Thanks for sharing your experience! We at EA Netherlands have been thinking about final events lately. Could you share more specific details about what yours looked like? Agenda,vibes, etc. 

Thank you for sharing this update! I’m interested in learning more about how you arrived at this decision, as we at EA Netherlands often encounter similar choices. Your insights could be really valuable for us.

Would you mind sharing a bit about your reasoning process?

Thanks again for keeping us informed!

Great articulation of something that's very true! 

FYI the School for Moral Ambition has a career pledge. Participants of their circle programme (like an intro fellowship but self-facilitated) are encouraged to take it at the end. AFAIK, over 100 people have taken it so far. Might be worth reaching out to them to see what they've learned? Niki might be a good person to contact. She manages the circle programme and was a volunteer at EA Netherlands before that.

Just to chime in as someone doing professional community building - these surveys are very useful for all of the reasons David just gave. 

Yup, I agree. I just don't want people to see these survey results and go 'oh, awareness amongst the general pop and elite undergrads is low and, of those who are aware, most are positive, ergo EA doesn't have a reputational issue'. 

By 'us' I mean EA Netherlands. I probably shouldn't say which orgs I'm talking about, sorry. 

My sense is that it's more of an issue in the US amongst the very online (the e/acc part of very online and the woke side of very online). 

I believe all of that is true, but at the same time, I’m almost certain we’ve lost significant credibility with key stakeholders, and sometimes I worry this isn't taken seriously enough. Friendly organisations have explicitly stated they do not want to publicly associate with us due to our EA branding, as the EA brand has become a major drawback among their key stakeholders, particularly in the United States.

Thanks for the boost Jessica! 

I agree completely! However, I feel obliged to point out that some EAs I know intentionally play down their EA associations because they think it will harm their careers. Often, these people are thinking of working in government.  

I weakly think this is a mistake for two reasons. Firstly, as Mathias said, because EA appears to be generally seen as a positive thing (similar to climate change action, according to this study). Secondly, I think Ord is right when he says we could do with more earnestness and sincerity in EA. 

Alix, ex-co-director at EA Switzerland, wrote up some interesting thoughts on this general subject here.