I sometimes get asked the same question more than once, and I think I should probably make a habit of trying to write more, so here's as good a place to start as any.
With EAGxPhilippines, EAG Boston and EAGxVirtual coming up within the next month, here's a:
Quick reminder about how to EAG
- Identify what you want to get out of the conference
- Write out 3-4 key questions you want to get answers about, and spend some time looking over the attendees to work out who would be the best people to talk to about those.
- Do lots of 1-on-1s
- Go to Swapcard, figure out which sessions you want to attend, block off those times, as well as any breaks/meals you want to take, and then book in 1-on-1s with all the folks you want to talk to.
- Sneak in a 1-on-1 with a friend or colleague to take a break/decompress/talk about how awesome the food is.
- Try and find yourself in serendipitous conversations
- e.g. during meals, or at the end of the day at satellite events, to get a better flavour of what it would be like to work with EAs, long-termists, and folks thinking about animal welfare or existential risk all day.
- Don't be afraid to take the lead
- Say you want to meet people who are interested in X but there isn't already an event about it. Make it happen! E.g. you could drop a note on slack like "I'd love to talk about cruxes around AI Timelines, meet me at the table next to the horse statue at 6 this evening!" And it doesn't even have to be serious, I know someone who organises a meet-up every EAG "for people named Jonathan"!
Sounder advice elsewhere on the forum:
(turns out, since this is my first post, and I have no karma, I can't actually make a 'quick takes' post yet. Oh well!)
