On January 11th, we invited participants to pitch their MARMA J CON Hackathon projects to a panel of judges. Before the 5:00 PM deadline hit, participants took to the stage to also let the MARMA J CON team know how impactful MARMA J CON’s presence was in Antigua.

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One participant said at the end of their pitch:

“I feel excited! I want to know when the next MARMA J CON is! I want to know what we’re doing then because I am excited about the direction we are going in.”

– Jojo, MARMA J CON 2023 participant.

If you think of the words “paradise”, “Web3” and “social good”, you would maybe not expect them to describe the same event. But these keywords are how you might describe MARMA J CON, the Marma J Foundation’s first-ever Conference and Hackathon event in Antigua and Barbuda. In this post, we’re discussing the MARMA J CON highlights! Keep reading to learn more. 

MARMA J CON: An Overview

From January 7-12, 2023, MARMA J CON invited individuals and teams from all walks of life to participate in a week-long Conference and Hackathon. Throughout the week, we connected with an international and local audience to discuss Web3, introduce NEAR Protocol, run a Hackathon, and more. Given that Antigua and Barbuda have implemented crypto-friendly legislation, Antigua served as the perfect place to introduce new technology and allowed us to be received with open minds, curiosity, and the willingness to learn.

The conference was an important step to educate about the possibilities of Web3 and the thirst for knowledge became very clear, especially during the Q&A sessions, which constantly went over time due to the number of questions. We’re also happy to mention that NEAR project representatives and even local politicians have been present, showed interest, and taken an active part in the conference.

Practical Challenges And Creative Solutions

For everything to run seamlessly, we needed a way to easily onboard participants, organize live online talks that would also allow direct interaction, and provide an online program as well as support throughout the Hackathon.

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For the onboarding, we have been closely working together with Harmonic Guild and used a variety of link drops which have all been custom created and tested in this scope for the first time at our event. The link drops were used for the creation of:

  • New NEAR accounts
  • NFT claims
  • Unique, new NEAR wallets with a DAO member proposal to our DAO and fungible token drops in $marmaj

To have an accessible and diverse program, we scheduled a mix of in-person talks and workshops, recorded talks, and live transmission for the online workshop. Not only could MARMA J CON attendees join IRL, but also online through NEAR Hub! Virtual attendees also had the opportunity to ask questions, regardless of their physical location. The online programming will stay available in our NEAR Hub space and will also be uploaded to our YouTube channel. Additionally, we will add a selection of our in-person programming to our YouTube channel shortly.

MARMA J CON In The News

Even before the event had started, local media organizations expressed their interest in the Marma J Foundation and MARMA J CON. Marma J Foundation’s Founder, Chloe, was invited to participate in several interviews on the radio, in the newspaper, online, and on television, including ABS TV Radio and Twinisland Media.

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Check out some of our media publications below:

Programming That Lit The Spark

MARMA J CON surely was an action-packed week. From January 7-12, we planned something for everyone from morning until night! The following provides a breakdown of each day:

Saturday, January 7: To kick off MARMA J CON, we hosted an Opening Night Party at the Multipurpose Cultural Centre in Antigua. This evening offered everyone the chance to network, learn, and enjoy the evening with music from DJ Quixx, and local sweet treats from Lyn’s Confectionary.

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Sunday, January 8: Following opening night, MARMA J CON began its official educational programming. The Day One lineup included educational sessions about the basics of blockchain, how to spot a scam, DeFi 101, and an interactive workshop about social good. The interactive workshop about social good was a crowd-favourite, one that we will share more details about soon!

MARMA J CON Day One served as a foundation on which we would build upon the themes and topics covered in the coming days. Some topics we focused on included Web3 technologies, the tools available on NEAR Protocol, the goal of social good, and more!

We also invited one of the MARMA J CON Hackathon, Built on NEAR, partners, the Environmental Awareness Group of Antigua (EAG), which is Antigua’s oldest environmental NGO, to introduce their Hackathon challenge to attendees. Following this, Muti DAO’s Tabea led a presentation (via online stream) discussing the power of utility NFTs. This presentation worked to empower students, local vendors, and business owners about the endless possibilities. During the session, Tabea explored the process of minting redeemable NFTs on Mintbase, which aroused interest and led to a vivid Q&A afterward. The participants created their own Mintbase stores and also received guides on how to mint their own utility NFTs.

