As we move closer to Open Network, we are thrilled to announce the second-ever PiFest, an exciting new iteration of our community-driven event designed to boost the utility of Pi and support local merchants. Building on the success of last December’s PiFest, this event will once again highlight the practical use of Pi in everyday transactions, with a powerful new dimension: the event will be supported by one of the the Pi Commerce Hackathon winning apps, Map of Pi!
Merchant Registration & Preparation begins on Thursday, October 24th, 2024, and the Pioneer Shopping period lasts from Tuesday, October 29th until Tuesday, November 5th, 2024. All members of the Pi Network community can participate by finding and visiting local Pi-Powered businesses, making purchases, and sharing their experiences on Fireside Forum and social media.
About PiFest and Map of Pi
PiFest is a community-driven event designed to support and facilitate the integration of Pi in local commerce, connecting merchants with Pioneer shoppers and celebrating their local experiences on Fireside Forum and social media.
PiFest was created in part due to the incredibly strong interest Pioneers have shown in using Pi in local businesses. This interest was demonstrated by the widespread participation in the first PiFest in December 2023. However, one commonly cited challenge amongst Pioneers was the lack of discoverability of businesses that accept Pi.
To tackle this challenge, we kicked off 2024 with a special Pi Commerce Hackathon, where we invited Pioneer developers to build apps to solve this problem, with the initial design prototype provided by the Pi Core Team. Map of Pi was announced as one of two hackathon winners in March 2024; the app was built by a group of Pioneers that came together from around the world, and used the Pi Open Source (PiOS) license to foster further community contributions and growth. Since the hackathon, the Map of Pi team has continued to build, add features, and make improvements with frequent guidance and support from the Core Team. Specifically, Map of Pi’s flow and functionality have been further refined to help support the PiFest event. We are thrilled to feature Map of Pi in PiFest to improve discoverability for merchants and Pioneers around the globe.
However, keep in mind that this is the first time a major Pi global community event has run on a community-built app with their own post-launch support. Pioneers should expect potential in-progress features and user experience hiccups.
How does this year’s PiFest work?
Explore and discover
Map of Pi enables Pioneer merchants (those who accept Pi or otherwise integrate Pi into their business) to list their businesses, products, and services, and become discoverable to Pioneers in their local community.
Pioneers can use Map of Pi to find nearby Pi-powered businesses through the map or search function, and can add reviews on their shopping experiences. Note that the actual shopping and transactions occur locally in-store, not in the Map of Pi app. This app focuses on helping Pioneers discover local Pi-powered businesses.
Visit and transact
Pioneers then visit the local stores they have found, and transact with the merchants for goods and services securely using the Pi QR code feature in the Pi Wallet that facilitates their transactions to occur on the Pi Mainnet blockchain.
Together, these elements are designed to support the full cycle of Pi-powered commerce and create a blueprint for the integration of Pi at the intersection of Web3 and commerce.
PiFest aims to facilitate the use and integration of Pi in local commerce, leveraging the innovative solutions collectively developed by Pioneer developers during the Pi Commerce Hackathon. Utility-building is a key goal of the Enclosed Mainnet period and beyond, and PiFest is central in bringing Pioneers and merchants together to contribute to this effort while having fun.
Post and share!
PiFest is a chance to showcase and celebrate the local commerce potential of Pi to the Pioneer community and the rest of the world.
Therefore, Merchants and Pioneer shoppers are encouraged to share photos and stories of their PiFest experiences on Fireside Forum’s #PiFest channel and on social media! Your Fireside Forum posts may even be featured on Pi’s social media accounts to millions of followers if you take part in various Merchant and Pioneer challenges when creating your post.
For more details on how to participate in PiFest and its social media challenges, read the guidelines below.
Guidelines for Merchants and Pioneers
For Merchants
Before the Event:
- Registration: Merchants can register their businesses on Map of Pi by listing their products or services and indicating that they accept Pi as payment.
How to Register:- Go to mapofpi.pinet.com from your Pi Browser.
- Tap the “+ Sell” button at the bottom left of the app.
- Fill in all required information in the “Seller Registration” section, including Name, Type, Details, Address, and a Picture of your shop.
- If you’re not actively selling or just testing the app, make sure to select your seller type as either ‘Inactive Seller’ or ‘Test Seller’ respectively.
- Make sure you save everything on the seller registration page!
