Executive summary: This exploratory post argues—with moderate to high confidence—that university EA groups can significantly improve post-fellowship engagement and weekly meeting attendance by running informal weekly socials immediately following a “Big intro fellowship,” offering practical implementation tips and observations from the University of Chicago’s experience.
Key points:
Running a social right after a “Big intro fellowship” more than doubled weekly attendance at UChicago’s EA group, largely by lowering friction for intro fellows and improving the social vibe for returning members.
The “Big intro fellowship” model—where all intro fellows meet at a fixed time before the social—is highly recommended even if a group doesn’t run a social, as it creates a reliable attendance floor and simplifies organizing.
Texting attendees individually before events increased turnout and deepened engagement; personalized texts proved more effective than emails or Slack messages, and were well received by most members.
Inviting members and leaders of adjacent clubs improves attendance and vibe, especially when content is accessible to intellectually curious students outside the EA core.
Providing food likely improves both attendance and conversation quality, though the authors are less confident in the causal strength due to confounding variables.
Light structure (e.g., discussion prompts or games) helps intro fellows engage, while one-on-ones can supplement member education that might otherwise be lost in an unstructured format.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: This exploratory post argues—with moderate to high confidence—that university EA groups can significantly improve post-fellowship engagement and weekly meeting attendance by running informal weekly socials immediately following a “Big intro fellowship,” offering practical implementation tips and observations from the University of Chicago’s experience.
Key points:
Running a social right after a “Big intro fellowship” more than doubled weekly attendance at UChicago’s EA group, largely by lowering friction for intro fellows and improving the social vibe for returning members.
The “Big intro fellowship” model—where all intro fellows meet at a fixed time before the social—is highly recommended even if a group doesn’t run a social, as it creates a reliable attendance floor and simplifies organizing.
Texting attendees individually before events increased turnout and deepened engagement; personalized texts proved more effective than emails or Slack messages, and were well received by most members.
Inviting members and leaders of adjacent clubs improves attendance and vibe, especially when content is accessible to intellectually curious students outside the EA core.
Providing food likely improves both attendance and conversation quality, though the authors are less confident in the causal strength due to confounding variables.
Light structure (e.g., discussion prompts or games) helps intro fellows engage, while one-on-ones can supplement member education that might otherwise be lost in an unstructured format.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.