# Octant communication release plan

## Update:

The mainnet launch delay has extended the window for Octant's soft launch.

In the comming weeks, our PR efforts will focus on:
- Our staking activities
- Regenerative cryptoeconomics (the Greenpill movement) and Octant's role within it
- The importance of experimentation in decentralized governance

Each topic provides us with an opportunity to promote Octant. We can write at least two articles on each subject.

Potential publishing channels:
- Hacker Noon
- DeGov newsletters
- Linking the articles on relevant subreddits and ethresear.ch

We can distribute press releases about our staking efforts and arrange interviews with Pepesza and a representative from the ITL team. (The subject might be interesting also to InfoSec-focused media).

Our PR push is contingent on the following factors:

- We are actually staking a significant amount of ETH
- We have an accessible webpage for Octant (we should not expect users to navigate through documentation to start using Octant)
- The testnet version of Octant functions smoothly

Once the last two issues are resolved, we can also intensify our community outreach efforts. Currently, most of the work in this area is happening behind the scenes. We primarily communicate with community managers rather than directly engaging with target communities, such as Gitcoin. This approach garners goodwill but does not result in the growth of the Octant community.

## Soft Launch (for the testnet version)

### Community outreach:

During the testnet phase, our main focus will be on individual outreach to active communities centered around:
1) Golem and GLM
2) decentralized governance, and Ethereum public good funding

Goals:
- gaining outside testers for the Octant App
- seeking ideas for the eligibility index
- funneling interested community members to our channels (Discord, SoMe, Snapshot)
- building an early Octant community.

Main targets in the second outreach group:
- [BanklessDAO](https://discord.gg/bankless) - very active
- [Cult DAO](https://discord.gg/NC7BH24d) - very active
- [Gitcoin](https://discord.gg/gitcoin) - very active
- [Optimism](https://discord.gg/optimism) - very active
- [DAO Masters](https://discord.com/invite/RgvbrKH7Da) - pretty active
- [Ethereum R&D](https://discord.gg/t4fVp26e) Discord - somewhat active

Possible targets (high-quality discussion forums focused on technical considerations - our participation there will require input from the dev team):
- [Ethereum Magicians](https://ethereum-magicians.org/) - very active
- [ETHResearch](https://ethresear.ch/) - very active

Also worth looking into (less active but fitting our criteria):
- [DAO Stack](https://discord.com/invite/6BSewtY) - somewhat active
- [Tally](https://discord.gg/JjKttKzW) Discord - somewhat active
- [RocketPool](https://discord.gg/rocketpool) Discord - somewhat active

### Leveraging partnerships with the potential Octant funds beneficiaries

- Community calls/AMAs about Octant

### SoMe

- Teasing Octant, and explaining its rationale (Whitepaper, Docs)
- Showcasing Matt's designs
- Announcing partnerships (to piggyback on larger projects name-recognition)
- ...

---

## Proper Launch (for the mainnet version to be released after the Shanghai Upgrade is live)

### Launching a proper Octant website

Piotr will be available to us throughout February and March to code Matt's Figma design.

### Sending out a press release to respectable crypto media outlets:
- Coindesk
- Decrypt
- Cointelegraph
- Bloomger Crypto
- etc.

If/when Octant gains some traction among the "crypto" crowd, it will be worth reaching out to more mainstream tech-media as well:
- Wired
- Ars Technica
- The Verge
- Vox ReCode
- Vox Future Perfect

### Publishing a series of articles on Hackernoon, each targeting different groups - from noobs to people deeply involved in the DeGov ecosystem

[Hackernoon](https://hackernoon.com/) is a high reach, low cost self-publishing platform with editorial oversight, which we've used successfully in the past.

Possible topics/subjects:
1. An introduction to decentralized governance (noob version, with a Octant tease)
2. What's wrong with decentralized governance and how you can help fix it?
3. A showcase of potential Octant beneficiaries for each round

### Securing new podcast appearances

- [Bankless podcast](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmkdAgtxf3ahEmMWNY52BX3t1o7vb4aN5)
- [Epicenter](https://epicenter.tv/)
- [Voices of data Economy](https://open.spotify.com/show/47Yg2zvkP0uvXdCH1l3ike)
- [Unchained](https://unchainedpodcast.com/)
- [The Unstoppable Podcast](https://podcast.unstoppabledomains.com/)
- [Pod of Jake](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pod-of-jake/id1525087226)

- [DAOn the Rabbit Hole](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daon-the-rabbit-hole/id1596150103) (on hold ATM, should be back soon)
- [Blockchain Pro Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/blockchain-pro-podcast/id1378589774) (on hold ATM, should be back soon)

### Reddit AMA at a popular sub concerned with DeGov, DeFunding, Public Goods...

Possible subs (James is already in talks with some of the moderators)

- /r/ethereum
- /r/web3
- /r/bankless
- /r/ethdev/
- /r/ethstaker

### Presentations and booths at ETHxxx events

Dates of interest:
* Apr 3-6 – Edcon Vienna
* Apr 14-16 – EthereumZurich conference
* May 26–28 – ETHGlobal Istanbul
* Jun 9-11 - ETHPrague
* Jun 23–25 – ETHGlobal Toronto
* Jul 5-7 - ETHBarcelona
* Jul 17-20 – EthCC (Paris)
* Jul 21–23 – ETHGlobal Paris
* Sep 22–24 – ETHGlobal New York
* Oct 6–25 – ETHOnline (ETHGlobal) virtual

Ideas for booths:

**Refining the Warsaw Governance Game as "Octant Lite"**
- moving the UI closer to the Octant app
- switching proposed causes to Ethereum Public Goods projects
- ending the user flow with a message teasing Octant, showcasing its features, and redirecting user to the Octant site

Necessary changes can be made by an outside team (BTP perhaps?).

Rationale:
- WGG is light-weight, easy to use, doesn't require much explanation, therefore is well suited to be used as a booth game
- rebranded and redesigned it can serve as a gateway to Octant proper

A joint booth with the Golem Factory is worth considering.

**Looping a short, e.g. 2-minutes long, video/animation explaining Octant**

**Being on the lookout for people in the space with great ideas who are looking for funding.**

**Hackaton sponsorship(?)**
- a simple change in governance parameters (not sure how simple such changes really are)

**Workshops**

### Ads/Sponsored content in:

**DeGov newsletters**:
- [x] Bankless State of DAOs newsletter https://banklessdao.substack.com/s/state-of-the-daos - email sent

- [x] DAO Armada https://daoarmada.substack.com/ - messaged on Twitter
- [ ] DAO Masters https://www.daomasters.xyz/ - they're gearing up for season 5, will keep my eyes peeled
- [x] Boardroom https://governance.substack.com/ - messaged on Discord
- [ ] Forefront https://forefront.market/newsletter
- [ ] Tally newsletter https://newsletter.withtally.com/

- [x] **A Week In Ethereum News** - messaged editor on Twitter

### Octant Newsletter

## Post MVP

- sponsoring a conference on decentralized governance (preferably co-organized with a well-established team/organization with a reasonably large network of collaborators)
- reaching out to DeGov research teams, e.g. BlockScience, 0xparc, OtherInternet, etc., and individual researchers working within the field with an open CFP for experiment designs (announcing a prize for the best design ?)

###### tags: `comms`