkadot Events

The future of Polkadot events lies in embracing innovation, community, and strategic evolution. Distractive’s vision, outlined here, prioritizes topical, engaging, and visually stunning experiences that resonate with diverse audiences and foster meaningful connections.

To achieve this, we propose a dynamic mix of global and local events, leveraging the strength of major conferences and cultural events, and creating thematic side events that showcase the breadth and dynamism of the Polkadot ecosystem. This approach will not only attract new audiences but will maximize the value for attendees and participating projects.

Enhancing attendee experiences through thoughtful details, maintaining transparency in operations, and capitalizing on Polkadot’s vibrant visual identity are essential steps. By fostering connections, showcasing innovation, and celebrating the unique culture of each event location, we can ensure Polkadot-branded events achieve relevance and impact.

Should the community support it? Distractive is committed to creating and rebranding Polkadot’s flagship events for next year (Decoded and Sub0 2025) as outlined in this report, following the principles outlined above. Together, we can and will create events that showcase Polkadot’s technological excellence and embody the collaborative and dynamic spirit of our community.

Let’s move forward with renewed focus and energy towards creating experiences that truly resonate with and benefit the Polkadot ecosystem and community.

Open Call to Action:

We invite you to join the Polkadot events strategy channel. Distractive will establish a working group dedicated to rebranding and reinventing Polkadot’s flagship events for 2025. We welcome your ideas and collaboration to create exceptional events that reflect the vibrant Polkadot community. Your insights, enthusiasm, and active participation are crucial to shaping the future of Polkadot events. We look forward to collaborating with you.