Final report - Arbitrum Education Track at ETHCluj 2026

DAO Programs & Initiatives Domain Allocator Offerings (prev Questbook)
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ETHCluj 2026 x Arbitrum Grant Reporting

ETHCluj 2026 x Arbitrum Grant – Final Report Summary

This report outlines the delivery and outcomes of the ETHCluj 2026 x Arbitrum grant, focused on building a structured developer onboarding funnel in Eastern Europe through education, hands-on experience, and sustained community engagement.

Through this initiative, ETHCluj integrated Arbitrum into a full-cycle developer journey: starting with pre-event awareness, continuing with in-depth technical workshops and ecosystem exposure during the ETHCluj 2026 conference, and extending into post-event retention through meetups and open-source resources.

The Arbitrum Education Track represented the core of this effort, delivering:

  • A complete workshop series covering Arbitrum fundamentals, Stylus, and smart contract deployment

  • Direct onboarding for developers into hands-on building

  • verified smart contract deployments on Arbitrum testnet

  • High-quality open-source educational materials, including repositories, tutorials, and workshop content

In addition, the initiative achieved:

  • 10,000+ total impressions across social and academic channels and 100+ participants in pre-event activation (Twitter/X Space)

  • 200+ total conference participants, with strong exposure to Arbitrum content

  • 26,540+ cumulative social impressions across campaign channels

  • Continued engagement through a post-event meetup and community channels

Beyond the defined milestones, ETHCluj also contributed to broader Arbitrum ecosystem activation by supporting builder pathways such as the Arbitrum Buildathon and facilitating connections to initiatives like Builder House London.

While post-event attendance was impacted by seasonal academic factors, engagement quality remained high, with strong signals of continued developer interest and delayed (rather than lost) participation.

Overall, this grant demonstrates the effectiveness of a locally embedded, education-first approach to ecosystem growth. By combining technical depth, community trust, and continuity across multiple touchpoints, ETHCluj successfully positioned Arbitrum within one of the most promising and underengaged developer regions in Europe.

We believe this model can serve as a repeatable framework for sustained Arbitrum adoption in emerging technical ecosystems.

Milestone 1 – Pre-Event Activation KPIs

- 100+ Twitter Space participants: ETHCluj on X: "Join us tomorrow for our ETHCluj 2026 Preview Spaces. We’ll walk through what we’ve prepared for the @arbitrum Education Track, along with a broader look at the conference plans. If you’re considering coming to Cluj this May, this is a great chance to learn more about the" / X

  • well above 10,000+ impressions and people reached across the following

- X Arbitrum sponsor announcement: https://x.com/ETHCluj/status/2043949989538177360?s=20

- Instagram announcement & campaign (11.4K impressions, 2k interactions): https://www.instagram.com/p/DXQ1E-EDHFS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

- Arbitrum Program Manager - speaker announcements:
X: ETHCluj on X: "We're excited to welcome @Sinkas_ as a speaker at ETHCluj 2026. He's been in web3 since 2018 with a background in business administration and economics. Since 2023 he's been involved with Arbitrum DAO, and is now the program manager at the @arbitrum OpCo. Catch him on stage in https://t.co/3DQ4brtBPW" / X

LinkedIn: We're excited to welcome Sinkas as a speaker at ETHCluj 2026. He's been in web3 since 2018 with a background in business administration and economics. Since 2023 he's been involved with Arbitrum… | ETHCluj

- email + live campaign run within the local universities

- Technical University of Cluj-Napoca - shared during university courses on blockchain technology, with students and professors at the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science - reached 300+ students; in-house run email campaign by the university reaching 8,000+ students who currently have programming in their university learning curriculum.

- Babes Bolyai University, the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics run an email campaign with the support of the Vice-Dean at Babeș-Bolyai University, faculty of Mathematics & Informatics, reaching 2,000+ students

  • email campaign run through the internal channels of the European University of Technology (EUT+) - unsure about reach, however we estimate well above 1,000+

- 35+ developer sign-ups for the upcoming Arbitrum Workshops, part of the educational track at ETHCluj 2026.

- event can be found here: 🎓 Arbitrum Education Track Workshops at ETHCluj 2026🧑‍💻 · Luma

- X announcements: ETHCluj on X: "Join us tomorrow for our ETHCluj 2026 Preview Spaces. We’ll walk through what we’ve prepared for the @arbitrum Education Track, along with a broader look at the conference plans. If you’re considering coming to Cluj this May, this is a great chance to learn more about the" / X

                                   https://x.com/ETHCluj/status/2049385557084565961?s=20

                                   https://x.com/ETHCluj/status/2049385561165529273?s=20

Join us tomorrow for our ETHCluj 2026 Preview Spaces. We’ll walk through what we’ve prepared for the Arbitrum Education Track, along with a broader look at the conference plans. If you’re… | ETHCluj ?

Milestone 2 - Conference Execution & Arbitrum Education Track KPIs

Timeline: 1-14 May 2026

1. Conference Overview & Arbitrum Presence

ETHCluj 2026 successfully delivered its flagship “Ethereum for Everyone” conference in Cluj-Napoca, positioning Arbitrum as a core L2 ecosystem within the event’s technical and educational programming.

