HackerHotel 0 - Request for Community Advice, Input, & Feedback

DEVCon(nect) Proposals & Feedback
1

Hello everybody!

I’d like to open up the conversation regarding a neutral event I’d like to organise before, during, and after devcon. In short, a HackerHotel.

We’re currently a team of 4 organising this, and have made a first presentation sketching our concept which is visible on this canva presentation link

What’s a hackerhotel (to us)?

  • Fair Room prices, with the full hotel rented out to Builders/Contributors to the ecosystem
  • Public accessible for both on and off-chain people (Lobby floor coworking, fair priced restaurant & bar, registrationless events)
  • Neutral space for events of the ecosystem (with registrations/tickets)
  • Evening events supporting locals (Live Music, cooking workshops, cultural courses etc)
  • No waste through 1000s t-shirts as swag
  • Workshops

Things I would love advice on;

  • How to deal with insurance for events of this magnitude (50-250 rooms)
  • How do you deal with international sales/presales (legally)
  • What do general events currently charge/expect from partnerships, with the ability to not give out curation power due to the need for funds/money?
  • Anything you believe I should stay aware of (hidden skeletons)
  • How to curate grant proposals correctly?

Things I would love input of;

  • Your personal experiences with these kind of hackerhotels or hacker houses
  • What would you like to see if you would be a guest or visitor
  • Would you visit this?

Things I could use feedback on;

  • Anything! We are now just about starting to talk to venues and are happy to adjust a lot of our pieces on the current sketching table. Full consent for constructive critism on any points mentioned or proposed!

Thank you for your time and advice! There’ll definitely be some special yet undefined amenities for those helping us find our right path.

  • Mf

Thanks, @ligi, for opening up the devcon proposals forum field. I think it’ll be useful for future input from the community early on before all the main decisions are already made.

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2

Nice idea! Just wondering why not HackerHostel - I see some advantages here:

  • shared Kitchen (maybe cooking together)
  • community rooms
  • cheaper
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3

That’s definitely something I can play with. It’s also something that will offer a lot of people a way to visit without necessarily being constrained by budget.

I love the idea of making a communal kitchen happen (with additional cleaning people, though, lol). Cooking together is a great way of getting to know people and also makes it more accessible.

I’d be evading doing a full hostel as the security/privacy factor and the ability to lock a private room is definitely important in my vision. There’ll also be people as couples who’d like privacy, and just as much also the ability

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4

I like this iniative a lot.

I’d also caution against hostels unless there’ll be plenty of lockboxes available for use.

What I’d like to see from such initiatives is transparency. The organizing team should also be compensated for their time.

If the sponsors could cover a large percentage of the costs and the hotel could give a good discount, this model would work out great.

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5

Thanks a lot for your comments! Yeah security is very present in our mind, as why our choice to go rather with private rooms where people also have the option to share a bedroom/apartment.

I also believe our team should be compensated. As we’re bootstrapping that we’re currently volunteering, although once we get a first budget, we can allocate accordingly. (All transparent, we have no reason to hide our budgets)

6

A little update;

After trying to close on multiple hotel venues, so far, we could not get a full private venue. Nor Hostel, nor hotel.

What we did in exchange is set up a concept of “Decentralised Hotel”, with a goal of matching peers from the industry through our application on various rooms/apartments/villas depending on their needs.

We combine people’s “persona” with other personas we see fit and then link them up to share a space. These spaces are reserved all around Bangkok, with a priority near the devcon venue. Thus creating a “decentralised hotel”!

I would love a look from people on our website or or initial docs!

hackerhotel.xyz

hackerhotel wiki

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7

Hey @ligi and @tuzun.eth !

Thank you for the lovely feedback so far! I’d also like to chime in on what @ m.f , myself and one more colleague - Migle, are doing with Hacker Hotel.

We believe that indie newcomers are super important to the growth of the Ethereum community, and with this initiative, we’re making DevCon more accessible for as many first-timers as we can. This experience isn’t just for newcomers, but we think they’ll get the most out of it.

Our goals pretty much are to:

  • Enable more people to experience DevCon and Bangkok – by providing coliving spaces near the QNNCC (the DevCon venue), reducing accommodation costs for attendees, and offering subsidies where possible. (more on this below)
  • Enhance networking opportunities – by matching cohabitants based on their values and interests, creating an inclusive and safe space for everyone.
  • Showcase the richness of Thai and Buddhist culture – by organizing cultural activities like Thai cooking classes, monk chats, temple tours, and local social hours. These events will also be open to non-guests.

We’re working with locals directly for both the stays and the cultural experiences, as going local-first has been an important requirement for us from the get-go.

Apart from the stay during DevCon Week itself, Hacker Hotel will last the entire month of November as we’re hearing from more and more DevCon attendees and volunteers expressing their interest in staying and experiencing Bangkok after DevCon as well (and I for one can’t blame them, I came here since we finished DevConnect Istanbul and fell in love with both the culture and the people :hugs:).
We’re also taking note of Nathan and Skylar’s mention that there are plenty of main stage activities during the DevCon Week so we’ll be hosting most, if not all cultural experiences we have in plans post DevCon Week not to conflict with the main event schedule.

Regarding subsidizing attendees’ costs, any partnerships or sponsorships that support the event, particularly the cultural experiences, would help us cover more attendees, either partially or fully.

We’re currently running a small organic campaign to spread the word, gather interest for the stay, and feedback on the concept, and will scale it further in the upcoming weeks.

We believe this experience could foster a strong human-centric community and empower individuals. These coliving spaces could act as hubs for collaboration, with the potential to spark new projects and partnerships during DevCon. At the same time, I’m hoping Hacker Hotel proves itself as a pilot experience and sparks further discussion on how we as an industry could optimize community-building and crowd-organization further during peak events such as DevCon.

We’d be more than happy to get any feedback or recommendations on how to approach this further, or connections if there are any like-minded folk who would like to support this in any way.

Thank you! :v:

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Also would love to know if this is something we can share in other DevCon Forum sections to get more eyes on it, feedback, or folks who’d like to participate in making it happen