🇨🇦 ETHGlobal Waterloo 2023: Back to where it all began!
What to expect at our third event in the city that is home to ETHGlobal and Ethereum.
Waterloo is not just another hackathon for us. The city near Toronto has been the stage for our humble beginnings and the birthplace of many ideas that would eventually become ETHGlobal.
The ecosystem’s progress since 2017 gives us hope for the future. Looking at what grew after that in 2019 and our plans for our 2023 chapter only makes this belief stronger. A lot has changed since we last been to Canada over three years ago. We have visited 10 other cities on 4 different continents and have been running a record-breaking number of 26 online hackathons for our community.
Accompanied by all our learnings and the knowledge from hosting these events, we are dedicated to making the upcoming ETHGlobal Waterloo even greater than in the years before.
The tl;dr: What you can look forward to
👨💻 Educational Workshops at the beginning to set you up for success at the hackathon
🏆 $175,000 USD in prizes up for grabs
🎙 Opening Keynote from Vitalik Buterin
🚀 24/7 mentorship and opportunities to connect with the ecosystem champions
🌭 Delicious Food & Refreshments (not just pizza!) multiple times a day
Arriving at ETHGlobal Waterloo
*All times and dates mentioned are in local ET time*
Remember to have your confirmation email and a valid ID ready when meeting us at the Lazaridis Business School.
We open our doors for General Registration on Friday, June 23rd at 1:00 pm. Please keep in mind that you are not granted access to the venue before we open our registration desks.
Early Bird Check-in: We are excited to be able to offer an early check-in on Thursday, June 22nd at our Hacker Café (continue reading for more information on that) for those who are in town early and want to skip the queue. The Café opens at 9:00 am and closes at 6:00 pm. Enjoy your morning coffee and a delicious snack while getting your badge early! 😌
🚩 A few things to note:
You are required to bring your own laptop and charger / any other technical equipment you may require as we do not provide this for you
If you are coming from abroad please ensure you have the correct socket adapter 🔌
Meals, drinks & snacks will be provided for you throughout the days from Friday until Sunday
You have 24h access to the hackathon venue but make sure to always have your wristband and badge on you!
Keep an eye out for our Mentors in bright vests 🦺 at the Mentor Station and walking around ready to offer their help and expertise
The hackathon weekend
Day 1: Friday, June 23rd
The first day is always exciting and one of the most action-packed. After passing registration and collecting your swag bag, you can meet fellow hackers who are just as excited as you are. Don’t forget to also stop by our partner booths for hackathon tips, their prize information, and — of course, more incredible swag!
After settling in, you’ll have the opportunity to attend workshops led by ecosystem champions the entire afternoon and evening. These sessions are designed to help you get inspired and generate new ideas for your hackathon project, but also to equip you with the technical knowledge needed.
Speaking of: Tech Mentors will be on-site ready to help you over hurdles and take your ideas to new heights. You can easily spot them by the bright-coloured vests they are wearing or by simply heading to the mentor station.
The Opening Ceremony will begin at 8:00 pm. We are thrilled to announce that Vitalik Buterin, Co-Founder of Ethereum is joining us as our keynote speaker for this event.
As the official signal for “Hacking has begun” during our Opening Ceremony will be given, hackers are rushing to set up their perfect workplace at the venue. Like always, we’ll be providing food and drink to keep you sustained, but we can’t promise sleep. When the night has come: If you do need a nook to nap away, you can find a comfortable spot in our chill areas.
📆 You can find the schedule on our website. We will be updating this on a rolling basis over the next few weeks: https://ethglobal.com/events/waterloo2023#schedule
Day 2: Saturday, June 24th
Get started for the day with breakfast, served at 8:00 am ☀️ Ahead lies a full day of hacking, with a few activities on the agenda that you definitely shouldn’t miss: At 3:00 pm we will be meeting for a Project Feedback Session. Looking to get some valuable feedback from our seasoned tech mentors before the submission deadline is here? Then this session is for you.
Also: Don’t miss the second and last opportunity to catch one of our popular Midnight Snack surprises at this hackathon!
Day 3: Sunday, June 25th
The final day of the hackathon always comes so soon. After 36 hours of hacking, it is time to show off what you’ve built. There might be some last-minute cramming sessions, but don’t forget that project submission is due at 9:00 in the morning! Make sure to successfully submit your project on your ETHGlobal dashboard before the deadline ends. You did it! 🎉
⚖️ Project Submissions & Judging
At 9:30am, project judging will begin. You’ll have the unique opportunity to showcase your project and explain your thought process to our amazing judges. Your judging slot and the respective booth you’ll need to go to will be assigned to you at the hackathon venue. If you want to demo to our judges, you need to have opted for “Live Judging & Finalist Prize” on your hacker dashboard. Make sure to not leave the venue until after the Closing Ceremony in case you’ll be notified for the finalist briefing.
🚩 If you are selected as the ETHGlobal Waterloo finalist, we will inform you by 2:00pm local time over Discord and E-mail.
Our Closing Ceremony is always one of the hackathon highlights. You can feel the energy buzzing in the room, as everyone gathers to celebrate the outcomes and accomplishments. Watch our finalists demo live on stage and do not miss all partner prizes winners as well as what’s next for the community, as our very own Kartik breaks it down for you.
🍸 After Party
We are wrapping up ETHGlobal Waterloo 2023 in style, with our cocktail party at Lazaridis. Chat with your friends, new and old ones, and exchange the last ideas before it’s finally time to say Goodbye. Cheers to all the amazing work you’ve accomplished in the past 3 days! 🎊
Hackers who have read our 2023 Announcement or were with us in Tokyo or Lisbon, know that since this year all our hackathons are accompanied by two more events happening the day before: 🎙 Pragma & the ☕️ Hacker Café!
Pragma
ETHGlobal Pragma are in-person summits for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. We are proud to announce our speakers for Waterloo: three founders who left an undeniable mark on the ecosystem.
- Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum
- Benny Giang, Future Primitive
- Illia Polosukhin, Near Protocol
📆 When: June 22, 2023
📍 Location: CIGI Campus (Waterloo)
🔗 Apply here: https://ethglobal.com/pragma
ETHGlobal Hacker Café Waterloo
For the third event in a row, we are opening the doors for hackers before the hackathon, to brainstorm, make new friends, find a team to build with and be a comfortable co-working spot — or, simply enjoy a nice cup of coffee!
📆 When: June 22, 2023
📍 Location: Byte 75 (Waterloo)
🔗 Reserve a spot: ethglobal.com/events/cafe-waterloo
🛟 Safety at ETHGlobal Waterloo
We are working hard to create the best possible environment for you while you are in Waterloo. Overall, Waterloo can be considered a safe city to visit. We put together a City Guide especially for you, with the best spots to dine in, and experience the local culture or amazing architecture!
🔖 Bookmark our City Guide:
As mentioned previously, we will be strictly enforcing our badge & wristband policy in order to ensure your safety. For anyone who loses their wristband we will slash the stake that you have provided during application. Please be ready to share your wristband and badge with security at any time while you are at the venue.
Finally, please feel free to contact us and tell us if anything is not right — we want to do our best to make you feel at home. Anyone that is behaving against our Code of Conduct will be removed from the event venue immediately and will be permanently banned from any future events by ETHGlobal.
We hope this article gave you a better understanding of what to expect at our Waterloo events in June.
If you still need to sign up, don’t delay, as spots are limited:
See you soon,
The ETHGlobal Team 💜
