OTH Impact

Impact Measurements and Metrics for Optimism Town Hall + RetroPitches

Overview and Context

This page provides an overview of the impact and metrics for Optimism Town Hall and RetroPitches, two innovative initiatives designed to enhance governance discussions and public goods funding in the Optimism ecosystem. Optimism Town Hall is a collaborative forum dedicated to discussions about Optimism governance, featuring innovative community agenda games. RetroPitches are friendly competitions where public goods creators present their projects, and participants rank their pitches.

These events, launched in May 2024 and November 2023 respectively, serve as unique platforms for community members, delegates, and builders to share ideas, showcase their work, and contribute to governance discussions. The purpose of this page is to showcase the impact of these initiatives on Optimism governance between October 2023 and September 2024, particularly in the context of our application for Retroactive Funding Round 6.

It's important to note that this project has not received any previous funding from the Collective. This impact page and the associated application have been created by Dan Singjoy, founder of the Optimystics, who organize and facilitate these events. For more details on our application, please visit our Optimism Town Hall + RetroPitches application. For a broader understanding of our work across different projects and our funding context, please refer to the Optimystics Projects and Funding overview.

Table of Contents

• Impact Measurements and Metrics for Optimism Town Hall + RetroPitches
• Overview and Context
• Event Participation and Engagement
• Governance Innovation and Experimentation
• Content Creation and Distribution
• Essential Governance Education
• Why Optimism Town Hall is Critical for Optimism Collective Governance
• 1. Improving Optimism Governance Accessibility
• 2. Critical Governance Experimentation
• Qualitative Impact
• Conclusion

Event Participation and Engagement

Over the past year, our weekly Optimism Town Hall events and periodic RetroPitches have fostered vibrant discussions and engagement within the Optimism ecosystem.

Key metrics for Optimism Town Hall include:

• Total Events Hosted: 17 weekly events between May-September 2024
• Unique Participants: Approximately 40 diverse contributors to Optimism governance
• Average Attendance: 7-9 participants per event
• Topic Proposals: 43 topic proposals posted on Optimism Town Hall Snapshot Spaces, with most of the topic proposals including deeply researched presentations and educational resources

For RetroPitches:

• Total Events Hosted: 3 pilot events
• Unique Participants: Approximately 30 public goods creators and community members
• Presentations from RetroPGF Project Owners: 13

These numbers represent a wide range of participants, including delegates, badge holders, builders, and governance enthusiasts. The engagement is evidenced by consistent participation and the development of long-term collaborations among participants. Learn more about RetroPitches and watch their videos in this article.

You can verify this participation by viewing OptimismTownHall.com/videos and exploring the timestamps in the video descriptions. You can see a sample of some of the outstanding positive feedback for these events at OptimismTownHall.com/feedback.

Governance Innovation and Experimentation

Optimism Town Hall and RetroPitches have been at the forefront of governance experimentation and innovation:

• Cagendas Implementation: We've pioneered Cagendas, a collaborative agenda-setting game that empowers community members to propose, discuss, and vote on topics using onchain reputation tokens. This has enhanced community engagement in governance discussions.
• Between May and September, 35 topic proposals were created in the Optimism Town Hall Snapshot Space and 49 votes from 10 unique community members. You can verify the stats and see the voters on the leaderboard and see how this space is used here.

• OPTOPICS Development: We've introduced OPTOPICS, an innovative community agenda game allowing participants to propose, vote, and dynamically coordinate discussion topics during events.
• Between September 3rd and September 26th, there were 8 topic proposals created in the OPTOPICS Snapshot Space and 19 votes from from 6 unique community members. You can verify the stats and see the voters on the leaderboard and see how this space is used here.

• RetroPitches Format: We've developed a unique format for public goods creators to showcase their work and receive community feedback called RetroPitches, enhancing the RetroFunding process.
• We’ve also created a detailed article showing the history and future of RetroPitches, which shows various related experiments and demonstrates how the pilot program fits into a larger context designed to optimize impact evaluation with onchain interactions.

• Governance Education: Our events have served as an interactive platform for newcomers and existing community members to learn about and engage with Optimism's governance processes, including RetroFunding, missions, and protocol upgrades.
• Many builders and leaders across the Superchain have praised Optimism Town Hall events as an excellent educational resource that greatly helped them. You can see a sample of some of the outstanding positive feedback for these events at OptimismTownHall.com/feedback.

You can find details about the Optimism Town Hall governance experiments like Cagendas and OPTOPICS in the Optimism Town Hall FAQ. You can find details about RetroPitches here.

Content Creation and Distribution

Our events have produced a substantial body of educational and historical content:

• Event Recordings: 17 full Optimism Town Hall recordings and 3 RetroPitches recordings, each with comprehensive show notes

• Total Video Content: Over 14 hours of governance discussions, experiments, and presentations

• Viewership and Reach: Around 1,000 views across event recordings and 5,000+ impressions on social media posts promoting events and sharing highlights

• Educational Resources: Developed a rich library of resources on Optimism governance, accessible to the entire community

You can watch these videos on OptimismTownHall.com/videos and Optimystics.io/retropitches. You can explore the timestamps in the video descriptions. Our episodes feature custom artwork and promotions on dozens of channels/accounts (such as the Optimystics X account) to enhance engagement and visibility. We’re working to provide more details about the reach, distribution, and impact of these episodes.

Essential Governance Education

Optimism Town Hall is an open forum for governance discussions with a dynamic, topic-driven format. Each week features different topics, including deep dives into:

For all the episodes and show notes, see OptimismTownHall.com/videos. More details about why these are essential for the Collective can be found in the section below about ‘Why Optimism Town Hall is Critical for Optimism Collective Governance’.

