Dear Community,
There are currently 3 proposals in regards to the Events Bounty (with the assumption of another proposal from a different party coming soon):
You can see all of the proposed curators in the screenshot below, further details are in the top up proposal:
We would like to provide clarification and reasonings for both active referendums, and the positives and negatives of the Events Bounty thus far.
Since its inception, the Events Bounty funded 210 events across the world to spread awareness of Polkadot - helping to improve turnaround times (and at times the chance of approval) versus OpenGov, as well as reducing noise from proposals for OpenGov participants. It has been very successful in this endeavor, however, it has not been without its challenges.
Through its’ evolution from V1 to V2 it has received criticism from some for its’ lack of efficiency and unnecessarily long waiting times - this improved in the second iteration but still has not met the expectations of many. There are multiple reasons why the Events Bounty has not performed as well as it could, all of which we have addressed in our new proposal, which you can find here - but can be summarized below:
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The $150K arbitrary cap is too restrictive to allow for some extraordinary events to be funded through Events Bounty and therefore these events receive insufficient scrutiny through OpenGov. This proposal removes this cap.
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Marketing costs for events were not covered by the previous Events Bounty - meaning that events did not get the best opportunity for attention. We have included marketing costs in the new proposal.
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Without appropriate BD and follow up, leads may get missed at events. To ensure this doesn’t happen, there will be a dedicated BD role that sources individuals who will attend the funded events and make sure all leads are captured and funneled into the ecosystem accordingly
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There is no broader strategy for events for the Polkadot ecosystem, meaning that Polkadot is often not “in the conversation”. The new curator set will drive this strategy, and place & fund speakers to attend major events.
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Curators are not sufficiently compensated to dedicate the time needed to properly manage the Events Bounty - resulting in slow responses and insufficient guidance for proponents. The new proposal increases the compensation for curators and introduces additional “advisor” roles for when demand is higher.
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Slow bureaucracy and a requirement to provide invoices resulted in events organizers spending the bulk of their time preparing budgets instead of focusing on event execution and planning
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Previous communications with proponents were limited to emails and DMs, which would prolong the process of decision making. For the purpose of increasing efficiency, the curator set will be making dedicated TG groups with proponents and hosting 1x weekly calls where anyone can ask questions
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The curator set will be tasked with providing feedback on OpenGov proposals related to events within 1 week time of their submission
We would also like to clarify that the proposed curator set is requesting 1 million dot due to the removal of caps for applications. It is in our interest to help fund larger events, as well as aid community growth and help event organizers improve their execution. Additionally, the previous bounty had the same requested amount which kept it active for 2 years.
Whilst the change in curators and top-up request may seem rushed on the surface - the discussion and development of the proposal have been ongoing for some time. On the 20th of April, Giotto raised a proposal to close the Events Bounty, which expedited the top-up and the need for a change in curators.
There may be some confusion around the future of the bounty due to a tweet from the current curator sets’ Twitter account stating that curators have decided to close the bounty - however, this is a result of a lack of consensus amongst the existing curator set.
In the meantime, the previous curators decided to propose their own referendum, which we wholeheartedly accept as a challenge and leave it up to the community to decide which type of model is better and more suitable for the ecosystem.
Community activation is one of the most important concepts of the event bounty. Cooperation between and alignment of different event stakeholders is crucial for the eco. Firstly, credible ecosystem teams and members should be allowed to work with budgets and the bounty should be seen as a supporting role for them to push Polkadot forward.
Secondly, events are a way to bring people together and activate the community. Community members should be empowered to grow by organizing events, building their community, and becoming sub-curators, advisors, or curators or build their own event-organizing company. But they should be guided, and their role should be earned and rewarded by doing good work. Start small, but aim big.
Prioritising efficient proposal curation in the events bounty is paramount. It’s a lesson we’ve learned from the ecosystem, where bounty programs with numerous signers and voices don’t necessarily enhance efficiency. Instead, they often lead to a few individuals carrying the workload. Therefore, it’s crucial to first focus on quality over quantity, ensuring that each proposal receives the attention it deserves, and work with sub-curators to give opportunities to community members to grow. Ecosystem members should be able to build for themselves while building for Polkadot. A win for an ecosystem team or an ecosystem member is a win for the overall ecosystem.
Because decentralization is messy, the bounty should be seen as a subDAO of Polkadot, with real leadership and organizational structures. To move forward, we need to professionalize, align, and build together, but to do this, the bounty must be treated as a company, with transparency, accountability, and efficiency foremost.
Our group will refrain from creating social media accounts to prevent further confusion amongst the different curator parties and all updates will be shared on this forum post and/or the PA referendums.
We hope that this post has clarified things for token holders and curators will continue to answer questions on the proposal and appear on AAG to ensure that all are aligned with the new vision for the Events Bounty.