Friends With Benefits

Authors: gregbresnitz#9919, izzyb#3703, zoenrogers#6096

Overview

FWB is leaning hard into events as our calling card. It is one of our defining strengths and with our community led model, one of the best ways for our members to get involved. With the upcoming app, we want to be sure we have a diverse amount of ongoing programming to keep people engaged and FWB on the cutting edge.

FWB’s events program facilitates meaningful connection and collaboration online and offline. Overall, the feedback from community members and Event Key hosts has been overwhelmingly positive and we recognize that there is more desire than ever for our DAO to offer global events.

After two successful iterations of Event Keys, we propose expanding into an annual program to  ensure there are continuous events for community members. This will afford us the flexibility and adaptability of running rolling applications while engaging new keys as we close out others.

In addition to our two existing keys, we propose one new key: Digital Events.

Lessons Learned

Between V1 and V2 of the Event Key program, we have 40+ events worth of takeaways, learnings, and refinements for v3. Our learnings have been compiled into a document for review here.

Major Takeaways

• Geography Matters

  • FWB membership is concentrated in four core cities: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London. Event and Lite Keys in these cities had consistently high attendance rates. 

  • In cities with lower FWB membership, attendance was more unpredictable or inconsistent.

• New Standards

  • The Event Key team stewards event hosts towards success with guidance and recommendations for consistency and quality across events. The team will formalize the following:

    • References for hero images, event titles, and event descriptions.

    • New questions in application flow and FAQs in onboarding documentation on sponsorships, partnerships, conflicts of interest, and host commitment and expectations to execute Event Key.

    • Host Toast SOP on how to properly activate FWB brand awareness at Event Keys.

    • A schedule for reviewing, responding to, and confirming Lite Keys to maintain a rolling rhythm.

• Deeper Cross-Department Collaboration

  • The Marketing and Product Team help drive the success of the Event Keys:

    • The development of flyer templates and a schedule for event amplification during V2 brought higher visibility and awareness to Event Keys.

    • The redesign of the Events page on the website elevates the experience of finding, contextualizing and RSVPing to events.

Revisions to Program

1. Core & Edge Approach

• To address the high density of membership in 4 core cities and service smaller cities, we will use a 70 / 30 geographic split each month: 70% of Event Keys will take place in core cities and 30% in less dense cities.

• Smaller cities will be actively encouraged to apply for Lite Keys to engage existing membership and strengthen connections.

2. Lite Key First

• Event Keys will now only be available to members who have previously and successfully hosted a Lite Key event. This practice ensures that (1) members who are solely motivated by connection and community are rewarded and (2) substantial event budgets are awarded based on proof-of-work.

3. Digital Event Keys

• Digital Events have been a core part of the FWB experience since its inception. We are building out processes for hosting these digital events using the Event Key infrastructure to improve the quality of the programming and the experience for hosts and participants.

• Budget

  • Similar to the Lite Keys, when applying for a Digital Event Key, applicants will indicate need for a budget. For the most part, you can think of hosting a digital event like hosting a show on a college radio station; you do it for the love of the game, or in this case for the love of FWB. There will be a small budget available for larger events that require staff for production or compensation for guests.

  • The maximum budget available for each digital event will be $500 and 20 $FWB of OurCred/FairShare to reward hosts for building vibes.

    • This budget must be allocated to expenditures directly related to the Digital Event Key event, including host compensation, production cost, guest compensation, etc.  While we pilot this, we will aim to have up to two compensated digital events per month.

4. Official Co-Brand

• Our community continues to want opportunities to create “official” co-branded events. Co-branding carries a lot of significance within and beyond the DAO. FWB members are jazzed about being about to communicate to others in the space that they are part of our community. Currently, we do not have a good system in place to make this easy for digital events.

5. Access to FWB marketing

• The Digital Events program will have similar marketing materials, amplification, and timelines to the Lite Key. This will be coordinated in advance with the Marketing Team.

6. Application & Planning

• The Digital Event Key application will be adapted from the existing version of the Event and Lite Key applications.  includes a description of the event, a description of the team behind the event, date/time/place, and any flier associated with the event.

• Digital Event Key applications will occur on a rolling basis. For uncompensated events, submissions must be received a week prior to the event. For compensated events, we’ll need a 4 week lead time to green light and plan the event.

7. Post-Event Reporting

• Within 72 hours of the event, the event hosts must submit their post-event report. This includes estimated attendance, self-evaluation, and a link to a recording to be posted to the archive (the recording is totally optional). For compensated events, we will need a detailed record of fund allocation.

Projected Schedule

Key Dates

Date	Action
11/16/22	Final Event Key of V2
12/5/22	Snapshot Vote
1/4/23	Begin to award v3 Event Keys*
1/15/23	Publish WIP
4/18/23	Open v4 Event Key applications
5/4/23	Begin to award v4 Event Keys*

Budget

|       Type       |        Expense       | Per Month |    Cost    |   Monthly  |    Annual    |
|:----------------:|:--------------------:|:---------:|:----------:|:----------:|:------------:|
| Event Production |       Event Key      |     4     |  $3,000.00 | $12,000.00 | $120,000.00* |
| Event Production | Lite Key (w/ Budget) |     8     |   $250.00  |  $2,000.00 |  $20,000.00  |
| Event Production | Lite Key (No budget) |     0     |    $0.00   |    $0.00   |     $0.00    |
| Event Production |      Digital Key     |     2     |   $500.00  |  $1,000.00 |  $10,000.00  |
|     Host Cred    |      FWB Tokens      |     80    |   $12.00   |   $960.00  |   $9,600.00  |
|     Personnel    |         Lead         |     1     |  $6,250.00 |  $6,250.00 |  $75,000.00  |
|     Personnel    |   Special Projects   |     1     |  $3,000.00 |  $3,000.00 |  $36,000.00  |
|     Personnel    |    Digital Events    |     1     |  $3,000.00 |  $3,000.00 |  $36,000.00  |
|                  |                      |   Total   | $10,012.00 | $22,210.00 |  $306,600.00 |

(*) 10 months of Event Keys not 12