[Draft 2] Community Call Revamp for Season 3

[samanthaj]

Community Call Revamp for Season 3

Here’s a conversation that happened in the discussion section of Brain Dump #6: [1] [2] Here, I’m proposing a way to do this CC reengineering. The primary mission of this proposed CC change is to build BanklessDAO culture. We have the entire DAO—the equivalent of a small town—listening to one meeting at ONCE. We absolutely must use this time as effectively as possible. I’m worried that, as we continue to grow, we’ll lose sight of who we are as a community and where we’re going. The firehos…

Updates from Draft 1 are marked with

Champions: Samanthaj#8487, frogmonkee#6855

Based on the poll in [[Draft 1] CC Revamp] (Community Call Revamp for Season 3), our community is in favor of changing the CC format to be less dousing-with-a-firehose and more sprinkling-with-a-faucet. How we go about this is uncharted territory. After synthesizing the comments of contributors too numerous to tag here, I’ve drafted a new CC Revamp. I believe this combination of governance prioritization, “wide and shallow” project Hype News, “narrow and deep” bDAO-relevant conversation, and asynchronous newsletter updates is a unique formula that could be instrumental in:

1. Building a culture where governance is top of mind.

2. Retaining fresh talent—our newest members could’ve been anywhere in Web3, but they’re here, listening to bDAO.

3. Celebrating wins and the contributors who made those wins happen.

4. Being accommodating to numerous time zones and work schedules through an emphasis on asynchronous updates.

Time Stamps

These are nearly the same timestamps Frog proposed in the comments section of the CC Revamp, which were voted on with mostly yes’s (although the number of voters was indeed small—another reason for this second draft).

1-10min: Moderator opens with key governance updates.

10-35 min: Moderator invites 5-10 project leaders on stage to announce their Hype News.

35-55 min: Keynote speaker/roundtable facilitated by the moderator.

55-60min: Closing thoughts from the moderator.

I will dive into the details of each timestamp below.

1-10 min: Moderator Opens

This is the same as my original proposal, except we added 5 minutes to allow sufficient time to cover governance updates.

Governance is everybody’s job. Moving on.

10-35 min: Hype News

This section will be when 5-10 project leaders with exciting updates, which I’m calling Hype News, are invited to come onstage to share. The more project leaders with exciting news that week, the less time each speaker will have to share their news. This will be calculated and handled by the Ops Guild. In other words, each project will get equal time to talk within the 20 minute time frame. Speakers will be cut off to allow time for everyone.

So what qualifies as “Hype News?” Namely things to celebrate. Things that generate tangible excitement. Some examples include:

• Releases/Launches - DEGEN 2.0, Bankless Academy MVP, GMI, MetaFactory drop
• Milestones - Bankless Consulting first client, Newsletter passes 10,000 subs, Crypto Sapiens passes 5,000 downloads
• People (Contributors that have gone above and beyond) - So-and-so quit their job to work full time on [Project]
• Revenue - Metafactory brought in $$$ in sales. Newsletter team secured $$$ in sponsors for Season X

I looked through previous Community Call slides to find examples of what I’d consider to be Hype News. Here are some examples from the December 10 CC:

• Bounty Board deployed to CityDAO and LivethelifeDAO this week!

• MetaFactory has a Cozy Drop that you should check out!

• Bankless Academy had a successful MVP launch, with over 50 POAPs claimed and 30 form responses with feedback. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback!

• The GMI index is launching soon. We’re responsible for seeding liquidity, so check out this guide to learn how to help us provide it!

• DAO Dash launched their first DAO punk dashboard. Check out the data here!

The Hype News section is purely to celebrate bDAO wins together. Not everyone needs to hear all the details and Calls to Action of every single project: it’s too much of a firehose. All other project updates will be in the Project Newsletter, described below the timestamps. This newsletter will allow bDAO members to digest information asynchronously at their own pace.

This poll is to get consensus on the idea of having a Hype News section in the CC. Process detailed below.

• Yes, keep the idea of Hype News as is.
• No, needs work.

