I was in the same conversation. It was at an EAGx conference, not EAG. I’ve pinged the person who shared the anecdote. They’ll respond here soon. Better to get it straight from the source. I don’t think they mentioned the staff member enforced any norms—just that their prescence felt kind of odd given they are someone with the power to ban people from the conference (which I guess implicitly enforces norms). They also mentioned that this particular staff member was regardless a lovely person and mentioned how their prescence feeling odd or intimidating may have something to do with a cultural difference since the EAGx was held in Asia.
But let us wait for the anecdote source to respond directly lest we let this hearsay evidence train derail itself.
I’d also like to say as someone who has been to multiple EAGs and even volunteered, I’ve not experienced there being any intimidating norm-enforcer. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to think of even a single EAG staff member that wasn’t incredibly approachable, kind, professional and compassionate. No matter where they were on the implicit status hierarchy—even if they were virtually EA-celebrities—nobody felt intimidating to me.
Edit: he has responded
I was in the same conversation. It was at an EAGx conference, not EAG. I’ve pinged the person who shared the anecdote. They’ll respond here soon. Better to get it straight from the source. I don’t think they mentioned the staff member enforced any norms—just that their prescence felt kind of odd given they are someone with the power to ban people from the conference (which I guess implicitly enforces norms). They also mentioned that this particular staff member was regardless a lovely person and mentioned how their prescence feeling odd or intimidating may have something to do with a cultural difference since the EAGx was held in Asia.
But let us wait for the anecdote source to respond directly lest we let this hearsay evidence train derail itself.
I’d also like to say as someone who has been to multiple EAGs and even volunteered, I’ve not experienced there being any intimidating norm-enforcer. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to think of even a single EAG staff member that wasn’t incredibly approachable, kind, professional and compassionate. No matter where they were on the implicit status hierarchy—even if they were virtually EA-celebrities—nobody felt intimidating to me.