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Following the full day of programming, we organized a group excursion that was optional for attendees! We journeyed to English Harbour for a Shirley Heights Excursion. The evening offered a chance to reconnect after a day of learning, as well as to eat delicious food, dance, and enjoy one of the most beautiful views in the world.

Monday, January 9: MARMA J CON’s Day Two programming began with a workshop that showcased GitHub as a tool to assure that all hackathon participants were prepared for the challenges.

In the afternoon, Senator Aziza Lake was invited to speak about crypto at the local level. Senator Lake’s presentation was very informative and provided insight into how Antigua is positioning itself as a nation that is getting ready to be able to support the future of virtual asset businesses in the region. If virtual asset businesses desire to flourish in the Caribbean, Antigua is surely the place to be; Antigua has the legislation, background, and licenses in place to make virtual asset ventures successful.

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Following the day two programming, we organized a Beach Cleanup at Fort James Beach. Together, participants in the activity collected 20 bags work of trash from the Beach. After disposing of the trash in the right place, participants enjoyed a meal at Beach Limerz.

Tuesday, January 10: MARMA J CON’s Day Three programming focused on the Hackathon, Built on NEAR. Many attendees showed interest and were actively hacking away at their Hackathon projects. Much interest came from local students!

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In addition to hacking activities, we invited spokespeople from two organizations that the Marma J Foundation have partnerships with, and uses the NEAR blockchain to support their social good initiatives. We invited Mackenzie from Dogs and Cats of Antigua as well as Kate and Mr. Robinson from the Friends of the Care Project to discuss their respective organizations and projects.

Wednesday, January 11: MARMA J CON’s Day Four programming offered Hackathon participants time to wrap up their projects in preparation for the pitch competition in the afternoon. Following a delicious catered lunch, Hackathon participants were invited to pitch their projects to a panel of judges! Many individuals and teams spoke on stage and shared their awesome ideas.

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Following the final day of Conference & Hackathon programming, everyone was invited to finish the day at our Sunset Party. We enjoyed a silent disco and networking event at Skyy Bar, a rooftop two-storey bar overlooking the city of St. John’s in Antigua.

Thursday, January 12: After a week of conferencing and hacking, we wrapped up MARMA J CON (publically) with a Retreat Day and White-Dress Party! We started the day off by retreating to Dickenson Bay Beach for a day of relaxation. Following our time at the beach, our team and participants headed to LikeaLatte for an evening of networking at our White-Dress Party. The energy was high and it was a great opportunity to connect with everyone who had joined us over the past week.

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January 13-14: Following the public-facing MARMA J CON, the remaining two days offered our Core Team an opportunity to work together and strategize for the year ahead. In addition to working on our plan, we also took part in social good initiatives like Rescue Puppy Yoga, and being travel buddies for dogs who were making their way to Canada to their new furever homes, and/or foster homes.

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Takeaways And Looking Forward

Over the past few months, our team has been busy planning our first-ever Conference and Hackathon, MARMA J CON! And… we would do it again, in fact- we will! We are so grateful for all the support from the NEAR Foundation, which helped make MARMA J CON possible.

As this was our first MARMA J CON, we learned a lot! For one, that local connections are essential. We are looking forward to building our created connections during this year and working even closer together with the local politicians and tourism authorities for the next edition. 

We can also confirm that a digital presence with talks in NEAR Hub is very valuable, as this creates long-lasting content which supports the event, participants who are not able to join in person, and the showcasing projects.

Given the novelty of the theme and the general curiosity, the Q&As were very successful and we loved to see the engagement from all sides. As many of the participants were students, we’ll be tailoring a schedule that caters to this audience.

Antigua is an island full of potential for future Web3 adventures! Our goal is to support more people over the upcoming year under the Marma J Foundation umbrella with the support of our Social Good DAO, and Marma J Labs as a start-up incubator for social good startups. 

We are looking forward to another year where we can leverage Web3 technology for social good and can’t wait to share with you the new projects we are currently planning.

If you are interested in hacking on our open hackathon bounties, make sure to have a look at the bounties from our Sub-DAOs.

For questions and other queries, join our Telegram channel, we are happy to welcome you to the Marma J Community.