Ape IRL Community Building & Expansion

[CryptoLogically]

Proposal Name
Ape IRL Community Building & Expansion

Proposal Category
Ecosystem Fund Allocation

Abstract

This AIP aims to direct funds toward co-sponsoring IRL meetups to raise public awareness of ApeCoin and expand the ApeCoin community in strategic locations in the US and abroad for the calendar year 2023.

Motivation

Good things happen when $APE holders and enthusiasts get creative; amazing things happen when they come together. While many of us interact remotely via Discourse, Twitter, and Discord, the community benefits most from IRL events (like ApeFest)… and yet, these events happen too few and far between to make lasting impacts on day-to-day communities.

With the recent success of the Bay Area Bored Apes San Francisco Meetup, the community managed to bring together 100+ ApeCoin (and BAYC) holders as well as new friends to the community, many of whom finally met in person for the first time. These connections have since matured into friendships, working relationships, and partnerships, united by a common geography, all in the name of pushing forward the network and untapped potential of the ApeCoin ecosystem.

While the event was a tremendous success, it would not have been possible without the contributions of a number of holders and community members who were committed to bringing people together. All costs were absorbed by the event organizer and community contributors, to an estimated value of $5k - $10k (event venue rental, marketing design and materials, food and beverage, t-shirt giveaway production and design, raffle giveaway donation items, entertainment, etc.).

We recognize the desire for community members to share their passions and talents with other likeminded individuals, and bringing ApeCoin holders together via IRL events and meetups is an underutilized way to foster an entire new wave of innovation and community-building. We believe these events should not be denied individual communities who lack only the funding necessary to bring ApeCoin holders and friends together through these events. This AIP aims to allocate a nominal budget for various community events in the service of this goal.

Rationale

This proposal aims to foster community and collective innovation by helping to bring together ApeCoin holders united by common geography, and touches on multiple Guiding Values set forth by the DAO.

Boldness: in a largely online-oriented world where we have to continually remind one another to “go touch some grass,” mobilizing the large-scale organization of community members requires courage and a sense of going outside of one’s comfort zone for the sake of being part of something larger.

Equality, Transparency and Collective Responsibility: as with the Bay Area Apes Meetup, no one was denied access to the event, and all activities were free for all attendees (from the pizza, to the t-shirts, to the raffle entries). This fosters openness and inclusivity, and further demonstrates to the rest of the world that ApeCoin not only exists, but that its stewards are thoughtful, generous contributors to the local community.

Specifications

Event organizers are free to utilize whatever resources best mobilize their constituents, be it via Meetup, Twitter, Discord, or other means they feel best suited to this purpose. No new technologies to this end are to be created by virtue of this proposal.

Steps to Implement

This proposal raises a number of necessary considerations:
- Potential fund recipients must provide a detailed projected budget for the event in question, outlining specific costs to be used directly in service of the event.
- Recipients must provide receipts matching these proposed expenses.
- If selected for an event co-sponsorship, there must be a trusted fund recipient. This recipient is to be an active member of the Apecoin Discourse Forum with a valid $APE wallet.

Timeline

Funds are to be utilized for events taking place within the calendar year 2023 (January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023). Any funds not utilized in this timeframe are to be returned to the Treasury.

Overall Cost

Given the above-mentioned example of the Bay Area Bored Apes Meetup costing within a range of $5k - $10k, this proposal requests a co-sponsorship contribution of the low-end of this estimate.

That is to say, we are requesting a total of $60,000 worth of $APE be set aside for no more than 12 local community IRL events (the equivalent of one per month) for no more than $5,000 per event within the calendar year 2023. Again, any funds not utilized within this time frame are to be returned to the Treasury.

Thanks to all involved for your time and consideration.

[RedVulkan]

This is a wonderful idea, Chris! Love the concept of bringing people together. Was a big fan of seeing what you all did with the Bay Area meetup.

I’m actually working on setting up an IRL event up near Seattle, WA. This would be to build community and teach people about this DAO. Is this something we could collaborate on to include as part of this proposal?

Or are the 12 events you mentioned more for the Bay Area? If so, no worries at all. I can make another proposal for my event. Just wanted to double check to see if it could be a potential collaboration first.

[CryptoLogically]

Vulkan! Yes, the proposal is for literally anywhere in the world that wants to host an IRL ApeCoin event. Seattle is a fantastic idea and seems to keep coming up lately. I’d more than love to coordinate something with you, especially in the service of teaching more people about the DAO. It’s clear the kinds of results we can achieve in real life as opposed to virtually, so I’m all for this.

You’re bringing an important element to this proposal: education. While the Bay Area Meetup was largely for the sake of community, I’d love to incorporate a presentational element to these proposed events, so that’s an excellent point.

Perhaps we could design a DAO-approved presentational template for consideration at these events with some basic information for newcomers and the ApeCoin-curious.

So many ways we could go with this, and at a relatively low comparative cost to the DAO treasury.

[ssp1111]

Hey Chris,

Just an FYI, this is pretty much what our AIP-64 Feasibility Study has been working on for the past several months and have collected a ton of data and resources for how ApeCoin DAO can/should proceed with IRL Events in a more strategic manner.

One of the main outcomes of the study is the concept of creating an IRL Events Support Team (AIP to follow) to move these proposals along in a more streamlined, faster manner.

We have a plan with a Master Calendar for 2023 in the works - might be a good idea to work together or something.

Let me know - SSP

PS - same goes for anyone planning IRL Events in 2023 that are a sub-100k ask

[CryptoLogically]

Ah! Thought I’d properly reviewed prior proposals but this one must have escaped me. The support team is a great idea, I admit the hardest part for me to envision when I was drafting this was the process by which these proposed events are vetted and approved.