35-55 min: Keynote speaker/roundtable facilitated by the moderator

The moderator for the day will be charged with finding and facilitating that week’s speaker or roundtable.

Moderators would be able to choose who/what they want to highlight, but it cannot be something they are working on. For example, if frogmonkee were moderating, he might showcase Bankless Consulting. Not because he’s involved in BC, but because he’s excited about what they’re doing. The idea here is to let active contributors in the DAO highlight initiatives that they know are hot, but haven’t had time to go deep. It should not be to promote something he is involved with.

For maximum transparency, these discussions will occur in a thread of CC Info called CC Keynote. Any bDAO member can therefore chime in and signal who to feature that week. The only other criteria is that the topic needs to be specific to BanklessDAO.

Some examples of potential keynote speakers or roundtables:

• Roundtable of people from multiple “sides” of a proposal.

• Discussion on the tokenomics of BANK, the state of the treasury, and the timeline to pull tokens out.

• Chat with genesis members on the direction of bDAO.

• Hear from the DEGEN and Bounty Board teams on their methods to ship products to other DAOs. What can other projects learn from their successes?

• Talk with the First Quest team on how they’re building a “choose your own adventure” onboarding process and what that will make First Quest look like for new members in the future.

This is the “narrow and deep” section of the call, where we can really get into the weeds on what DAO members are doing. We can also get to know DAO members at a more personal level—this DAO is massive, and getting to know people and projects personally outside your respective niche is really tough.

• Yes, keep the keynote/roundtable section as is.
• No, needs work.

55-60 min: Closing thoughts from the moderator

Up to the moderator on how to close. Good vibes only. Nothing new here.

“We’re headed west. This is the frontier. It’s not for everyone, but for us, it is”

Async Things We Need:

• A new Project Updates Newsletter to replace the Google slides. This has been approved by the Newsletter Team.

• A rotating list of L2s who are comfortable moderating.

• Hype News submission process through Ops Guild.

• A public thread nested under #CC-info for the weekly moderator to discuss keynote and roundtable ideas with other moderators, interested bDAO members, and the potential speakers themselves.

• Education and emphasis on internal guild newsletters, like Dev Guild Weekly and The Scribe’s Quill.

The Project Updates Newsletter

As approved by the Newsletter squad, project leads will submit updates to the Project Updates Newsletter Team Lead via a form rather than submitting and presenting them as Google slides. - There will be no guild updates anymore.

The form will include:

• Project Name

• Project Contact(s)

• 3-5 bullet point updates (including any call to actions - eg. Follow cryptosapiens on twitter!)

• How can readers learn more (landing page, point of contact, email?)

The newsletter team will then gather updates, format them in Substack, follow up with project leads as needed, attend Newsletter Team and/or Writers Guild Weekly meetings as needed, and assign a weekly editor to the newsletter. This constitutes roughly two hours of work per week. I will post a budget for this subset of the Newsletter project if this CC format is approved.

• Yes, keep Project Updates as is.
• No, needs work.

The Rotating List of L2 Moderators

L2s can volunteer to moderate via submission form. The Ops guild will choose moderators at random and confirm their availability at least 5 days prior to the CC.

Moderators’ responsibilities are:

1. Source speakers for the upcoming CC in accordance to the rules set out above.

2. Moderate the Keynote section of the CC.

Once selected, moderators will need to confirm their speaker by Thursday at 12pm EST/5pm UTC the day before the CC.

Not every L2 needs to moderate—not everyone will want to, and we don’t want to force it.

As stated in the first draft, I believe only L2s should be allowed to moderate. This is not designed to leave people out. Rather, the thought behind this was that a relatively deep knowledge of bDAO is necessary to do this job well. (Note that it’s in the scope of work for Governance Solutions Engineers to rethink the contributor system to be more inclusive.)

Keeping it limited to L2s ensures the moderators are:

1. Ready to take on the task of finding a keynote speaker for the week.

2. Aligned with the bDAO mission, vision, and values in a way that they know how to speak to our bDAO audience (which is full of fresh talent who are still trying to figure out if bDAO is right for them).