- Print your QR Code: Merchants can display their Pi Wallet QR code for easy access at their point of sale. Visit your Pi Wallet to print out the QR codes.
- Navigate to wallet.pinet.com in the Pi Browser.
- Tap “Pay / Request” then “Scan or Show QR Code”.
- From here, select “Share” then “Print”. This will open a new page in your browser with the PiFest flier and your personalized QR code, ready to print.
- Promotion: Merchants can promote their participation in PiFest by posting on Fireside Forum channel called #PiFest and their social media channels using the hashtag #PiFest. Sharing details about your business, special offers, and promotions can help attract Pioneers to visit.
- Merchant Challenge – Local Business Storytelling: Merchants are invited to share their stories about how integrating Pi has positively impacted their business on Fireside Forum Channel, named #PiFest. Your Fireside Forum posts will have a chance to be featured on Pi’s social media accounts, showcasing the diverse ways Pi is being used in local commerce. If you are posting your story on other social media such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, etc., make sure to use #PiFest so Pioneers can find your posts.
During the Event:
- Engagement: Merchants should actively engage with Pioneers both in-store and online, answering questions about the Pi payment process, such as using the QR code feature. Encouraging satisfied Pioneers to leave positive reviews on the app for your store and share their experiences on Fireside or social media can help build a strong reputation and community trust.
For Pioneers
Before the Event:
- Find Merchants:
Open Map of Pi in the Pi Browsers by visiting mapofpi.pinet.com. Use Map of Pi’s map or search function to locate local merchants that accept Pi as a payment method. Planning your visits ahead of time will enhance your shopping experience during the event.
During the Event:
- Visit Stores: Pioneers are encouraged to visit participating merchants and use Pi through the Pi Wallet. This is your chance to explore and support local businesses that accept Pi as payment.
- Leave Reviews: After completing your purchases, Pioneers should leave reviews on the Map of Pi app to help verify the legitimacy of the merchants and build trust within the community.
- Pioneer Challenges:
- Selfie Challenge: Take selfies with unique Pi-powered store displays and post them to the #PiFest channel on Fireside Forum or other social media.
- Store Visit Challenge: Visit 3 different Pi-powered stores in your area, write a review for each visit, and post a summary of your experiences, along with recommendations for others in your area, on the #PiFest channel in Fireside Forum or other social media.
- If you’re sharing your experiences on other social media platforms, use the hashtag #PiFest. Posts on Fireside Forum will have a chance to be featured on Pi’s social media accounts.
Support:
During the event, a Pi Chat room named “PiFest” will be available for Pioneers to connect, chat, ask questions, or report issues in English.
As this is the first event with a community-built and managed app, please note that while the Map of Pi developers have tried to ensure a safe and scalable deployment, you may encounter some bugs or issues. If you experience any problems, you can report them directly in the PiFest chat room or report issues on Map of Pi App. The Map of Pi team will be monitoring these reports and is prepared to deploy hotfixes if necessary.
Conclusion
PiFest is more than just an event—it’s a movement showcasing the utility and communal strength of Pi in local commerce and in community collaboration among Pioneers, developers and the Core Team. Get ready to be part of this groundbreaking event as we continue to build the future of Pi!
Disclaimer:
- Only individuals that reside in countries where the exchange of Pi, or any other cryptocurrency, would be permissible are permitted to participate. All Pioneers should follow their applicable local laws, rules and regulations.
- By submitting your pictures, videos, or comments for PiFest to this Fireside Forum public channel, you hereby grant Pi Network an unlimited and perpetual worldwide license to Pi Network to use your username, your pictures, videos, or comments that submitted, any portion of such content submitted in connection with PiFest, or for any other use or purpose determined in the discretion of Pi Network, including by Pi Network posting or reposting it on the home screen of the Pi app, including it in a video posted on the home screen of the Pi app, or by publishing or displaying it in any other media formats and media channels determined by Pi Network.
- Pi Apps are third-party applications and are not official apps developed or endorsed by the Pi Core Team, nor do they have any affiliation to Pi Network itself. Use of these apps is at your own discretion and risk, and by using such apps you acknowledge and agree that Pi Network is not responsible for any issues you may encounter, including but not limited to, those relating to and arising from transactions, data security, user experience, or access and use through Map of Pi, which is not associated or affiliated with Pi Network.
