Community Stage & Live Stream at Rare Evo 24 Caesars Palace - Powered by Rare Network / Rare Evo

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Wes Parkinson

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

200000

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

10

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

A 2nd community focused stage will allow Rare Evo to provide programming surrounding community led startup projects. Speaking slots along with booths, will be offered to the community free of charge.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

No

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

While we will share many metrics and content being transparent in our approach, we cannot guarantee we share every aspect of our business as a privately owned and operated company.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Rare Network, hosts of Rare Evo, are having their annual blockchain industry conference at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, NV on Aug. 15-18th 2024.

Our highly demanded mainstage programming is nearly filled up between Layer 1 and Fortune 50 executives, sponsored project team leads, and special guest speakers for next year already. However, we have a tremendous amount of demand for additional speaking slots from the Cardano community. The constraint is that stage production including Audio/Video, lighting, furniture, live stream, and labor is one of our largest costs at hand each year. Taking on a second community oriented stage to solve programming nearly being full is a valid solution, although it also is a great financial risk to us as many community led startup projects have little marketing spend for us to cover costs.

Our solution is to fund the community stage utilizing Project Catalyst F11 while in return providing further programming focused on community led projects, gaming, NFTs, DeFi, and more at no cost to a majority of participating projects. Whereas the mainstage will be focused more on L1s/L2s and enterprise blockchain adoption from paying sponsors.

We will open applications to the Cardano Community to apply for 8x 25min speaking slots (which may be combined into a panel) for NO CHARGE to the projects selected. In addition, we will provide 4 10x10ft booth spaces complimentary to Cardano project teams on our expo hall floor at Rare Evo 2024.

This allows our team as a Cardano stake pool originated blockchain events and media startup, to produce added educational experiences and related content for the Cardano community at our multichain conference with little to no risk of negative financial impact. Additionally, this allows Cardano project teams who may not be able to afford sponsorship to still get a chance to present to a high value audience on stage and/or save marketing dollars by receiving a complimentary booth.

By having additional programming highlighting the Cardano startup scene on a secondary stage, the chain will have more marketing power within the multichain expo hall stage area. The stage will also have a dedicated live stream where online viewers can tune in worldwide at no cost to be educated on the latest Cardano project innovations.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

In the past 2 years of events, we have gained over 40k+ live stream views of our mainstage programming. Adding new programming focused on Cardano community will allow for founding teams to share their message to the world. Additionally, by using Project Catalyst to fund the community stage, we can offer free speaking time and expo hall booths to Cardano startups who lack the proper marketing spend.

Allowing more Cardano projects on stage will show the chain's dominance in a multichain atmosphere, as well as allowing us to produce more educational content to be live stream and later clipped, then uploaded.

We will be able to measure this impact by witnessing the additional stage build out and programming in person at Rare Evo 2024 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Additionally, online viewers can tune in worldwide to our livestream. Following the live stream, all speeches will be split up individually and clipped garnishing thousands of views from the multichain space.

The results will be documented in each milestone and the content will be released on our YouTube channel and social media.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Our team hosted the first all encompassing Cardano community startup event in North America, highlighting the initiatives of the chain's founding entities to its most impressive projects. We have attended 6-10 blockchain conferences as a team per year, representing our Cardano originated startup company. As an events company we take pride in the power of blockchain conferences and practice what we preach, by selling Rare Evo booth to booth and taking notes on the general production from some of the best events worldwide. Each year we host our own conference, Rare Evo, where we have over 700 IRL attendees, Cardano leadership such as Charles Hoskinson (IOG), Frederik Gregaard (Cardano Foundation), and Nikhil Joshi (Emurgo) on our mainstage w/ 40k+ live stream views, 50+ booths on our expo hall floor, and 20 workshops, including a Hydra masterclass. Beyond the annual conference, we have Rare Socials at events like Blockchain Life Dubai, ETH Denver, Consensus, NFTxLV, and others.

At Rare Network we have many trusted partners and high value customers, this allows us to have an advantage on collaborating successfully on networking and educational events.

https://youtu.be/R6jw33X21Mc?si=E0Awt10JfXu3S6Wphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzsTOZ0FVlU

Rare Evo 2023 mainstage content covered by Altcoin Daily (1.3M Subs on YouTube) in a video with over 170k views!

https://youtu.be/A-WcpwXoKQ4?si=AVhyvnXuQTZKXBlm

Additionally, the team has utilized Project Catalyst funds successfully in the past to benefit the wider Cardano community through live events and media production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtIe1O43LYA&t=5s

The team had successful Rare Social in Dubai at the Blockchain Life conference in collaboration with SingularityNET. We were able to execute on the side event in a very tight time frame and had over 100 high value blockchain industry professionals RSVP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNnBBemH8os

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rare-network-presents-a-rare-social-blockchain-life-dubai-tickets-511335988707?aff=oddtdtcreator

We had a full house at the theatre film premier of Chasing the WADA Dream social at NFTxLV in partnership with Nucast, Technotainment, WADA, and DAOGen with the Cardano community:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/technotainment-web3-family-presents-vegas-party-film-theatre-premier-tickets-725762855237?aff=oddtdtcreator

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Budget the secondary stage production getting competitive rates from vendors. Begin stage design. Establish production team.

Deliverables:

Document: Stage Specs

Document: Staffing Plans

Document: Booth/Speaker Selection Process & Timeline

Document: Supplemental Documentation (Quotes, etc.)

