Going to an event like this alone when you don’t know anyone can feel really intimidating. Especially since EAGs generally don’t have group activities; people generally spend time doing one-on-one conversations. I’ve been to a handful of conferences like this, and I always vaguely felt that most other people were coming with a group of friends, or that they were coming along and meeting old friends. Especially if you are shy or socially anxious, it can feel bad to feel alone while being surrounded by people that all seem to know each other.
If you have travelled solo before (such as backpacking or CouchSurfing) and you’ve created friendships with new people when you don’t have any prior connection, then a conference like this will probably be okay for you. If you haven’t done that type of thing, then this will probably have moments when you feel uncomfortable or awkward. Dinner time might come and you see everyone else walking around with friends, and you have no dinner plans. Or you have a few hours between scheduled events and you don’t have anything to do.
People involved in EA tend to be friendly, but many (not all) are also socially awkward. People also also tend to be busy, and one way they value their time it to prioritize who they spend their time with. So it isn’t the same kind of friendly that you might see in a youth hostel or at a beach barbeque with friends or at a pickup basketball game. I’m guessing that most of the people attending the EA Global in the Bay Area in February will be a bit older than you, but you wouldn’t be an outlier. The team that handles admissions for these events try hard to get a good balance of attendees with more experience and with less experience, and this lets younger people seek out advice and mentorship. You can see an age distribution from a previous survey here (although that won’t exactly match the age distribution of this conference). Also note that the EA Global event in February is specifically focused on x-risks (EA Global: Bay Area (Global Catastrophic Risks)), so if you mostly care about malaria or mental health or animal welfare then you might not enjoy it very much.
If you think that the EA Global event would be too challenging for you, you can keep your eyes open for upcoming EAGx events. There in one in Mexico City in a few weeks. If you’d prefer to learn more about EA and maybe try to attend a different conference in the future, there are several reading groups, Slack workspaces, and email newsletters you could use as a method to slowly “ramp up” your knowledge and confidence over the course of several months.
Welcome to the EA Forum, Brian. :)
You can look at these videos for first timers, which have a lot of good tips.
Going to an event like this alone when you don’t know anyone can feel really intimidating. Especially since EAGs generally don’t have group activities; people generally spend time doing one-on-one conversations. I’ve been to a handful of conferences like this, and I always vaguely felt that most other people were coming with a group of friends, or that they were coming along and meeting old friends. Especially if you are shy or socially anxious, it can feel bad to feel alone while being surrounded by people that all seem to know each other.
If you have travelled solo before (such as backpacking or CouchSurfing) and you’ve created friendships with new people when you don’t have any prior connection, then a conference like this will probably be okay for you. If you haven’t done that type of thing, then this will probably have moments when you feel uncomfortable or awkward. Dinner time might come and you see everyone else walking around with friends, and you have no dinner plans. Or you have a few hours between scheduled events and you don’t have anything to do.
People involved in EA tend to be friendly, but many (not all) are also socially awkward. People also also tend to be busy, and one way they value their time it to prioritize who they spend their time with. So it isn’t the same kind of friendly that you might see in a youth hostel or at a beach barbeque with friends or at a pickup basketball game. I’m guessing that most of the people attending the EA Global in the Bay Area in February will be a bit older than you, but you wouldn’t be an outlier. The team that handles admissions for these events try hard to get a good balance of attendees with more experience and with less experience, and this lets younger people seek out advice and mentorship. You can see an age distribution from a previous survey here (although that won’t exactly match the age distribution of this conference). Also note that the EA Global event in February is specifically focused on x-risks (EA Global: Bay Area (Global Catastrophic Risks)), so if you mostly care about malaria or mental health or animal welfare then you might not enjoy it very much.
If you think that the EA Global event would be too challenging for you, you can keep your eyes open for upcoming EAGx events. There in one in Mexico City in a few weeks. If you’d prefer to learn more about EA and maybe try to attend a different conference in the future, there are several reading groups, Slack workspaces, and email newsletters you could use as a method to slowly “ramp up” your knowledge and confidence over the course of several months.
Absolutely beautiful response, couldn’t have been more complete. This helps me a lot, thank you!!