Guest passes and L1s will still be important parts of the Hype News, keynotes, and roundtables. But I believe moderating is a different beast.

• Yes, I agree that only L2s should be allowed to volunteer as moderators.
• No, let L1s moderate.
• No, allow anyone, including L1s and Guest Passes, moderate.

Hype News Submissions

Any project can submit their hype segment. The Ops Guild will go through and check which updates follow the “Hype” criteria outlined above and add them to the CC agenda.

Submissions can be sent via form (submissions will be publicly viewable on Notion). The form will include:

• Project name

• Speaker (must be available at time of CC)

• Project updates (will be subject to a time cap, depending on how many projects are eligible to present)

This form will accept submissions until Thursday at 12pm EST (noon, not midnight)- After that time, any submissions count for the next week. For example, a submission on Thursday, Jan 13th at 11:59am EST is eligible for the CC on Jan 14th. A submission on Thursday, Jan 13th at 12:01pm EST is eligible for the CC on Jan 21st.

On Thursday, the Ops Guild will curate the submissions for those that follow the Hype criteria and confirm each speaker’s availability.

• Yes, keep the submission and evaluation process as is.
• No, needs work.

Keynote Speaker Public Thread

This thread, nested underneath #CC-info, will be used by moderators to pick that week’s keynote. I imagine the moderator will propose an idea and others will chime in with thoughts. Or, someone will post an idea and the moderator will take it and run with it. We could have a backlog of ideas running, too. I think this could be relatively informal—an environment for bDAO members to share speaker/roundtable ideas and for moderators to gather information. Ultimately, the moderator would be responsible for selecting the topic and speaker. The only time a moderator can be vetoed is according to the Firming Up Governance spec that allows for time during the CC to discuss major governance and tokenomic changes.

• Yes, keep the keynote public thread as is.
• No, needs work.

Internal Guild Newsletters

We’re moving toward a project-based DAO. Every day, guilds spin out projects that preach the good bDAO mission and generate revenue. These projects may be nested under a guild, but the guild itself is merely a coordination structure, not a creator of value. If the guild is the liquidity pool of talent, then the projects are what you do with your tokens when you pull them out of the pool and put them to work.

That’s why I propose:

1. Removing guild updates in DAO-wide CC formats.

2. Facilitating internal guild newsletters modeled after Dev Guild Weekly and The Scribe’s Quill (Writers Guild Weekly) which summarize the projects nested under them and provide critical information to both new members and people in time zones/with day jobs that conflict with the meeting times.

Guild coordinators, I get it. You’re already swamped with work. Another newsletter? But I promise it doesn’t have to add more than a half hour of work on your end. Here are some tactics you can try:

• Ask project leads and governance role-holders to submit a three-sentence update to you on their project or office. All you do is paste their update into a newsletter. Done!

• Bounty-out a guild secretary to take notes in meetings and synthesize them in a brief, action-item-heavy newsletter. Guild doesn’t have anyone interested? Create a bounty for a notetaker from the Writers Guild to sit in on your weekly meeting and synthesize what they hear into a succinct, 500-word newsletter.

• Don’t make a newsletter at all—simply write out the biggest action items and announcements for the week and drop them in a Discord message in your guild’s general channel on Monday morning. Pin the message so all contributors can find it that week. Unpin it next Monday, start again.

To make this easier, we’ll include a template newsletter that guild coordinators can easily copy and paste. This will encourage teams to go asynchronous with their updates and free up weekly sync meetings for more useful conversations and not just updates! Consider these newsletters as “pre-reads” for every meeting.

• Yes, guilds should manage their own updates via an internal newsletter or pinned action-item-heavy Discord message.
• No, needs work.

Remember, we’re making this up as we go. So we can try this for a couple weeks and see what works.

I don’t want anyone to think that because we’re proposing a new change, this is the change forever. I purely want a CC format that serves everyone in the DAO, no matter if they’ve been around since Season 0 or joined yesterday, are active 1 hour a week or 40, or are based in Singapore or San Francisco. This is our Community Call, so let’s iterate it until it works for us exactly the way we want it to. We’re builders, we’re good at that!

