As I understand it, all this data about the impact of events is collected through surveys that are attendees fill immediately after an event. I think that this might introduce some biases. For example, maybe attendees get excited about new connections they made and think that they will collaborate but then never do. If that’s not done already, one way to somewhat mitigate this bias would be to also ask at the annual EA survey about the impact of EA events (that year, and in their lifetime). I wonder if conclusions like the one in this article would hold up.
I have added the results from the EA Survey below.
Connections actually seem somewhat more important in the EAS results than in the results reported here. That said, that could be partly because the analysis in this post combined more things into the “Learning” option (e.g. “Finding specific sessions interesting or valuable” and “Learning more about EA cause areas or taking them more seriously”), whereas the original survey question just asked about whether they “chang[ed] their mind or learn[ed] something important regarding their path to impact.”
Another difference between the EAS analysis and this one, is that the EAS asked about the most important new Learning/Connection, rather than whether people received any new Learning/Connection from a given source. So it is possible that the events account for a disproportionately large number of people’s most important new connections (per the EAS analysis), but that people are nevertheless also receiving a comparable number of new Learnings.
As I understand it, all this data about the impact of events is collected through surveys that are attendees fill immediately after an event. I think that this might introduce some biases. For example, maybe attendees get excited about new connections they made and think that they will collaborate but then never do. If that’s not done already, one way to somewhat mitigate this bias would be to also ask at the annual EA survey about the impact of EA events (that year, and in their lifetime). I wonder if conclusions like the one in this article would hold up.
No, it’s actually from surveys that were filled 3 − 8 months after the events took place. Sorry that wasn’t clear.
I have added the results from the EA Survey below.
Connections actually seem somewhat more important in the EAS results than in the results reported here. That said, that could be partly because the analysis in this post combined more things into the “Learning” option (e.g. “Finding specific sessions interesting or valuable” and “Learning more about EA cause areas or taking them more seriously”), whereas the original survey question just asked about whether they “chang[ed] their mind or learn[ed] something important regarding their path to impact.”
Another difference between the EAS analysis and this one, is that the EAS asked about the most important new Learning/Connection, rather than whether people received any new Learning/Connection from a given source. So it is possible that the events account for a disproportionately large number of people’s most important new connections (per the EAS analysis), but that people are nevertheless also receiving a comparable number of new Learnings.