This page provides an overview of frequently asked questions and details about the Optimism Town Hall. Feel free to reach out with any other questions in our telegram group chat or at the biweekly events!
Table of Contents
- What is Optimism Town Hall?
- Who can participate in Optimism Town Hall?
- What if I'm new to Optimism?
- How can I present my project or initiative?
- How are Optimism Town Hall Events Scheduled?
- How are Town Hall topics selected?
- How is Voting Power Determined for Optimism Town Hall Topics?
- Where can I formally propose and vote on topics?
- Optimism Town Hall Snapshot Space
- What is the OPTOPICS Snapshot Space?
- What is Cagendas?
- What are the Rules of Cagendas?
- What is OPTOPICS?
- What are the rules of OPTOPICS?
- Where can I watch videos of Optimism Town Hall?
- Where can I ask questions about Optimism Town Hall?
- How can I join Optimism Town Hall events?
What is Optimism Town Hall?
Optimism Town Hall is a biweekly collaborative forum dedicated to discussions about the Optimism Collective and the Superchain. It provides a platform for community members, leaders, and builders to engage in governance discussions, share ideas, and learn about the latest developments in the Optimism ecosystem.
Who can participate in Optimism Town Hall?
Optimism Town Hall is a collaborative forum open to everyone interested in the Superchain - including builders, delegates, citizens, council members, and newcomers to Optimism. Our events provide an interactive space to learn about governance, share ideas, and help shape the future of the Collective through community-driven discussions. At each event we explore different aspects of Optimism through deep-dive presentations, open discussions, and Q&A sessions on topics chosen by the community.
What if I'm new to Optimism?
The Optimism Town Hall is an excellent starting point for learning about Optimism and it’s governance processes. Our discussions break down complex topics, provide educational resources, and connect you with various opportunities across the Collective. You can ask questions, learn about funding programs, and discover ways to contribute to governance. Recent episodes have helped newcomers understand RetroFunding, Missions, and other core processes of Optimism.
How can I present my project or initiative?
We regularly feature presentations from builders, council members, and contributors across the Superchain. Recent sessions have included demonstrations of governance tools, overviews of new protocols, and discussions of opportunities in Optimism Season 6. To present your work, email us here or share your topic idea in our chat. No special requirements needed - we welcome all governance-focused content that could benefit the Collective.
How are Optimism Town Hall Events Scheduled?
According to the Cagendas rules—approved by the Optimism Fractal Council in this proposal—an Optimism Town Hall event will be scheduled only if a topic receives at least 2,000 Optimism Fractal Respect votes before Monday at 17 UTC. You can vote to schedule Optimism Town Hall events and topics on the Optimism Town Hall snapshot space. The full scheduling rules are outlined below.
- Anyone with OPF or OFR (Optimism Fractal Respect tokens) can propose topics by creating polls in the Optimism Town Hall snapshot space.
- Anyone can vote on polls using their OPF or OFR to help determine discussion topics.
- The poll with the most votes by Monday at 17 UTC becomes that week's Town Hall topic.
- Town Hall events occur every other Thursday at 18 UTC following Optimism Fractal events, provided at least one topic proposal receives 2,000 respect votes by Monday at 17 UTC.
- If no proposal reaches the 2,000 vote threshold by Monday at 17 UTC, no Optimism Town Hall will be scheduled that week.
If you'd like to schedule a topic, simply create a proposal and share the link. You can invite others to vote for it if you'd like to gather more support. I'd be happy to review it and potentially vote to support your topic.
It's also worth noting that Optimism Town Hall and Eden Town Hall operate differently. Eden Town Hall occurs every other week following Eden Fractal events, without any Cagendas scheduling currently in place.
Both Optimism Fractal and Eden Fractal take place every other week at 17 UTC, independent of town hall scheduling. As always , you can always check the Optimystics Events Calendar to see all upcoming Optimism Town Halls and other events organized by the Optimystics.
Feel free to share any questions and explore OptimismTownHall.com to learn more about these community gatherings. Looking forward to seeing you at the events!
How are Town Hall topics selected?
Topics are chosen through Cagendas and OPTOPICS, our democratic topic selection systems that ensure discussions reflect community interests. While formal topic proposals currently use reputation tokens, anyone can suggest topics during events or through our telegram group. Past topics have included Mission processes, RetroPGF evaluations, governance tool demonstrations, and collaborative discussions about improving Collective governance.
How is Voting Power Determined for Optimism Town Hall Topics?
