Digital Cash Day Havana 2018

[Eduardo Sánchez]

Digital Cash Day Havana 2018

A Free Event About Digital Cash for the General Public in Cuba,
Organized by the Havana Blockchain Center

Basic idea

This one day event in Havana shall inform the general public in Cuba about digital cash
in general and specifically about its most advanced form: Dash. Cuba is a 3 billion dollar remittance market with a dysfunctional monetary system. Digital cash would be a much better solution for the Cuban people. Due to its unique situation Cuba receives a lot of attention worldwide, so a success in Cuba would boost awareness for Dash.


Cuba has a unique financial situation, with a strange and often confusing dual currency system, while enduring a 5 decades long financial blockade by US central institutions.
We believe Dash to be a great alternative for Cubans to be introduced into cryptocurrencies, for it's scalability and user friendliness. We want to show Cubans the advantages of Digital Cash, and we want the world to see the potential of Cuba for blockchain adoption. And we want to do it here, in the most famous and prestigious of Cuba's hotels.

We want to bring to Havana experts from around the world to a one day conference on Digital Cash, and its impact on the region. We will hold talks and workshops, and give away some Dash (and offer products in Dash) to the participants, starting a wave of acceptance & adoption that could make Cuba (for its situation) the first crypto-friendly country in the Caribbean.



Date

Saturday, November 3rd, 2018


Venue

Grand Hotel Manzana Kempinski in Old Havana (see pictures below).

Format

A whole Saturday with talks, hands-on workshops, video screenings, Dash give-aways and a party with Cuban music at night. Free entrance. Drinks and snacks sold for Dash for a significantly lower price, which we will subsidise to incentivize the use of Dash..



Speakers

Cuban and international speakers, for example:

• Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar, Latin American Blockchain Association
  
  
• Rodolfo Andragnes, Espacio Bitcoin Buenos Aires
  
  
• Fernando Gutierrez, Dash Core
  
  
• Aaron Koenig, Dash 101 / Bitfilm.com
  
  
• Eduardo Sanchez, Havana Blockchain Center
  
  
• Olemis Lang, Cuban Tech Group
  
  
• Guillermo Andrés Alpízar, World Economics Research Center

Long term perspective


This event is the first step on the way to realize a Dash Embassy Cuba, similar to the one in Germany / Austria / Switzerland.


Budget:

Dash Day Havanna Budget (in US Dollars)

Staff
Programme director 2800
Organisational director 2800
Organisation assistent 1300
Technical director 1800
PR / marketing manager 1800
Receptionists / helpers 500
Live band party 500
Sum 11500

Rental
Conference venue 1500
Party venue 800
Technical equipment conference 400
Technical equipment party 350
Transportation 250
Sum 3300

Travel
Flights international speakers 3500
Hotel international speakers 2000
Travel embursement local speakers 800
Taxis from airport 300
Old Havana city tour for speakers 500
Sum 7100

Catering
Speakers' dinner 800
Subsidies Snacks and drinks conference 600
Subsidies snacks and drinks party 600
Sum 2000

Marketing
Print flyers 250
Print posters 350
Distribution posters & flyers 350
Facebook ads 250
Google ads 250
Sum 1450

Documentation
Photographer 500
Video cameraman 350
Sound engineer 350
Video equipment 500
Video editing 1200
Sum 2900

Material
Dash Giveaway 500
Decoration material 250
Badges 150
Wristbands 150
Miscellaneous 150
Sum 1200


Total 29450 = 122.76 DASH (as of July 29th, 2018)

 

[Iñaki]

Hey,
Nice idea. I especially like the idea of funding a long term operating dash embassy out of this.

How do you plan to get enough people to show up to justify your expenses? The budget appears high for your first project, maybe you should scale it down accordingly to get a better cost per attendant but feel free to convince me otherwise

 

[Eduardo Sánchez]

Hey,
Nice idea. I especially like the idea of funding a long term operating dash embassy out of this.

How do you plan to get enough people to show up to justify your expenses? The budget appears high for your first project, maybe you should scale it down accordingly to get a better cost per attendant but feel free to convince me otherwise

Hi, Iñaki. Cuba is a virgin market regarding cryptocurrencies, but, as explained in the video, it's also an ideal place for such an initiative.
We'd like to start out as strong as possible, in order to send a message as powerful as possible to the general public (for people to feel that cryptocurrencies are 'going serious' this time). The Cuban government tends to be skeptical about new tech, and organizing such a big event will have great repercussions beyond the sole number of assistants. I'll be bringing over some tech-savvy press.

