Error
Unrecognized LW server error:
Field "fmCrosspost" of type "CrosspostOutput" must have a selection of subfields. Did you mean "fmCrosspost { ... }"?Unrecognized LW server error:
Field "fmCrosspost" of type "CrosspostOutput" must have a selection of subfields. Did you mean "fmCrosspost { ... }"?
Thanks for this writeup – I imagine that it will be very helpful to some other EA groups! When I was the president of EA Stockholm University we organised something similar in several welcome fairs at Stockholm University. Some experiences from this:
The most important thing that I learned was that it is very useful to have some introductory event planned in the next week or even next few days after the fair, so that one can encourage people to attend that event.
For the giving game we used real money, which was laying openly on the table where we were standing. I think this attracted more people to the table than we otherwise would have gotten, so I agree with you that doing this when possible is probably a good idea. If I remember correctly, we had 3000 SEK in 100-bills. Once 30 people had participated, we counted the money in each bucket and then took it out so that the same bills could be used once again. At the end of the game we summed up everything and donated it. Usually we only had something like 50 participants, so it amounted to donating roughly 5000 SEK in total.
For one fair we had charities from different cause areas (global development, animal welfare and something else that I can’t remember) instead of charities within a cause area. This allows for more discussion about cause selection, but probably invites people to think less critically (i.e., just pick what feels like a good cause to them).
We tried doing speed giving games at some welcome fairs and not doing it at others. Our experience was that doing speed giving games helped attract people to the table, but made it somewhat harder to engage in depth as a lot of the focus of the conversation often revolved around explaining the rules of the giving game as opposed to explaining what EA is and how to get involved. When I was at EA SU, we eventually decided to not do speed giving games at welcome fairs for this reason, but I think we were uncertain whether this was the right decision and it probably depends a lot on the particulars of the welcome fair in question etc.
Again, thanks for writing this up!
I think you are correct about the first point; tabling seems the most useful when you have something you can direct people to that is only a few days away. It was not something I deliberated on for this occasion due to a lack of time and resources.
Your fourth point seems worth exploring. I think I could have shortened the game to 1-2 minutes so that it mainly became a hook to draw people in, but there’s still the question if it would be an obstacle in some sense for a more detailed explanation of EA afterwards. I think it depends on how you design the game and formulate your EA-explanation in relation to it. This would need to be tested.
Executive summary: A speed giving game at a student fair in Uppsala saw moderate success in engaging students and generating sign-ups, with lessons learned for improving the game design and setup in the future.
Key points:
Around 75 people stopped by the table and 62 participated in the 3-minute game voting where $1 donations would go.
23 people signed up for newsletters/events (37% rate), showing interest in learning more about EA.
Having real money, only 2 charities, and a better game design could have left a stronger impression.
The “help us give away money” hook was effective to draw people in.
Being alone at the table was manageable but having 2 people could have engaged 50% more.
The game highlighted difficulty judging effectiveness, but could have conveyed the core message better via structured thinking.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Contact us if you have feedback.