We propose to host Ecosystem Pavilions at numerous Exhibitions around the world. The funding will ensure that projects are able to have access to much more affordable prices to have a presence at the event. Non of the spots or travel budgets will be 100% funded. We will also be ensuring that projects that sign up understand the importance of pre event work, during the event work and follow up work to achieve the best possible ROI. The aim is that it will give projects a more affordable entry and education into how to truly make the most of exhibitions and marketing.

Please visit out website for a more thorough breakdown and explanation:

There is a genuine need to get more of a Cardano presence at Exhibitions around the world, but the costs are prohibitive for many projects currently. Although everyone knows of "Cardano", they know very little, if anything about what has and is being built here or how to build here. We also need to attract more people to the ecosystem, whether its investors, developers or users. Exhibitions are often a key part of all of these audiences decision making when choosing where to base themselves.

The funds will provide a partial subsidy to projects so they can afford to be present at exhibitions that will benefit them. Part of the funding will enable us to be able to provide support to the projects to ensure they get the most out of the event.

The Pavilions need to be paid for as far in advance as possible to ensure the best price and position is achieved. So the majority of the funds will need to be released upon successful application confirmation. But from a milestone POV, we will be providing plenty of proof that the event took place, along with Follow up calls etc and KPI gathering.

In terms of Monetary ROI/KPIs:

$839k ask is for partial subsidy for projects to fund Travel and prvide much more accessible exhibition options. The value of which is $839k. We believe we can achieve a CAC of $140 per user which is well below industry average of $239. this is based on 6k new users onboarded directly from the events using Proof of onboarding tokens We expect 10,000 QR code scans to follow projects on Cardano. a reversal of downard trend of Ada ownership in Surveys from 12% to 17% an increased trend of 9% intent to buy ADA to 15% in surveys 100 developers signed up to Cardano academy 25 Vc firms contact details handed over to Cardano foundation positive feedback from project indicating they would be willing to Exhibit again as they se the benefits 10 Projects exhibiting without funding at all in the future. All information and more details can be found on the website linked in the proposal.

8 x Pavilions to hold minimum 10 projects each @ $75,000 each ($600k) (800k ADA) 2 x Ecosystem Booths @ $50,000 each ($100k) (133,333ADA) 100 x Partial Travel Subsidies ($139,500) (186,000ADA)

This Breakdown is as granular as can be as when I get the invoice from the Exhibition organisers, it is typically (as an example) $75,000 for a fully built 36SQM Pavilion including Prints and furniture etc...

The Travel Subsidies part is impossible to know for sure as we have no idea how much people will need to claim back for travel. The Figure is a max figure.

There will be 4 Discover Cardano staff working on this in part, throughout the year. We are applying for funding for Pavilions that will hold 10 Project stands at 10 exhibitions. plus 2 booths. The Staff are already employed with work outside of this proposal. We will Divert Resource accordingly to support this if funded.

We would like to see that there are at least 50 Projects that will be able to utilise this project and that after the end of the year, they can attest in person to the benefits of exhibiting at the right events for their platform.

On top of that, at least 2 of our staff will be walking the events and doing short surveys with visitors, designed to gauge peoples knowledge of Cardano ecosystem. As the year progresses, we aim to see an uptick in peoples knowledge of the opportunity that Cardano represents. (Beyond just knowing ADA is a top 10 Crypto)

Personally I have 15 years experience at over 75 exhibitions and conferences around the world in various industries. I have also in the past benefited from Industry and Government Grant subsidy schemes for such activities. So I am employing the best fit here into my proposal for where we currently are as a young and developing ecosystem with very little marketing support to date.

We have previously had a largely self funded booth at a crypto event in 2023 as well as a satellite event at DIFC to the Cardano Summit where we gave 14 projects the opportunity to present themselves on stage in front of TradFi innvoation teams like HSBC/Standard chartered and others.

After the events have taken place, one of the things we will be doing is asking projects to provide feedback on the effectiveness and we will provide support to them all to ensure follow ups are done etc.. Again, the staff that would do this are employed by Discover Cardano already.

Regarding the Dispersal of subsidies, we will require projects that sign up to initially provide the funds for their pod spot, then they provide us with the booking payment confirmations for flights and hotel and they receive the amount they are entitled to by the end of the month (as long as they submit before the 20th of each month, otherwise it will be paid the end of the following month.)

Over the last 6 weeks, I have been socialising and refining the proposal based on community feedback in Discord and twitter spaces.

Here is a link to a tweet where I have asked for the community to record their endorsement:

https://x.com/invalid_eutxo/status/1908166826095194154

This proposal has no other funding dependancies. Discover Cardano staff that would be involved in these events are already in place and is self funded and working on other aspects right now. If this proposal gets funded, It will likely drive the priority/order of what content is created and when to fit in with the timelines for each event.