Justification for Tip Request - Salvatore

Event Context

The 3rd Annual Business of Blockchain Technology Conference (May 29-31, 2025) at the University of Miami’s Patti and Allan Herbert Business School utilized Polkadot’s $15,000 sponsorship and $10,000 travel budget from the Events Bounty but did not cover any compensation for personal time that were incurred by representing Polkadot.

Salvatore Esposito organized the monthly Polkadot Miami meetup, aligning with the conference, facilitated the Miami Freedom Park (MFP) tour, and provided exceptional hospitality at Inter Miami games and Bellillo dinner, engaging UM faculty (e.g., Dean Paul Pavlou, Professor Ola Henfridsson) and industry figures (e.g., Mike Spagnola, VISA), attended the pre conference tour as well as 2 day conference.

Achievements

• Organized the Polkadot Miami meetup with James Slusser, dedicating significant hours to enhance local community engagement as they do monthly.
• Co-facilitated the MFP tour, advancing discussions on a potential U.S. presence for Polkadot and future partnerships.
• Hosted high-profile guests at Inter Miami games (May 28, 31), including UM faculty and industry leaders as well as VISA, Plug and Play, and others boosting Polkadot’s visibility.
• Managed Bellillo dinner for the conference, fostering key relationships with board members at the University.

Time Commitment

Sal’s time commitment over the event period:

• Pre-Event Planning (10 hours): Coordinated meetup logistics, MFP tour arrangements, and Inter Miami game hospitality planning.
• Event Days (May 27-31, 25 hours): Hosted meetup (4 hours), co-facilitated MFP tour (4 hours), managed Bellillo dinner (2 hours), and hosted guests at Inter Miami games (6 hours), attended tour and conference (Day1) at the University (totaling 13 hrs).

The only time being requested was for that of time spent directly interfacing with University of Miami staff or conference attendees and kindly ask the community to consider $1500 of compensation (less than hours put in)

Sources

• X Posts:
  • @LearnPolkadot, Campus Tour: https://x.com/LearnPolkadot/status/1928094687383986670
  • @LearnPolkadot, Filippo’s Talk: https://x.com/LearnPolkadot/status/1928469373695537535
  • @LearnPolkadot, Panel Discussion: https://x.com/LearnPolkadot/status/1928530670336221254
  • @LearnPolkadot, PBA Presentation: https://x.com/LearnPolkadot/status/1928868214957625707
  • @LearnPolkadot, Inter Miami Match: https://x.com/LearnPolkadot/status/1929054794641007103
  • @The_Weak_Hand, Mas and Dean Paul: https://x.com/The\_Weak\_Hand/status/1929961884016398611
  • @TheThePhunky1 - https://x.com/TheThePhunky1/status/1928114833662103952
  • @openminded Miami a strategic play - https://x.com/__open_minded/status/1928558610881089860
• LinkedIn Posts:
  • Filippo Franchini, Conference Participation: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/filippoweb3_this-week-i-was-honored-to-speak-at-the-activity-7335039263513763840-UisN
  • Filippo Franchini, Inter Miami Partnership: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/filippoweb3_this-is-a-success-story-about-polkadot-activity-7335664043837247488-fsx3
  • Marina Marchesotti, AI Synergies: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marina-marchesotti_descentralizaciaejn-tokenizaciaejn-educaciaejn-activity-7335981347057950721-zBle
  • Christopher Wade, UM Engagement: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7335457765089308672?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28ugcPost%3A7335457765089308672%2C7335482321145417730%29
  • University of Miami, Conference Recap: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7335924462510387200-EFn5
  • Flávia Salmázio-Machado, Presentation: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fl%C3%A1via-salm%C3%A1zio-4b62761b9_last-week-i-had-the-honor-of-sharing-the-activity-7335421841026514945-9z1N
  • Flávia Salmázio-Machado, Inter Miami Match: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fl%C3%A1via-salm%C3%A1zio-4b62761b9_i-experienced-a-soccer-match-with-messi-playing-activity-7336059790567067650-6K_K
  • Roman Beck Professor
    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/profromanbeck_it-was-a-pleasure-meeting-roman-beck-youngjin-activity-7335917654752288769-PfvU?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAZvL00BfkEPcVV-lPjaTPq8bzIEbxJ5xDA