akash

Prop 239: 2024 Akash Events Resourcing Signaling Proposal

Summary

Akash Network participation at large In-person events are an important marketing, engineering, business development, community, investor relations and relationship building strategy. The following is a community proposal for resourcing Akash activities and participation at in-person events in 2024.

TLDR : Proposal Development

Deep Dive : Proposal Development

Event Selection A broad list of known upcoming events were formed. The list went through a filter of AI/ML, Crypto, Cloud before being added to the review list.

All of the above event types meet the prerequisites of

  • Established (Not the first time hosting event)
  • Recognizable (Sponsors, attendees, and guests must be aligned with the Akash goals)

Once categories and prerequisites were established, the community reviewed the list of all proposed events for 2024 through a series of Working group calls

After community review, this left us with 16 total events to attend in 2024 including 2 overage events, e.g. - events we do not know about yet that may be of value for Akash to attend throughout the year.

Event Participation

Another consideration is who from the Akash community will attend these events. This will be decided case by case for each approved event listed in the proposal sheet. These community member selection discussions will happen openly in the wg-events-2024 channel in Discord and in WG-Events calls.

Full definitions of roles, requirements and considerations can be found in the Akash events: community support document

Budget

We defined event participation and costs into two categories.

Tier One events - These events will include a sponsorship to the main event and/or hosting an Akash Network owned side event Estimated Cost: $ 67,620.67/event

Tier Two events - These events will not include a sponsorship or an Akash owned meetup. Estimated Cost: $32,174/event

How things will get paid

The budget will be put into a community wallet quarterly that Overclock labs will steward. The wallet information will be public and resources used for events will be reported out quarterly.

Members of the Overclock labs team that attend events will expense the cost of event attendance directly to Overclock Labs and Overclock Labs will return resources from the events wallet back to the company.

Akash community members that attend events will be given an estimated amount of AKT equal to USD for each event they attend as laid out in the full proposal document here

Forecasted Quarterly Breakdown of funding (USD) Q1 : $202,862.01 Q2 : $99,795.02 Q3 : $131,174.35 Q4 : $32,174.35 TBD Dates : $231,764.39 Overage : $99,795.02

The total resources allocated from the community pool will be $762,913.84 for the year 2024 However, this proposal will not request the entire sum all at once. Instead, resources will be taken out quarterly to ensure maximum accountability and to take into account potential price changes in AKT.

Additionally, each event will be reviewed individually in lead up to the event and before confirming tiered level (either 1 or 2). The total budget is just a forecast for what level of involvement Akash will want to have as of November 2023. In short, the total cost for all Akash events in 2024 should NOT go above the estimate above and will most likely be much lower than the total above request.

Operational notes: Overclock Labs will custody the requested funds in a new, distinct wallet so that funds from any other source are not commingled. Responsible management of AKT received: the AKT funds received may not be liquidated immediately or not at all if market conditions are weak. If AKT is not sold, funding for events that require fiat or stables can be initially covered by Overclock Labs. If and when market conditions are strong, the right to liquidate these AKT to fund the events is reserved. Overclock Labs will be stewards of the funding and at times cover the upfront costs of event participation in USD

Final Thoughts

As mentioned in previous Akash community event proposals, from my experience running events for over a decade, I project the total cost for Akash to attend events to be much less than the proposed amount. Events are not a perfect science and each event will require different needs. But having a budget to work from will allow us to actively participate in community activities we will otherwise miss out on.

Voting

  • By voting YES to this proposal, you agree -- Approval for the full funding amount and -- Authorize the community pool to disburse AKT ($762,913.84) for event funding to a publicly visible wallet.
  • By voting NO, you disagree that community pool resources should be used for event funding.
  • By voting ABSTAIN, you express no opinion on the matter.

AKT Wallet Address: Will be provided at time of the Q1 spend request and if this proposal is approved.