Thanks for reading all these words and voting way more times in this post than you probably planned on,

Sam

Next Steps

• Create form for submitting Hype News
• Create form for L2 moderators
• Create CC-Keynote thread
• Instantiate Project Updates Newsletter
• Create How-To guide on Guild newsletters

[rotorless]

If we want to build Bankless Culture the CC should include hearing dogma: reminding everyone of the mission-vision and values of the DAO and discord community standards of civility, respect and so on.

Repairing the gap you identified is less likely to occur by repackaging the existing CC information than by adding what is missing from the call and is currently not discussed on it.

[Jengajojo]

Generally agree with revamping the CC specifically like the part where guild updates are delegated to newsletters as well as the hype news part.

As for L2 round table, I don’t completely agree with it because of the current L2 structure. L2 status has no scarcity function, hence someone who became L2 many weeks/months ago can contribute little as compared to deserving guest pass holders and still get a dedicated spot to shill in the CC. Long story short, good to have L2 round table if L2 status has a scarcity function.

Secondly I agree with rotorless about the dogma part. All communities have their internal ‘memes’ which the community can vibe on. In this case I’d recommend a 5 min lore section in the CC. The lore can be crowdsourced each time and the unused ones can be shipped in the weekly newsletter.

[rotorless]

@Jengajojo

All communities have their internal ‘memes’ which the community can vibe on. In this case I’d recommend a 5 min lore section in the CC. The lore can be crowdsourced each time and the unused ones can be shipped in the weekly newsletter.

Brilliant. Totally onboard with this.

[samanthaj]

Interesting! Can you elaborate on what would go in the lore section and who would lead it?

[samanthaj]

Thanks for the feedback! How would you envision the details of sharing mission/vision/values, leading it, etc?

[Jengajojo]

We can have bankless mascots/heros (like DAOpunks) who’d lead the community towards a bankless nation with a series of memes/stories/songs about the collective fiction that is being built around contributors working together to bring the Bankless nation into existence.

Each 5 min story could be crafted to highlight different aspects of the Bankless nation such as pseudonymy, proof-of-work before pay, coping with timezones etc. I’m happy to lead this with you all and I propose @Liquidiot as the lore teller because of his fantastic dreamy voice.

These are just some thoughts from the top of my head based on Anon vs Moloch comics that Gitcoin is shipping.

[rotorless]

Is it ok if I get back to you later? I am jammed at the moment but happy to follow up.

[DoubleB]

I want to give a big shoutout to @samanthaj for bringing forward such a well thought out post.

A better structured CC should lead to a better listener experience.

Also, I believe it’s time that bDAO makes a choice as to whether it wants the weekly CC to stay more ‘informal’, like they currently are. Or round it into something that has a feeling of being more professional.

Even if they come off feeling somewhat business like.

[rotorless]

I think it can be done in a fun tone.

Like welcome to the weekly CC where discuss how we meet the mission x and our vision y.

Sort of like religion , repeat the same message each time.

The call can close with thank you’s and let’s remind everyone we are great because our discord commitment to be respectful, civil makes us stronger … we are all ambassadors and people know it’s welcoming place to be … etc something similar to that.

It doesn’t take much but it makes a difference.

Mixing mantra with morale.

[links]

Looking forward to the new CC format and love the weekly project newsletter as an async update tool.

The one sticking point for me is guilds not giving updates the same as projects. I don’t buy the reasoning that they are somehow different than projects. They are a huge part of our seasonal budgets and should have the accountability to report their activities at the same cadence as projects.

Guilds should be expected to evolve and improve, so they should have things to report, otherwise they shouldn’t exist. Making me sign up and consume 13 weekly newsletters to get this information seems…unreasonable.

[0xJustice]

This is a masterpiece. What we see determines where we go. Making projects the primary focus of the community calls may sound like a small change but I’m confident we’ll look back and see the enormous cultural ramifications years from now. Big slow clap for this one. And a big cherry on top for the specific callout on the distinct function of guilds as resource pools as opposed to value drivers. WAGMI

[samanthaj]

This is true, and I was talking with the newsletter squad about guilds that function more like projects (legal guild is a big one). So, the newsletter might end up being projects one week/guilds the next week like CCs are now. Multiple people have brought this up to me so I’m definitely going to take it into account.