Glad there are others thinking about these things, apologies for the redundancy. I’ll be sure to hit Discord or be particularly thorough next time so as to eliminate these inefficiencies.

I’d most certainly like to help work on the Master Calendar, if you’d have me. I already have a few timely event proposals for consideration, so perhaps I might help collaborate.

[RedVulkan]

Awesome, yeah some kind of hybrid model where a presentation is given to educate people + have a place for existing community members to meet up as well is a great concept.

[ssp1111]

It’s all good.

To be clear, I certainly am not suggesting you cannot make your own proposals, every member should feel free to do so if so inclined.

I’m totally inviting you to join forces (I have about 31 members that have raised their hands to be involved in some way or other) in putting our resources together to create something with a much larger scope and impact.

It’s obviously a much bigger ask and a longer process, which ultimately may not pass as easily as a proposal with a smaller ask, but if you’re moved to participate in IRL Events for Community Engagement, let’s chat.

Peace
SSP -

[CryptoLogically]

I’m all about the bigger picture. While things can start small, I think it’s important to think long-term and the more energy we have working in tandem on a common goal is most beneficial and can help build a more sustainable long-term good. My proposal was in the same spirit and not time-sensitive (not looking to rush an event out there just for the sake of an event) so I believe I’ll be withdrawing this proposal in favor of redirecting these resources toward AIP-64.

This is all part of the learning process, I suppose. Whatever pushes the community forward most effectively (not “most quickly”) is the route I’d prefer to take.

[NFTC]

Love to see the teamwork and collaboration play out in real time!

[Moonlyght]

Great idea! IRL events are always amazing!

[Halina]

Love this proposal so much!! @CryptoLogically , you did an amazing job organizing the Bay Apes meetup!! Had such great vibes & met so many amazing people that day, I loved the hot sauces, shirts, and vodka that was raffled out too!!

Some tweets from that event in case you all want to see the vibe:

Combo | Building NFT 2.0

Vera 🍌💕🐒

AnSΞn 🦋

Excited to work with @RedVulkan @ssp1111 @Novocrypto and many others to put this IRL Events proposal/working group together- as we’ve seen with the ETH SF Hackathon, the Bay Apes event, and so many others, the magic of IRL is undeniable

Some tweets featuring ETH SF:

Halina.eth 💎🌻

VJyou.eth / YuAyato (ENG)

Halina.eth 💎🌻

Hope anyone & everyone who’s interested in IRL events will reach in this thread & chat with @ssp1111 about all the exciting synergy & magic we can create!

-Halina.eth

[ssp1111]

IRL Events are magical! @Halina is head sorceress!

[CryptoLogically]

YES YES YES to all of it!! 2023 is going to be the year of IRL connections… there’s truly nothing like being physically present with other likeminded people sharing our hopes, dreams, and beers with each other.

The relationships and lifelong friendships I’ve made here just in this short span of time has completely changed my life. Thankful for such a robust, active and brilliant community. There’s truly no place I’d rather be.

[beleevens]

Awesome initiative @CryptoLogically and great to see the collaborative effort. I think these are great thoughts, also with what @ssp1111 is working on.

One thing I’d like to raise and bring awareness to: As many community members are located in the US / Canada, most events are happening there. I’d love to see an active effort to diversify these events all around the world. I’m the initiator of Ape Club DACH (German speaking Apes) and would love to get something going for the official Oktoberfest in Munich next year. This could be either a small-ish meetup or a huge event, depending on the budget you’d like to allocate to it.

Looking forward to seeing more IRL events happening in the future!

[Mantis]

Excellent point here. My company has outreach efforts already going to the Phillippines and Nigeria as well. I know for sure there’s a Filipino Ape community and Twitter that could a collaboration partner, and we can help find any in Nigeria. What’s more, we can reach out to the wider community; perhaps create a meetup/charity event. We run events like this using gaming as the vehicle to get people excited.

I’m certainly game for global expansion; perhaps if this proposal doesn’t or can’t touch on it, I will propose a complementary one that will.

[CryptoLogically]

As a black Filipino whose dad was born in the Philippines, this speaks directly to my heart.

I’ve just reached out to putikbrown.eth and the BAYCkada for the possibility of collaboration. LET’S GOOOO!!!

[Mantis]

Happy to find a point that’s close to both of our hearts. I would love to make something HUGE happen in the Philippines… I’m so down for this!

[Halina]

Love the idea of an Ape Oktoberfest so much, welcome @beleevens we’re so glad to have you!!

Expanding beyond Canada & the US and engaging international holders should be a huge priority, I’m in contact with the founders of the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Singaporean, and Malaysian clubs as well, and bet they’d love to collaborate on IRL events

Let’s take ApeCoin international!!

[ssp1111]

You better @beleevens there’ll be more IRL Events coming in 2023 .

Sorry about that.

I see a couple of options here:

The IRL Events Working Group’s main mission is to increase adoption of APECoin and will mostly be measured through new wallets - so if your event is like an educational onboarding, workshop, expo/conference with an ask of sub-$25k, then it may be a good candidate for our Prop House.

If you have other ideas and think you might need a lot more than that, then consider drafting your own AIP for your event and get started sooner than later as the process takes some time.

Also, the ApeComms Team will no doubt be thrilled to help with the drafting.

Happy to jump on a call anytime.

Cheers – SSP

[Escape]

Hi @CryptoLogically,

Your topic will be automatically closing in less than 24 hours. Are you content with the feedback received, or do you wish to extend community discussion for a further 7 days?

If we do not hear from you within 48 hours after your topic closes, your topic will be moved straight to the AIP Draft process.

We look forward to hearing from you.

-Escape