Welcome to NEARCON ‘23: Step Into the Open Web
NEAR FOUNDATION
November 7, 2023
Hello NEARians!

Welcome to the 3rd annual NEARCON in the always lovely and scenic Lisbon, Portugal. The NEAR Community is out in force for NEARCON ‘23, with around 3,000 delegates here to explore the power and possibilities of an open web.

A number of exciting protocol and ecosystem announcements are planned over from November 7-10th. We’re thrilled to have you all here to get inspired by talks from renowned authors, economists, artists, politicians, developers, entrepreneurs, and many others helping to build an open web.

NEARCON ‘23 is the perfect opportunity to meet and network with a wide variety of projects, speakers, community members, builders, and multi-chain enthusiasts from across the globe. And if you’re here to build, then we look forward to seeing what you put together for the NEAR IRL Hackathon, for which $140K+ in prizes are up for grabs!

Finding the NEARCON 23 venues 
NEARCON ‘23 will unfold across three different venues. NEAR Foundation designed and optimized each space for talks, demonstrations, hackathons, and more. You can find the three NEARCON venues here:

NEARCON HQ
Convento Do Beato
Alameda do Beato 40, 1950-042
Lisboa, Portugal

Hacker HQ
Armazem 16
R. Pereira Henriques nº1, 1950-242
Lisboa, Portugal

Community HQ
Rua Pereira Henriques
31950-242
Lisboa, Portugal

NCON: What it is and how to use it
For NEARCON ‘23, NEAR Foundation partnered with Jutsu, Keypom, and Veriken to create a novel conference experience — the NCON token, an event experience built on the Blockchain Operating System (B.O.S). In many ways, NCON is the embodiment of the open web, where users seamlessly transact with each other on a peer-to-peer network.

With NCON, you can attend content sessions, interact with sponsors, pay for your lunch, and more. You can even complete NCON Bounties, for which you’ll be rewarded NCON that can be redeemed for swag, lunches, and other goodies during NEARCON ‘23.

More NCON details. 

Tracks for Developers, Entrepreneurs, Creatives, and Regulators
To make this year’s NEARCON even more iconic than last year, we’ve created a diverse set of tracks for attendees. There is something for every type of open web enthusiast. 

Developers — Devs should drop in on a number of hands-on workshops and coding sessions. These are the best sessions for getting first-hand looks at NEAR’s latest open web innovations.
Entrepreneurs — A track designed for the open web entrepreneur. Web3 industry leaders will be on-site to share the best insights, strategies, and advice on turning an idea into the next best open web startup. 
Creatives — Artists, musicians, marketers, and more are a major part of the NEAR community. The Creatives track is designed to deliver the latest insights into the creative process for NEARCON attendees. 
Regulators — Top legal and regulatory talent will help open web developers and founders get the latest information on best practices, legal frameworks, and future regulatory development. 
AI is NEAR: The Future of AI on the Open Web
We’re all excited about AI and blockchain, and this is reflected in a special track for NEARCON ’23 — “AI is NEAR”. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, a pioneer in the world of AI, will be leading the charge. Check out the “AI is NEAR” track over at nearcon.org.

Get your badge, beat the lines, and register for the hackathon
November 7th is the perfect day to drop by to get your badge and register for the hackathon. Beat the lines and get settled in!

You can also drop by the Registration Party sponsored by Octopus Network, G20, and Glass at the Layer 1 Stage (Convento Do Beato). From 5-7pm, join the hackathon orientation and NDC’s Proof of Pizza at Hacker HQ from 5-7pm, then don your party hat for NEARWEEK’s evening party from 7-11pm! 

A look ahead to NEARCON Day 1 — November 8th
Doors open at 9:00am. 

Join us bright and early for breakfast before a number of welcome sessions from various NEARCON stages, and earn some NCON for being an early riser!

NEARCON Day 1 will feature a variety of talks and panels, from NEAR UX and DeFi, to decentralized storage, Web3 community building, and much more.

Check out the full Day 1 schedule now to plan for the day’s events!