Topics are selected through our innovative community agenda system called OPTOPICS, which enables democratic topic selection and dynamic discussion flow. Formal topic proposals and voting are open to:
- Optimism Fractal community members (OPF Respect holders)
- Token House members (OP token holders and delegates)
- Citizens House members (badge holders)
Even without voting power, anyone can suggest topics during events, through our telegram chat, or our contact page. We aim to cover a wide range of subjects important to the Collective - from protocol upgrades and RetroPGF, to opportunities for builders and improvements to governance processes. This inclusive approach helps ensure our discussions reflect interests across the Collective's bicameral governance system.
Where can I formally propose and vote on topics?
There are two Snapshot Spaces that we use to formally propose and vote on topics, as you can see below. Each of these spaces has a unique purpose and functionality:
Optimism Town Hall Snapshot Space
We use the Optimism Town Hall snapshot space for scheduling specific topics in advance for each event. If a topic is selected via the rules of Cagendas in the Optimism Town Hall Snapshot Space (ie it has the most votes on Monday at 17 UTC), then it is scheduled as the main/first topic for the upcoming town hall event. This is useful when someone wants to schedule a topic in advance for a particular event, give people a few days to prepare for the topic, and have time to organize promotions around it.
What is the OPTOPICS Snapshot Space?
We use the OPTOPICS snapshot space for organizing an ongoing list of topics that we can discuss at any event. This is useful when there’s a topic that someone wants to discuss but it’s not very time sensitive, could be discussed at other events in the future, or is proposed within a few days of the event. It provides more flexibility, allowing the community to choose the topic(s) at any point after Monday at 17 UTC while still having a well-organized and democratic process for choosing the agenda.
What is Cagendas?
Cagendas is a collaborative agenda game that empowers community members to fairly propose, discuss, and vote on topics with reputation tokens. You can think of Cagendas as a game for community agendas, cooperative agendas, or consensus agendas.
This innovative consensus game has the potential to create profound benefits for all communities and organizations by enabling groups to effectively prioritize discussions, fairly structure conversation spaces, and ensure that the topics that matter most get the attention they deserve. You can explore this article below to learn more about the development of Cagendas over the past two years.
What are the Rules of Cagendas?
- Anyone with OP, OPF, or a badge in the Optimism Citizen’s House can propose a topic by creating a poll in the Optimism Town Hall snapshot space.
- Anyone can vote on polls with their OP, OPF, or badge to help determine the discussion topic for each biweekly event.
- Whichever poll has received the most votes in the Topic Poll by Monday at 17 UTC will be the topic discussed during the Optimism Town Hall event.
What is OPTOPICS?
OPTOPICS is the collaborative agenda-setting game used for Optimism Town Hall. It's a type of Cagendas game that allows community members to propose topics, vote on them using reputation tokens, and collectively decide the focus of each Town Hall session. It features an optimistic topic transition system that allows anyone to influence the discussion as the game progresses and help move the group to the next topic. You can learn more about OPTOPICS and see the the evolution of the game’s development in this article.
What are the rules of OPTOPICS?
There are three main actions that you can take while playing OPTOPICS: propose topics, vote on topics, and switch topics.
Propose Topics
Create a topic proposal in the OPTOPICS snapshot space at any time to propose a topic. Feel free to propose anything related to Optimism.
Tip: When creating a topic proposal you can set the Voting Type to Weighted Voting, then set two poll options to Upvote and Abstain. This isn’t necessary, but provides greater ability for everyone to weigh their preferences while voting for topics.
Vote on Topics
Vote on topics to help set the agenda. The topic with the most votes will be discussed until the group decides to switch topics. Feel free to change your vote at any time.
Switch Topics
OPTOPICS features an optimistic topic transition system that allows anyone to influence the discussion as the game progresses and help move the group to the next topic. Here’s how it works:
Next Topic: Type ‘next topic’ in the zoom chat to propose moving to the next topic. This starts a one-minute countdown.
Same Topic: Type ‘same topic’ within one minute to veto the change. If vetoed, neither person can propose to switch or veto again for the current topic.
New Topic: If over half of well respected community members agree, any topic can be introduced and discussed immediately.
Where can I watch videos of Optimism Town Hall?
You can watch videos of Optimism Town Hall and explore show notes on our videos page.
Where can I ask questions about Optimism Town Hall?
Feel free to reach out with any questions in our telegram group chat or at the biweekly events.
How can I join Optimism Town Hall events?
You can RSVP to join Optimism Town Hall events on the event page. We look forward to seeing you there!
