Why Attend?
The IslandDAO Event is more than a builder residency — it is a month-long immersion in a high-trust environment where collaboration, learning, governance, and community happen naturally.
If you want to build, grow, contribute, and connect with some of Solana’s most committed creators, there is no better place to be.
Workshops & Collective Learning
Section titled “Workshops & Collective Learning”Every event features workshops led by citizens — founders, developers, designers, and contributors building across the Solana ecosystem.
Sessions cover new protocols, tooling, design patterns, governance mechanisms, and technical deep-dives, with space for anyone to host their own workshop.
“It’s been a better learning experience than any conference I’ve been to this year.”
— 2024 attendee
Workshops are fully optional and evolve throughout the month. Some are structured, some spontaneous — all are grounded in real experience from people actively shipping in the ecosystem.
Hackathon Experience
Section titled “Hackathon Experience”IslandDAO hosts an on-site hackathon each year with prize pools supported by ecosystem partners.
Teams build throughout the residency, supported by domain experts at the villa who offer mentorship, code reviews, design feedback, and strategic guidance.
The hackathon is intentionally integrated into the rhythm of the event — giving residents the time, space, and support to take ideas from thought to prototype to launch.
Past winners & Launchathon results will be added here.
The Launchathon
Section titled “The Launchathon”Unique to IslandDAO, the Launchathon is a community-driven moment where projects go live with the support of the entire villa.
Builders share what they’ve created, receive immediate feedback, and use the momentum and visibility generated by the event to launch tokens, apps, tools, or updates directly into the ecosystem.
The Launchathon embodies our ethos: aligned builders helping each other ship.
Meaningful Networking
Section titled “Meaningful Networking”IslandDAO creates the type of environment where real relationships form.
Not the “2-minute chats and socials exchange” of conferences — but long, unhurried conversations, hours of coworking side-by-side, shared meals, shared debugging sessions, and shared wins.
“All the right people I wanted to speak with were at IslandDAO — and I actually had time to talk with them.”
— 2025 attendee
Builders leave the island with new collaborators, new friends, and new projects.
Community & Culture
Section titled “Community & Culture”IslandDAO is built on the belief that aligned communities accelerate each other.
Throughout the month, residents self-organize dinners, workshops, game nights, and mini-events — and IslandDAO helps promote and coordinate them.
Weekly official side events bring everyone together:
beach days, sunset gatherings, mixers (sometimes with fire dancing), boat trips, jet skis, ATVs, and explorations of the island.
Some activities are partially funded by IslandDAO; others are started organically by citizens and self-organized.
Every resident becomes part of the IslandDAO culture — and that connection continues long after the month ends.
On-Chain Participation
Section titled “On-Chain Participation”The IslandDAO Event is fully on-chain.
Attendance, workshops, governance sessions, and side events are tracked through the IslandDAO App, giving every citizen a verifiable, token-rewarded record of their participation.
Earn $ISLAND for contributing
Each check-in and activity grants dynamic token rewards.
Hosting a workshop, attending a session, joining a governance discussion — all of it is logged and rewarded on-chain through the app.
Vote on event decisions
Holding the IslandDAO PERKS NFT gives citizens the ability to vote on event-level decisions, such as side-event preferences or villa operations (details covered in How to Apply).
The IslandDAO App
Section titled “The IslandDAO App”We built a dedicated on-chain app to power the entire residency — a major step forward in bridging online governance with real-world participation.
The app lets citizens:
- Check in to workshops and events
- Track contributions
- Earn $ISLAND
- View the daily schedule
- Participate in on-chain decisions
- Access event information
- Explore what others are building
It is designed to complement the experience and serve as the digital layer of the island.