Australian University Cardano Talks

[IMPACT]

We propose holding face-to-face talks and panels with catered networking events for university students interested in the Cardano cryptocurrency and its ecosystem of initiatives.

Total of 6 events will be hosted.

2 Universities have been selected with 1 backup.

• University of Queensland
• Queensland University of Technology
• Griffith University (back-up)

Events will happen monthly for 3 months as part of this pilot program, totalling 6 events across the 2 universities.

Universities, we believe, are where the next generation of developers and crypto enthusiasts are born, and they should be a primary focus for growing interest in and exposure to Cardano.

We'll bring a lot of information to the events, as well as guest presenters, to educate and inform students about current Cardano cryptocurrency topics.

All of the events will be photographed and videotaped. Social media will be used to share the movies and photographs.

The events will be absolutely free (there will be no registration charge), and we will always look for ways to attract more people to the events.

These events will highly incentivise university students to attend and be exposed and educated about blockchain technology and Cardano.

Pandemic:

Currently regulations allow large gatherings, however we are unable to control this.

Risk Mitigation: Use online tools such as Zoom to host.

Low turn-out / attendance:

There are many incentives such as food and opportunity to network that will attract student attendance.

Risk Mitigation: If low attendance happens we are able to pivot to more intimate tutorials and workshops and take on a quality over quantity approach.

[FEASIBILITY]

Our proposal is to:

1.  Develop suite of technical talks hosted by industry professionals regarding different topics such as:
2. Introduction to Cardano
3. What does Cardano development look like?
4. What is Staking and Staking Pools
5. SPO who are they?
6. What does a future with Cardano look like?
7. Create connections with university societies and present the collection of technical talks and panels on a regular basis i.e. Monthly Cardano Talk
8. Host events that utilize the technical talks to develop interest and exposure to Cardano and food to encourage students to attend. Events will have a structure as such:

• 1 - 2 hour Technical Cardano Talk / Cardano Panel 
• 1 hour Networking + Food with Speaker / Panel Members

Our goal is to:

Create an organization that can reach out to universities and offer fully paid technical talks or panels with catered networking.

Our project timeline:

Month 1 

Phase 1: Program planning phase

• Liaising with Universities to organize time slots
• Finding food vender
• Finding event locations
• Finding and developing relationships with speakers / panel members
• Planning event logistics

Month 2

Phase 2: Execute events

• Host first event at the chosen university
• Collect feedback and improve subsequent events with feedback 
• Host second event at the other chosen university 
• Collect feedback and improve subsequent events with feedback 

Month 3

Phase 2: Execute events

• Host third and fourth event at the 2 chosen university
• Collect feedback and improve subsequent events with feedback 

Month 4

Phase 2: Execute events

• Host fifth and sixth event at the 2 chosen university
• Collect feedback and improve subsequent events with feedback
• Collate learnings and publish a public template for university expose and educate events with lessons learnt.                                                              

Phase 1: Program planning phase (Total = $1400):

Planning cost: $35/hr x 40hr = $1400 

Including:

• Liaising with Universities to organize time slots
• Finding food vender
• Finding event locations
• Finding and developing relationships with speakers / panel members
• Planning event logistics

Phase 2: Execute events (Total = $2940)

Per event costs:

Food cost - $30/person x 30 people per event = $900

Location hire - $100/hour x $3 hours = $300

Speaker / Panel members pay - $100/hour x (3 hours speaking + 3 hours preparation time) = $600

Photographer - $75/hr x 3 hours = $225

Videographer + Video creation - $75/hr x (3 hours shooting + 3 hours editing) = $450

Event MC - $75/hour x 3 hours = $225

Event logistics Staff - $40/hr x 3 hours x 2 people = $240

Total of 6 events will be hosted.

2 Universities have been selected with 1 backup.

Events will happen monthly for 3 months as part of this pilot program, totalling 6 events across the 2 universities.

------- Total Cardano University Expose and Educate Initiative Pilot Cost --------

$1400 (Program planning phase) + $2940 (Per event cost) x 6 events = $19,040

Emerson

• Close connections with 3 different Computing related societies.
• 3 years experience organising university society events.
• Co-SPO for DOG Pool with strong relations with other Cardano industry professionals.
• Currently working as Software Engineering at global company.

[AUDITABILITY]

• Number of registrants in the event
• Events completed with photo evidence and feedback given
• Number of new participants in the community after the event

The success of the project will be determined by the number of students we can introduce to Cardano and for those who wish to learn more about blockchain technology, the number of students that choose to invest time to learn and develop on Cardano. Our primary goal is to educate university students about blockchain technology and Cardano, demonstrating its benefits. This project will be successful if we can translate attendance to our events to active Cardano community members, be it invested into the Cardano project or an aspiring developer. We hope that these university events would be the catalyst for many to start their crypto journey with Cardano.

This is a new proposal that will be a pilot Cardano Expose and Educate Australian University program we hope to continue with funding in the future