However, I understand your concern, so I cut down on salaries (the only prices that depend on me) to lower down costs. Hope you find it better and please, keep giving us input!

 

[Aaron Koenig]

Hi Eduardo, this looks great! Count me in as a speaker, even in Spanish.

 

[Eduardo Sánchez]

Great, Aaron! Thank you so much!

 

[Linda Butcher]

Hey,
Nice idea. I especially like the idea of funding a long term operating dash embassy out of this.

How do you plan to get enough people to show up to justify your expenses? The budget appears high for your first project, maybe you should scale it down accordingly to get a better cost per attendant but feel free to convince me otherwise

You may also ask partners and speakers to share in the cost.

 

[Eduardo Sánchez]

Thank you, Linda! If you have any suggestions on viable partnerships, please do let me know!

 

[Arthyron]

@Eduardo Sánchez -- Thank you for your pre-proposal. I've read a bit about the interesting relationship Cubans have with technology, in some ways being more advanced (such as medicine), and others being a bit behind (internet usage). As you mentioned, though, that's changing rapidly, so I think this is an ideal time to introduce Dash to Cuba, especially because Cuba has not yet had much access to digital payment systems as in other developed nations. I can definitely see why you wanted this to be the way to introduce the subject, it's a great plan, you definitely put a lot of thought in to it.

As it stands currently, because of the cryptocurrency market downturn and expansion of Dash Core Group operations, there is very little budget left to fund our other existing and ongoing projects, so expansion in to a new market is probably not a high priority for most of the voting masternode owners, who will probably instead prefer to prioritize the few ongoing projects that need continual funding. If there's a significant market upturn and/or Dash Core Group is able to replenish their buffers and eliminate their tax liabilities in the coming months, then we might have more of an opportunity to fund great projects like this. Given that your project would take place in November, there still might be time for one or both of these possibilities to occur, so I would recommend holding off on submitting any sort of proposal until then if possible, otherwise I don't think it would be very likely to be funded, as interesting and well-planned as it seems.

In the mean time, I don't know how close you've been following Dash's activities, but because we've made significant progress in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking nations, we have a number of educational and promotional materials available for Spanish-speaking audiences that might be useful for you (for example the Dash Academy educational segments we've funded available at http://www.dashacademy.com/ ). I would recommend getting in contact with Dash Venezuela: http://dashvenezuela.org/ to see if they have any other materials you might be able to use in the mean time or--in the event that some room in the budget opens up in the near future--to cut costs for your own preparations.

 

[Unstoppable]

I heartily second everything @Arthyron says, especially about getting in touch with the Dash Venezuela. They and their associates have a lot of experience with conferences and can give you valuable advice.

I also second @Iñaki's comments. It is quite a large budget, especially for Cuba, and for a one-time event.

You appear to be new to the forum, and so, an unkown entity. I recommend you take part in the Dash Force Meetup program. It is an excellent program, and can help you in your preparations for your big event:

https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/dashforce-meetup-presentation-program.12802/

 

[Darlene Horton]

Eduardo, ambitious and super necessary conference. I couldn't agree more that a successful Dash Cuba would empower Cubans and improve their economic reality significantly. As you say, most Cubans have no bank accounts, no credit cards, and operate fully in cash. A digital currency in Cuba seems like an obvious solution. However, Cuba is not Venezuela. Some think the situation is worse in Venezuela. It is not for this one reason. Venezuelans are protesting, risking their lives to return to a more free economic reality, I'll call it capitalism, where some win and some lose. In Cuba, there are no public protests. The shifting Cuban policies on licenses for paladares and casas particulares, for example, keep Cubans constantly under the thumb of the government and never really empowers them to reach their ultimate economic potential. Here's my question. Will the Cuban government really allow for this meeting to take place? Will the Cuban participants be at risk in any way? Will they have to register? Cuba is famous to taking a list like that and ruining people's lives. Why would the Cuban government allow for Dash to be successful, allow for Cubans to have a way to escape the government's control over them?

 

[Pasta]

Although I really like the idea, I think the price is too much... Especially for your first project