Have any ideas for Zcash interactive workshops?

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Hi! There are two incredible events coming up in Q1 2021 that I’d love Zcash to be a part of them. I invite y’all to help me brainstorm interactive workshops. Please like this comment or share your ideas in the thread.

  • Mozilla puts on MozFest every year. It’s a conference focused on activists in diverse global movements fighting for a more humane digital world. We would like to pitch an interactive workshop for this event. Here’s an example from a past session.

    • Proposals accepted: Oct 26-Nov 23
    • Event date: March 8, 2021

  • SXSW (South by Southwest) features a variety of tracks that allow attendees to explore what’s next in the worlds of film, culture, music, and technology. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. Here are some examples from last year’s programming.

    • Proposals accepted: now until Oct 16
    • Event date: March 16 -20, 2021
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A workshop where attendees play games that resemble zero knowledge proofs, like a blindfolded person holding two cards only distinguishable by an unforeseen marking … Or not. The blindfolded person must use the audience to determine if the cards are the same or different.

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Here’s a sort-of game I used with school kids to explain how cookies worked, could be adapted

Everyone gets something to draw on and a color whiteboard marker :-

  • one of the markers is permanent
  • most get a piece of white card to draw on, a few get a white ceramic tile instead
  • some get a whiteboard eraser

When two people interact they mark each others card/tile :-

  • the zcash people wipe their tile clean after every interaction :slight_smile:
  • the whiteboard eraser doesn’t work if you have a card instead of a tile
  • a moderator can assemble ‘everyone with a certain mark’ or ‘all without a certain mark’ & give them chocolate or squirt with a water pistol
  • moderator can also check for ink on hands (gotta have the eraser or you still get busted!)
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when you say zcash, do you mean the ecc, zfnd or the technology? (i take it you are not talking about zec.)

it matters for presentation of your ideas.

A pretty neutral idea for sxsw would be to go through all the other presentations (whats a track?) that are linked and then relate it to privacy (zfnd), zcash (tech) or how they over came the obstacles others are facing (ecc).

Then depending on what you are doing you can get new members to the community (zcash tech) or offer outreach/money (zfnd/mgrc) or direct mentorship style help (ecc) or even technical assistance (zfnd/ecc)

but to form an actual proposal/game/workshop I would need to know what angle to come at this from. Also I am not an activist, but more of an evangelist, so my ideas will probably need to be reworked.

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Re: SXSW

If crafting a presentation / lesson for beginners, perhaps start by asking the group to name the current payment apps they use or they believe are popular. Write them somewhere everyone can see (if that doesn’t have legal ramifications) Then ask them to identify the privacy & security issues they are aware of with those methods (record those under the app names) .

Next, ask if anyone has ever had privacy or security issues with these standard methods. Human nature will lead people (who are comfortable speaking in groups) to tell stories of issues they’ve had or observed. Allow a few participant anecdotes to balance engagement/ presentation time.

Now you’ve got them interacting. It is now about them. Their experiences & needs. Once they are engaged on an “about me” level, reveal / explain how zec works differently to solve these issues. Rather than opening with “the science” “what is crypto” or “privacy because”. Assuming SXSW is a different audience than tech/crypto/finance a different approach may be needed to draw them in.

Then move into one of the games/activities suggested above.

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