This seems like great advice to me. This part particularly rings true:
First, speaking from experience, I find that EAs are more likely than average to hold a meeting with you even if you don’t have anything tangible to offer them. When you think about it, by helping you have more of an impact, they’re also increasing they’re own impact, which is motivating for most EAs. Don’t let not having anything to offer immediately keep you from reaching out to someone you think you could have a valuable conversation with!
I was very surprised with how many “EA celebrities”* were happy to meet with me at EAG, despite me being pretty new to EA and not having much to contribute for them. And they seemed not just begrudgingly willing based on a cost-benefit analysis of the possibility they’d increase my impact, but genuinely enthusiastic about being helpful, asking me about my current plans, etc.
So definitely don’t be too shy about reaching out to people!
*Source: My own strange, nerdy perceptions, rather than language anyone else has used :D
This seems like great advice to me. This part particularly rings true:
I was very surprised with how many “EA celebrities”* were happy to meet with me at EAG, despite me being pretty new to EA and not having much to contribute for them. And they seemed not just begrudgingly willing based on a cost-benefit analysis of the possibility they’d increase my impact, but genuinely enthusiastic about being helpful, asking me about my current plans, etc.
So definitely don’t be too shy about reaching out to people!
*Source: My own strange, nerdy perceptions, rather than language anyone else has used :D