It’s a good question. For some people who have already considered their plans pretty carefully and who don’t expect much benefit from meeting others in the community, it might not be worthwhile. Or just people for whom the travel / time costs would be unusually high (personally, I’m in that category this year).
I expect it to be most valuable for people who are considering some kind of change of plan in how they might have impact. Hearing about projects in the community and getting input from other people on your plans could be really valuable, allowing you to have much more impact than by donating the monetary cost of attending the conference.
It’s a good question. For some people who have already considered their plans pretty carefully and who don’t expect much benefit from meeting others in the community, it might not be worthwhile. Or just people for whom the travel / time costs would be unusually high (personally, I’m in that category this year).
I expect it to be most valuable for people who are considering some kind of change of plan in how they might have impact. Hearing about projects in the community and getting input from other people on your plans could be really valuable, allowing you to have much more impact than by donating the monetary cost of attending the conference.
I realize people who had an unusually good experience are more likely to write posts about a conference, but here are some posts giving a sense of the kinds of value some other people have gotten: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/TzmPTBYFHPYbvFbjd/reflections-on-ea-global-london-2019-mrinank-sharma https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mMEzk55R33vvHPgyd/reflections-on-ea-global-from-a-first-time-attendee https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/PCQ4i5EK7vZ8pR2tF/why-you-should-consider-going-to-ea-global