Actually, the seeds for a bunch of my current knowledge about and approach to community building were sown during various unconferences over the years.
The 2020 Unconference was my first in-person encounter with EA. After my first contact point with EA was reading a bunch of 80k articles which didn’t quite seem to have me as part of their target audience, I was very positively surprised by how warm and caring and non-elitist the community was.
I learned to get these things out of EAG(x)s as well. But, had the fancy professional events been my first contact with the community, I might well not be around anymore.
The unconference-format in EA evolved into several directions since its inception. For example, the AI Safety Europe retreat this year was an unconference with a framing that optimized for a clear personal/professional separation. In my impression, it worked wonderfully in that. Not only in regards to combining the flat hierarchies of the format with a professional vibe, but also in regards to connections made. Meanwhile, the German unconferences evolved away from a professional focus, into funconferences into a no longer EA-affiliated summercamp that’s completely organized by volunteers and participant-funded.
I started drafting a follow-up to this post with practical suggestions today. Doing more unconferences is on the list.
Strongly agree!
Actually, the seeds for a bunch of my current knowledge about and approach to community building were sown during various unconferences over the years.
The 2020 Unconference was my first in-person encounter with EA. After my first contact point with EA was reading a bunch of 80k articles which didn’t quite seem to have me as part of their target audience, I was very positively surprised by how warm and caring and non-elitist the community was.
I learned to get these things out of EAG(x)s as well. But, had the fancy professional events been my first contact with the community, I might well not be around anymore.
The unconference-format in EA evolved into several directions since its inception. For example, the AI Safety Europe retreat this year was an unconference with a framing that optimized for a clear personal/professional separation. In my impression, it worked wonderfully in that. Not only in regards to combining the flat hierarchies of the format with a professional vibe, but also in regards to connections made. Meanwhile, the German unconferences evolved away from a professional focus, into funconferences into a no longer EA-affiliated summercamp that’s completely organized by volunteers and participant-funded.
I started drafting a follow-up to this post with practical suggestions today. Doing more unconferences is on the list.