How can we bring Astar Network closer to more universities in LATAM? 🇵🇪

Hi @tksarah Thank you so much for your feedback! :raising_hands:

Sure, I really appreciate your kind words and that you’re considering the work we’re doing to help boost the Astar Network and Soneium ecosystems in university communities! :folded_hands:

Regarding the agenda structure, specifically for this event, it was designed taking into account:

  • The type of event.
  • The profile of the attendees.
  • The potential number of attendees.

The event was a small talk; an open invitation was issued, and an audience of 8-20 students was expected.

In that context, the agenda was:

  • Introduction to the Astar Network ecosystem: What is Astar Network, a brief overview of the ecosystem, and mention of some featured projects.
  • Introduction to the dApp Staking system: What is dApp Staking, how does it work, and its main features.
  • Tour of the Astar Portal: A brief overview of each of the portal’s sections: Assets, Dashboard, Bridge, Ecosystem, Governance, and Forum.
  • Introduction to Soneium: What is Soneium, and its relationship with Astar, Startale, and Sony.
  • Recent initiatives and news: Soneium Score, Startale App launch.
  • Q&A session: The idea here is to break the ice and connect more with the audience.

The goal was for attendees to get a first glimpse into both ecosystems, learn about their main products, news, and recent updates. The aim was to keep the event dynamic, fun, and interactive.

What I like about these types of events, especially with smaller audiences, is that you can connect with each attendee, network, and learn about their concerns and motivations. This helps you better understand their needs, areas for improvement, and their profile.

These initiatives can then lead to workshops, hackathons, conferences, or other activities. In fact, it was through initiatives like this that I was able to hold the event at Ricardo Palma University. This was the second edition, but before the first, I had to make some initial contacts at the university, which allowed me to gauge the students’ profiles and their receptiveness to these new technologies.

I think it’s important that, for the talk you want to give to the students, you define the objectives you want to achieve at your event. For example:

If the idea is simply to introduce a new audience with diverse backgrounds, an introductory talk would work great, and a classroom with a projector would be all you’d need.

If the idea is to explore the portal and get people involved using the products, a workshop would be really great, and the theme could be more technically oriented. For this, a computer lab would be really useful, or you could simply ask them to bring their laptops to do activities during the event.

Now, if your talk is more focused on technical fields, like computer engineering students or related disciplines, then it will probably be much easier for them to understand from a technical perspective, and you could tailor your agenda accordingly, always trying to keep the event dynamic and interactive.

If it’s your first small talk at X university event and a diverse audience is expected, it’s best not to overwhelm them with too much technical jargon, as it can bore some attendees, especially those who aren’t technically inclined or who are unfamiliar with crypto and Web3.

And if you plan to continue giving talks in the future, you’ll realize that there might be some topics that would have been better added, and perhaps removed or modified in some way.

We often encounter a shy audience, but the key is to take the initiative and break the ice. Something that has worked for me, among other things, is sharing a personal anecdote or experience within the ecosystem, like how I got started in the crypto world. This definitely helps to ease tensions and generate more interaction, and a large part of the audience might even identify with it.

I hope my answer is helpful! If you’d like more information on any topic or think I can help you with anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me through this channel or even via Telegram, Discord, or any other social media platform. You can find me as @CJorgeSaez on any of them. It would be a pleasure to help if I can! :handshake:

Again, thank you so much for your feedback, kind words, and support. I truly appreciate it! :raising_hands: