The Community Board Observer (CBO) is an annually elected volunteer community member tasked with representing the community at Nothing board meetings. Established to strengthen the relationship between community and Nothing, the CBO monitors community sentiment, gathers feedback and conveys this to the board on a quarterly basis. As well as attending quarterly board meetings, the CBO prepares reports and communicates insights back to the community through written posts and videos, as well as running their own initiatives such as surveys and the CBO interviews series and attending in-person events.^[1]

The Community Board Observer role was introduced in 2022 to guarantee that community voices are heard at the highest levels, bridging the gap between the company and its users through attending quarterly board meetings and continuously engaging across platforms.

The first CBO election in 2022 was held on the invite-only nothing.community. In 2023, Nothing introduced the requirement for applicants to hold one of theirCommunity Dots NFTs. The election voting was held on the official community Discord before moving back to nothing.community for the 2024 election.^[9,13]

Application: Open to any active community member across the world, applications typically open in November. Requirements include being aged 18 or above, being active and recognisable within the community, having strong communication skills and fluency in spoken and written English, and committing to attend quarterly board meetings; in person or virtually.

Selection: After applications close, an internal review and shortlisting process is undertaken. Shortlisted candidates are then invited to interviews with leadership, to ensure that candidates are a good fit for the role.

Voting: The shortlisted candidates are revealed and voting by the community begins, typically via a post and post on nothing.community. Candidates are invited to write a personal statement to aid users in making their choice.

Onboarding: The candidate with the highest vote count is invited to become the new CBO and they start preparing themselves for their first board meeting in January. Typically, the inaugural CBO will write a post on various social platforms to further introduce themselves and thank users for their confidence during voting.^[14,15]

The CBO role is a hallmark of Nothing’s community-centric ethos, a rarity among tech brands, that ensures community views and opinions are heard at the top level and concerns can be addressed. Previous CBOs have helped enhance transparency with the community, highlighting community projects and improving feedback loops.

CBOs have the flexibility to raise their own ideas and start new initiatives. One notable example is the “CBO interviews” series, started by Rohit in 2024, which was continued into 2025 and beyond by subsequent CBOs.