Note about Optimism Fractal Planning Sessions

Prior to Optimism Town Hall, there was also a series called Optimism Fractal Planning Sessions. These sessions occupied the time slot of Optimism Town Hall before its launch, serving this role for approximately four months. Several episodes delved into Optimism governance processes, RetroFunding round designs and improvements, developer showcases of governance tools, and introductions and refinements of critical governance processes.

These sessions were not included in the Optimism Fractal Respect Games application, as that application focused specifically on Respect Games events. After the Optimism Town Hall application was declined, I added them here to provide a better idea of the critical governance discussions and experiments that our team provided for the Optimism Collective prior to the beginning of Optimism Town Hall in a similar format.

These sessions may be included in this application because they are currently not part of any other application in RetroFunding Round 6. Some of the relevant episodes are shown below and more can be found at OptimismFractal.com/videos.

Why Optimism Town Hall is Critical for Optimism Collective Governance

Optimism Town Hall addresses two critical needs for Optimism Collective governance: enhancing governance accessibility and spearheading essential governance experimentation. Let's explore why this process is crucial in both aspects:

1. Improving Optimism Governance Accessibility

The Optimism Collective faces significant challenges in governance participation and understanding. Governance processes are inherently complex, frequently evolving, and require substantial context to navigate effectively. This complexity creates a major barrier to entry and effectiveness, as highlighted by Justine from the Optimism Foundation in their recent podcast discussing governance challenges.

Quality governance education has emerged as the essential first step toward increasing participation, which directly supports the Collective's primary intent of progressing toward decentralization. Optimism Town Hall addresses these barriers through:

• Weekly events with refined presentations distilling complex governance concepts
• Open Q&A sessions enabling direct community engagement
• Produced videos creating lasting educational resources
• Community-driven topic selection ensuring focus on priority issues
• Rapid distribution of current governance information

This educational infrastructure supports critical governance functions across both houses of the Collective:

Citizens' House Impact:

• Supports essential scaling through effective citizen onboarding
• Improves RetroFunding distribution through better-informed citizens
• Strengthens decentralization by educating citizens about their duties and responsibilities

Token House Impact:

• Increases participation and staking by educating potential delegates and voters
• Strengthens governance security through more distributed token staking
• Creates stable environment for sustainable growth

The effectiveness of our educational approach is evidenced through feedback from key governance participants.

• JRocki (Optimism Grants Council) - Expressed appreciation about how Dan’s presentations in the Optimism Town Hall helped clarify complex governance processes with Mission Requests

• CryptoFede (Mode) - After joining Town Hall, learned about and began attending Grants Council office hours, which helped them successfully navigate the mission grant process

• Gene (Code of Conduct Council) - Expressed wonder at Optimism Town Hall's role in fostering Optimism governance discussions and helping participants understand governance

You can see a sample of the outstanding positive feedback for these events and watch the feedback on video recordings at OptimismTownHall.com/feedback.

2. Critical Governance Experimentation

Beyond education, Optimism Town Hall serves as an essential testing ground for innovative governance processes. This experimentation is particularly crucial given how agenda-setting and media creation can significantly influence collective decision-making.

For example, you can see this video for mathematical proof regarding the importance of setting agendas and how those who control the media can control the organization. This is one of the reasons why playing Cagendas and voting on topics can be so helpful - it provides a fair, decentralized way for the community to shape discussion priorities.

We're pioneering:

• Community agenda systems utilizing onchain reputation tokens
• Fair and decentralized decision-making infrastructure
• Credibly neutral media creation and distribution systems
• Novel approaches to community-driven content curation

These experimental governance processes, detailed at OptimismTownHall.com/faq, represent entirely unique contributions to the Collective, distinct from the peer evaluation focus of Optimism Fractal Respect Game Events. While Optimism Fractal measures contributions through structured game mechanics, Town Hall explores different critical aspects of governance through open forums and community-driven agenda setting.

The dual impact of essential education provision and governance innovation demonstrates Town Hall's unique and vital role in advancing Optimism governance. These contributions are complementary to, but entirely separate from, the impact of other governance initiatives in the Collective. As Optimism continues its path toward greater decentralization, maintaining and supporting this educational and experimental infrastructure becomes increasingly critical for achieving broader, more informed participation in governance.

Qualitative Impact

Optimism Town Hall and RetroPitches have had profound qualitative impacts:

• Enhanced Governance Participation: By providing an accessible entry point to governance discussions and pioneering novel agenda games, we've increased engagement in Optimism governance.

• Improved Information Flow: Our events and video content have created a more informed governance community, facilitating better decision-making in various governance processes.

• Cross-Community Collaboration: We've facilitated discussions between various stakeholders in the Optimism ecosystem, including delegates, council members, and builders, fostering a more cohesive governance community.

• Public Goods Promotion: RetroPitches have provided a platform for public goods creators to showcase their work, supporting the RetroPGF evaluation process by offering badge holders additional insights into projects' impacts.

Conclusion

Thank you for visiting our impact page. By providing consistent platforms for community engagement, experimentation with novel governance processes, and showcasing public goods, these initiatives have contributed significantly to the evolution of Optimism's governance landscape.

We invite you to join our weekly Optimism Town Hall events and future RetroPitches to experience these initiatives firsthand. You can find event details and RSVP on our events page. If you have any questions or would like more info, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Dan Singjoy. To learn more about our work and see our resources, please explore OptimismTownHall.com.

We appreciate your time in reviewing our impact and look forward to any feedback!