I like to think about the Polkadot Blockchain Academy as a summer camp.
Let me explain.
Of course, I’ve never been to a summer camp with 50+ hours of intensive classes a week, assignments that can take me until the wee hours of the morning to complete, and that changes location every six months. In fact, I highly doubt such a camp exists. No; when I say I think of the PBA as a summer camp, I’m referring to the felt experience, the distance-defining friendships between the students and with the instructors, and the once in a lifetime positive memories that only summer camp ever seems to be able to make. As the self-appointed “PBA Camp Counselor,” these are the things I aim to achieve when organizing an onsite PBA cohort.
The PBA team does not make the logistics of an Academy easy for ourselves when we decide to hold it in a different country, if not continent, for each recurring wave. However, the PBA was not created to be easy; it was made to have an impact, and this requires us to move to the talent. As the leader of the Operations team, it’s my job to make it happen. This process usually begins with conversations with a University we would like to or are partnering with for the Academy. Once a location for classes and accommodation is secured (possibly on the university campus or nearby), the ball for all the other pieces can get rolling!
But for now, I won’t bore you with the details about finding photographers, figuring out the food options for the group, deciding the event venues, etc. If you really want to hear more about the nitty gritty of putting together the PBA experience, I’m happy to tell you over a coffee one day. I’d like to instead tell you five of the big learnings of organizing in person PBA waves.
Community, Community, Community
Of course it is an incredible opportunity to attend a program and learn directly from the builders of Polkadot. But there is something really special about being in one location, surrounded by people of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, and nationalities. I would argue that almost equally important to the responsibility of the PBA team to create the circumstances and the environment that allows the students to learn successfully is the responsibility of creating a space and environment where powerful connections can be made.
It is in this intensive environment, in a foreign country, surrounded by others struggling (hopefully not too much) just as much as you where, that incredible friendships develop. Speaking at the coffee table during the break in the first day of the Polkadot SDK module can, and does, lead to projects being born and the first steps to development in the Polkadot Ecosystem happening.
It’s no secret that one of the keys to ecosystem and OpenGov success is community building and fostering. At the PBA we do this through renditions of Happy Birthday, Olympic beach games, trivia nights, morning running groups, and so much more. It may be unconventional, but it works. On the last day of the PBA5 in Singapore, the students hung around after turning in their keys, giving each other hugs, exchanging final contact information, and saying over and over again, “See you at Decoded? See you at Decoded!” It’s extremely rewarding to see them leave this PBA “summer camp” my team worked to create only to be excited to spend more time in the Polkadot ecosystem.
Partners make a huge difference
Over the different cohorts of the PBA, we’ve had the wonderful opportunity to host our program in locations all over the world and work with dozens of different partners and vendors. Now, don’t get me wrong; I don’t plan the PBA expecting everyone we work with to make us a priority or even be interested in the Web3 space, but a certain level of interest and care does make our planning and on site experience infinitely more enjoyable. We’ve loved the engagements with universities who are excited to have professors give lectures during our program or the photographers & videographers that do significant amounts of research in their own time to understand Polkadot and can help us create a story with us for our coverage.
While onsite, the operations of the PBA are extremely fast paced, with details or locations of events adjusting almost daily. To many partners and vendors, this may be a bit unusual, but to those who we’ve been able to connect with and get to know, there is a level of patience and engagement that makes last minute changes or requests bearable and or even fun. These personal relationships, interest, and communication with partners has proven to make such a difference in our experience as the operations team for the PBA that it has become a huge criteria in our vendor searches and even in our university partnership search. It is never our team’s goal to visit a location for a few weeks and never engage with the partners there again. We are aiming to build relationships that last and leave room for future collaboration.
Our small efforts mean a lot
Now, the PBA asks a lot of its participants. Several weeks away from family and friends, often in a foreign country, hours upon hours of intensive learning, close time around people who begin the program as strangers. It’s enough for anyone to struggle at times. So it’s for this reason that we try to do things along the way to create a welcoming, warm experience for everyone. In the case of a student getting Covid and having to isolate, we’ve brought groceries and checked in on them daily. On some late night studying sessions, we’ve provided pizza or passed out little candies. Even something as simple and silly as our Paper Plate Awards (funny recognitions of students who have stood out to the PBA team) can help make the students feel more comfortable and supported in such an intense environment.
We know we aren’t an easy program, and we aren’t intending to be. There is so much content for us to teach in such a short time span. But for each cohort, our team looks for ways to make the students know that we care about them and their physical and mental health, and I’m proud to say that students notice and really appreciate these efforts. It brings me intense joy to hear a student tell me that they felt we took such good care of them or that we are perfect for our roles. If our efforts helped someone push through stress and end the program happy they joined, I classify that as a success.
Something will always go wrong
All you event experts will be very familiar with this learning, and I’m sure you can understand my pain when I tell you that in the last PBA, the wifi didn’t work (at least not well enough) in the lecture hall or in the student dorms. Oh yes, my worst operations nightmare came true. Panicked, stressed students unable to push code to Github? Nope, not if I have something to say about it! The team and I acted quickly, purchasing 100 ethernet cable adapters while also contacting almost every IT contact for the university we could, each taking turns on the phone to communicate the urgency.
In the end it all worked out. By the end of the week, we had our own access points with our own passwords, and we even returned almost all of the ethernet adapters unused. I tell this story not to vulnerably tell you about one of my planning failures, but more so to show that no matter how much our team prepares, something will go wrong. In this case, we were lucky that the students were incredibly understanding and kind about the entire situation. However, it is frustrating to have such important issues occur when we have spent months planning something, thinking we covered all of the bases.
There is only so much we can do when we are, usually, thousands of miles away from our facility locations and partners. We do our best, but sometimes our communication isn’t effective or we make assumptions which may not be accurate. With every PBA cohort, we have taken the things that went wrong and learned how to approach the next planning differently. And even with the learnings, I know something else will go wrong, but I at least can feel a little bit of peace in that. As much as I want to, I can’t ensure that everything will go 100% according to plan, so why don’t I chill a bit and enjoy the process?
Education is one heck of a powerful thing
This isn’t a hot take, I know, but man, I love being a part of someone’s journey to make more opportunities for themselves. That’s truly what we are doing at the PBA. We are providing people the knowledge and skills to go into the Web3 space, and hopefully the Polkadot ecosystem, and make change for themselves and others. We are helping give people the tools they need to get themselves to the next step. In some cases we are providing people with the feeling of a university experience they never had or their first graduation ceremony of their lives. It is an absolute privilege to see the pride on students’ faces as they complete the PBA, and I always look forward to keeping up with the alum and supporting them from the side lines.
Okay, so I admit, it may be an oversimplification to compare the PBA to a summer camp, but I hope you see where I see the resemblance. From my team’s perspective, it’s our goal to create a multi-week experience that is enriching, mentally stimulating, fosters a strong community, and leaves the participants excited for their next adventures in the Polkadot ecosystem. There are a lot of moving parts, sometimes quite a bit of chaos as well, but it sure is a fun adventure, and I am happy to be a part of it.
Find out more about the Polkadot Blockchain Academy: https://polkadot.academy/