Arbitrum activation included:

  • Dedicated Arbitrum Education Track

  • 1 key note presentation from Arbitrum delegate

  • 1 panel discussion with the participation of Arbitrum delegate (Sinkas) and other relevant members in the context of how L2s are being used in practice today, including their impact on scalability, user experience, and ecosystem design.

  • 4-part structured hands-on workshop series

  • Strong on-site and digital branding presence with live broadcasting of all presentations

  • Integration into broader developer journey (pre-event → workshops → post-event)

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Estimated

Estimated exposure:

2. Developer Participation & Engagement

Workshop Attendance:

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3. Technical KPIs (Core Success Metrics)

Github: GitHub - stylus-developers-guild/ethcluj-2026: EthCluj workshop materials · GitHub

Smart Contract Deployments (Arbitrum Stylus / testnet) - at least 8 verified contract deployments:

4. Workshop Delivery & Content

Workshop Series Delivered:

  1. Arbitrum’s Role in the Ethereum Roadmap

  2. Your First Smart Contract on Arbitrum

  3. Stylus for Beginners

  4. Deploy & Go: From Contract to App

Full presentation slides are available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/15UssfY_YLyhPdXYejXnp2iHQ7MttPu9d

Recording of the workshops is available for everyone to continue to use it as a learning tool, on ETHCluj YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/aHRyUUGH3L4?si=gtKzJJZGKaAQSZOu

Workshop Facilitator Adjustment:

5. Open Source Deliverables (Core Grant Commitment)

Published Materials:

6. Ecosystem Visibility & Media Reach

Post-event summary:

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*Supporter ticket holders represent our high (VIP) ticket tier while Atendee are our regular ticket holders.

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Estimated total impressions

26,540+ cumulative impressions across:

  • X - 22,860+ impressions
  • LinkedIn - 2,160+ impressions

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  • Instagram - 11,450+ impressions

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  • YouTube - 600+ impressions

On Day 1 the Tech Stage was dedicated for the full day to the Arbitrum Education Track - 213 people tuned in on the livestream

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On Day 2 we had the panel talk on L2s timed around mid day on Main Stage and the keynote given by Sinkas Arbitrum delegate starting at 2PM in the afternoon at Tech Stage.
For that day we had 208 people joining the livestream on Main Stage & 209 on Tech Stage

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Telegram - messages distributed and seen by 400+ members

  • Newsletter communications - 1,000+ recipients with on OR of 51.43, which means roughly 520+ people reading through the content

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* Newsletter content included our partnership to promote Arbitrum Open House London and furthermore continuing to promote the Founders House happening afterwards.

Content of the newsletter is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wbMusI2lxXkiPoqYj5d1S7sq2iB_6NEE/view?usp=sharing

On-site visibility:

  • Arbitrum branding across:

7. Extended Arbitrum Ecosystem Support

Beyond the initial grant scope, ETHCluj contributed to broader Arbitrum ecosystem onboarding through:

  • Promotion and support of Arbitrum Buildathon participation

  • Alignment with Founder House London

  • Encouraging workshop participants to explore continued building pathways

This extends impact from education → actual ecosystem participation

Milestone 3 – Post-Event Engagement & Retention KPIs

Timeline: June–July 2026
Status: Completed

1. Post-Event Meetup

A dedicated Arbitrum-focused post-ETHCluj meetup was successfully delivered in Cluj-Napoca, aimed at reinforcing workshop learning, making sure people are aware of the open source content, Arbitrum opportunities generally as well as immediately with the Open House London.

Attendance:

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While attendance came in below initial expectations, this was largely influenced by seasonal factors, particularly:

  • University exam preparation period (confirmed through direct conversations with student participants)

  • Timing overlap with end-of-academic-year commitments

Despite the lower turnout, engagement quality was notably high.

2. Engagement Quality & Outcomes

The smaller group size enabled:

  • More in-depth discussions

  • Direct follow-ups on workshop topics (Stylus, deployments, tooling)

  • Extended interaction time between participants and organizers

The event transitioned organically from structured presentations into:

  • Open discussions around Arbitrum ecosystem opportunities

  • Continued exploration of workshop projects

  • Informal networking (supported by social setting and drinks)

Key qualitative outcome:
Stronger individual-level engagement and relationship building, compared to broader but less interactive formats.

3. Retention Signals

Even with lower attendance, we observed meaningful retention indicators:

  • Returning participants from ETHCluj

  • Continued interest in:

    • Arbitrum development

    • Smart contract experimentation

    • Ecosystem opportunities

  • Ongoing discussions in ETHCluj community channels

4. Open Source & Educational Continuity

All educational resources promised under the grant remain publicly available and actively referenced:

  • Workshop hub (Stylus Developers Guild)

  • GitHub repositories (contracts, exercises)

  • Technical tutorials and examples with Arbitrum workshops

  • Retrospective documentation

These resources ensure:

  • Continued onboarding for new developers

  • Self-paced learning beyond the event

  • Long-term ecosystem value

Conclusion

This grant enabled ETHCluj to transform Arbitrum from a conference presence into a hands-on builder experience within a high-potential, underengaged region.

The results demonstrate that structured, locally embedded education leads to:

  • Higher developer conversion

  • Stronger technical engagement

  • Longer-term ecosystem alignment

ETHCluj remains positioned to continue this as a recurring Arbitrum activation hub in Eastern Europe.

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