[frogmonkee]

They are a huge part of our seasonal budgets and should have the accountability to report their activities at the same cadence as projects.

The CC doesn’t facilitate this either in any real capacity. If so, we would have updates for every single project we’ve funded. With the new format, the point isn’t accountability either, it’s hype and vibes.

Right now, the guild CCs are boring. I don’t enjoy them, and I think others feel the same.

They should 100% provide updates, but externally to the CCs. I think guild-specific newsletters are a good option because guilds usually have a lot to update (more activity than projects on a weekly basis) and you can choose which guild you want to see updates from.

The alternative is having a project and guild newsletter wrapped up in one, but that would be thousands and thousands of words per newsletter. I’d rather see one project newsletter (kind of an opt-in procedure) and then choose which guild newsletters I want to see updates from.

[links]

Just to be clear, completely agree that updates shouldn’t be in the CC. If I’m being completely honest, I personally wouldn’t really enjoy a newsletter either, but it would be better than the CC.

I also don’t think I’m looking for a ton of depth in the updates, just some cadence of accountability. 3-5 bullets would be enough for me.

How about doing weekly updates in a Discord channel?

[Morte-ch]

Well thought out plan lets put it to action and learn on the curve without the effort of doing you cannot be of benefit to others, The closing remarks should aim at encouraging members who are getting their hands dirty with lots of sacrifice, A motivation remark to newbies and a promotion/advertising the banklessDAO e.g tell a friend to tell a friend about the bankless movement

[angyts]

Hey @samanthaj I 100% agree with all the points there except this part about guild updates.

1. Removing guild updates will make guilds even more siloed, sometimes I find it is useful to hear what other guilds are vibing on, and their tempos. Although I generally agree, the airtime could be reduced.

Otherwise:

2. I 1000% agree with putting people at the focus of the community calls. And our talented people are the important driving force of projects and BanklessDAO.

3. Rotating by some kind of roster might be good as well, to kinda “force” some L2s to speak up. I feel a lot of us are good workers, but we can be better in speaking and communicating. It will make our work 100% more effective. So yeah! Get L2s to speak up! It’s an overall plus for BanklessDAO. (myself included by the way, I tend to work more than I communicate)

4. On a side note, keeping the community call at the same time every week is getting tiresome for asia pacific especially australia/NZ people. If you guys realise, people in this timezones just don’t stick around. Perhaps, we have to consider changing time zones once a month, just to start to see, who else might show up! We might have a more inclusive DAO this way!

[links]

@angyts

On a side note, keeping the community call at the same time every week is getting tiresome for asia pacific especially australia/NZ people. If you guys realise, people in this timezones just don’t stick around. Perhaps, we have to consider changing time zones once a month, just to start to see, who else might show up! We might have a more inclusive DAO this way!

The new format seems more executable by a smaller group of people ie the moderator engages a few others for hype news and round table instead of ALL guilds/projects. Perhaps this means we could even have 2 independent community calls? Each one could even have a « local » flavour for the round table topic (ie NA one has a topic relevant and timely to NA and APAC has a topic that works for APAC)

[samanthaj]

@links

How about doing weekly updates in a Discord channel?

Frog and I discussed this, but we came to the conclusion that it would be too noisy and people wouldn’t read it. A newsletter is more high-signal (not saying it makes people read it, but more conducive to reading). I realize those two points aren’t very well thought-out. I’m curious to hear more, and of course what @siddhearta thinks from the newsletter perspective.

[siddhearta]

I would agree Samantha. Adding a separate discord channel would lead to more confusion and information is hard enough to find as it is.

I really see the project newsletter as a concise written format meant for projects to celebrate achievements and then call for engagement. As we can get more guilds involved in setting up their own newsletters (like Dev and WG), we can have a section that links each guild update, so all relevant weekly information is in one spot.

We are shooting for anticipated, personal and relevant updates. Cut the noise.