Milestone Based Payouts for Project Catalyst Funds in ADA to Spend per Milestone:

• M1: 100,000 $ADA Audio/Video Down Payment, Staging Down Payment

Deliver a draft of the programming schedule for 8 speaking time slots and assign 4 10x10ft booth spaces.

Deliverables:

Document: Draft Secondary Stage Speaking Agenda Highlighting Complimentary Community Speaking Slots

Document: Expo Booth Map Highlighting Complimentary Community Booths

Document: Booth/Speaker Selection Process & Timeline

Milestone Based Payouts for Project Catalyst Funds in ADA to Spend per Milestone:

• M2: 75,000 $ADA Lighting Payment, Labor Costs Payment, Stage Decoration Payment, Visual Graphic Production Costs, Dedicated Internet Line

Provide final agenda and sizzle reel footage of the secondary stage. Show proof of live stream and clip all individual speeches for upload.

Deliverables:

Document: Rare Evo 2024 Final Secondary Stage Two Day Speaking Agenda

Document: Secondary Stage Sizzle Reel

Document: Supplemental Documentation (Invoices, Designs, Photos, etc.)

Milestone Based Payouts for Project Catalyst Funds in ADA to Spend per Milestone:

• M3: 25,000 $ADA Furniture Rental Payment, Remaining Labor Costs Payments, Media Content Production Costs

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

WES PARKINSON (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-parkinson-8591526a/ or https://twitter.com/RareEvo)

Co-Founder of Rare Network, Wes has a decade of global software sales and services experience within the Content Services industry. Wes created the RARE stake pool with Rand in 2020. Wes has a bachelor’s degree in Information and Telecommunication Systems with a minor in Business and Marketing.

RAND MCHENRY (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rand-mchenry-126b25145/ or https://twitter.com/RandCorp_eth)

Co-Founder of Rare Network, Rand has 15 years experience creating live events and has been working in the crypto space for 7 years. Rand was an award winning pioneer in the cannabis industry. Additionally, he was a Sales Director for a $40M annual revenue logistics company. He is the one full-time employee at Rare Network.

EVAN FISCHER (https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-fischer-01a9a6113/)

Core member of the Rare Evo team, Evan heads business operations at Rare Network, with 10 years experience in live events production and co-founder of Lucid Investments with a focus in Web3 gaming.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Expense Breakdown (in $USD/$ADA):

• LED Screen $25,000 USD = 59,206 $ADA
• Audio/Video (Cameras, Monitors, Sound Boards, Cabling, etc.) $13,000 USD = 30,787 $ADA
• Lighting $13,000 USD = 30,787 $ADA
• Dedicated Internet Line (for dependable Live Stream Feed) $4,000 USD = 9,473 $ADA
• Power and Venue Service Fees $4,000 USD = 9,473 $ADA
• Stage Furniture $2,000 USD = 4,736 $ADA
• Labor $15,000 USD = 35,523 $ADA
• Stage Design Decoration (Podium, Draping, Curtain Branding, etc.) $3,000 = 7,104 $ADA

Note: The LED Screen will allow speakers to display presentations to the audience in person and on stream.

Milestone Based Payouts for Project Catalyst Funds in ADA to Spend per Milestone:

• M1: 100,000 $ADA Audio/Video Down Payment, Staging Down Payment
• M2: 75,000 $ADA Lighting Payment, Labor Costs Payment, Stage Decoration Payment, Visual Graphic Production Costs, Dedicated Internet Line
• M3: 25,000 $ADA Furniture Rental Payment, Remaining Labor Costs Payments, Media Content Production Costs

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

This project allows us to add a secondary high value and impactful Cardano community stage to strengthen and grow the ecosystem within a multichain atmosphere at Rare Evo 2024, along with producing related media surrounding the programming to showcase on social media. The funds will aid Rare Network, a Cardano stake pool originated events and media production team, by covering production costs, de-risking our business while simultaneously giving back to the Cardano community through additional live stream content, along with complimentary booth and speech offerings.

We have successfully executed on stage production by budgeting accurately ahead of time and have followed the same practices while scoping this secondary community stage. In the past two years we have had multiple stage, podcast booths, 40k+ views on our live streams, and 500k+ views on related post production video content. Therefore, we have proved we can execute on selecting proper vendors, day of execution, and a reliable main stage live stream.

Producing an event of this magnitude comes with a premium between buying/renting equipment and paying for unionized labor. However, we are doing everything in our power, between heavy negotiations, buying vs. renting, reducing high unionized labor costs by hiring an inhouse team, and beyond to allow for the funds to cover our needs. This stage will be high quality at a low price -- some of the costs may come at a surprising premium, but the conference industry is not cheap, while making some expenses unavoidable.

Securing funds from Project Catalyst will allow Rare Evo 2024 to be a a greater success, while growing the Cardano community in the process, along with protecting a Cardano originated events and media startup company, Rare Network (hosts of Rare Evo), from the risks and costs of stage/AV production with high priced unionized labor in convention industry of Las Vegas.

The team will provide value by producing and hosting a high quality secondary stage build and programming highlighting the Cardano community and projects within a high value multichain atmosphere at one of the world's premier blockchain conferences. The content will be share on social media and show the power of the blockchain conferences and the participating Cardano community.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept