Thank you for your kind words Miranda! EA group organizing can be quite difficult when others don’t see it as potentially highly impactful and the group isn’t doing so well—I hope this post can help change how useful EAs (and in particular students) think community building is, and help us do a better job at it so it feels more intuitively impactful and exciting!
The support system for organizers who want to put a lot of effort into their group is getting better and better. I’m always happy to have calls (or texts/emails) with organizers, to discuss how things could be better, and how to get your group members excited about EA and community building.
I didn’t emphasize this much in the post, but putting a lot of effort into community building has been very rewarding for me personally (on top of being good for the group and (hopefully) the world more importantly) - in terms of job opportunities, my EA network/connections/friendships, my skillset, motivation/productivity (from being inspired by the other highly dedicated EAs I surround myself with to run our group), and impact.
On board with you there! I think there’s a lot of great people already trying to do that, like yourself or Catherine Low, but perhaps to inconsistent effect. This might warrant me sitting down with my group and trying to figure out how we got motivated to organize in the first place. : )
Completely not surprised by your experience re: community building being rewarding. As someone who’s been very connected to non-EA communities in the past, I definitely think community-building doesn’t need to compromise non-community-building priorities! After all, you’re directly shaping the future of the EA community and testing the messaging of EA on-the-ground and building connections throughout. Truly, community organizers are doing so many things all at once.
Again, very inspired by your + your group’s example. So grateful for all the work you do to publicize your experiences and spread best practices!
Thank you for your kind words Miranda! EA group organizing can be quite difficult when others don’t see it as potentially highly impactful and the group isn’t doing so well—I hope this post can help change how useful EAs (and in particular students) think community building is, and help us do a better job at it so it feels more intuitively impactful and exciting!
The support system for organizers who want to put a lot of effort into their group is getting better and better. I’m always happy to have calls (or texts/emails) with organizers, to discuss how things could be better, and how to get your group members excited about EA and community building.
I didn’t emphasize this much in the post, but putting a lot of effort into community building has been very rewarding for me personally (on top of being good for the group and (hopefully) the world more importantly) - in terms of job opportunities, my EA network/connections/friendships, my skillset, motivation/productivity (from being inspired by the other highly dedicated EAs I surround myself with to run our group), and impact.
On board with you there! I think there’s a lot of great people already trying to do that, like yourself or Catherine Low, but perhaps to inconsistent effect. This might warrant me sitting down with my group and trying to figure out how we got motivated to organize in the first place. : )
Completely not surprised by your experience re: community building being rewarding. As someone who’s been very connected to non-EA communities in the past, I definitely think community-building doesn’t need to compromise non-community-building priorities! After all, you’re directly shaping the future of the EA community and testing the messaging of EA on-the-ground and building connections throughout. Truly, community organizers are doing so many things all at once.
Again, very inspired by your + your group’s example. So grateful for all the work you do to publicize your experiences and spread best practices!