I wish I had some organized interviews written down, and I hope to see more serious market testing work like that within the movement—unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to document my interactions explaining about EA.
Generally speaking, I tried out different pitches whenever I had the chance to speak about EA, tried to be attentive to responses, asked what do they think about the concept (which is important, because most of the time people would just be supportive or say “wow” while clearly not understanding what EA is about), and shared these experiences with other community builders in Israel and abroad.
The vast majority of the responses I received was either very basic questions that show confusion about the concept (“so what does the movement actually do?”, “what do people in the movement do?”), responses that show very little understanding, or responses that was kind of OK but then later I realized didn’t account for much comprehension (as happened a lot with volunteers—I found myself often explaining critical nuances of EA to people who were involved for quite a while, even if they had actually read our list of intro materials).
In addition, I quite often expected people I (even slightly) know to be more excited about EA, and their lack of excitement showed me that our pitches are far from optimal. Once we’ve developed the current pitch and placed it on our website, I found that:
Volunteers and individuals who seek career advice approached us with far better understanding of EA (far from perfect, but it feels like going from 20% of understanding to 60%)
Within a minute of explanation I get the feeling the person I speak with actually has a general understanding of what I’m talking about
Informal conversations I have about EA make people much more excited
That said—much more research is needed, I don’t think this is the most optimal pitch we can come up with, and I can’t really quantify these experiences as much as I’d hope to.
Just saying, from my point of view, that it’s useful to also hear specific ways in which people misunderstand EA. Every time you give an example of that kind, like “what do people in the movement do?”, I feel like my brain is updating and will pay attention to this failure mode next time I have such a conversation.
I’m differentiating (1) “concrete examples of misunderstandings” from (2) sentences like “20% of understanding” or “explaining critical nuances of EA”: The latter isn’t actionable for me personally. (Though I understand why you said it and I’m excited for this improvement that you’re able to get, and I’m happy that someone like you is focusing on this project).
I totally agree. Though it’s not concrete examples, these two resources (1,2) are helpful.
Just thinking out loud: Diving deeper into each misconception and providing concrete examples (or even “simulations” for practice) might be a good idea for an EA pitching workshop
Hey, would you share more raw information from the user interviews, if you have it? Even from memory?
I wish I had some organized interviews written down, and I hope to see more serious market testing work like that within the movement—unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to document my interactions explaining about EA.
Generally speaking, I tried out different pitches whenever I had the chance to speak about EA, tried to be attentive to responses, asked what do they think about the concept (which is important, because most of the time people would just be supportive or say “wow” while clearly not understanding what EA is about), and shared these experiences with other community builders in Israel and abroad.
The vast majority of the responses I received was either very basic questions that show confusion about the concept (“so what does the movement actually do?”, “what do people in the movement do?”), responses that show very little understanding, or responses that was kind of OK but then later I realized didn’t account for much comprehension (as happened a lot with volunteers—I found myself often explaining critical nuances of EA to people who were involved for quite a while, even if they had actually read our list of intro materials).
In addition, I quite often expected people I (even slightly) know to be more excited about EA, and their lack of excitement showed me that our pitches are far from optimal. Once we’ve developed the current pitch and placed it on our website, I found that:
Volunteers and individuals who seek career advice approached us with far better understanding of EA (far from perfect, but it feels like going from 20% of understanding to 60%)
Within a minute of explanation I get the feeling the person I speak with actually has a general understanding of what I’m talking about
Informal conversations I have about EA make people much more excited
That said—much more research is needed, I don’t think this is the most optimal pitch we can come up with, and I can’t really quantify these experiences as much as I’d hope to.
Thanks!
Just saying, from my point of view, that it’s useful to also hear specific ways in which people misunderstand EA. Every time you give an example of that kind, like “what do people in the movement do?”, I feel like my brain is updating and will pay attention to this failure mode next time I have such a conversation.
I’m differentiating (1) “concrete examples of misunderstandings” from (2) sentences like “20% of understanding” or “explaining critical nuances of EA”: The latter isn’t actionable for me personally. (Though I understand why you said it and I’m excited for this improvement that you’re able to get, and I’m happy that someone like you is focusing on this project).
I totally agree. Though it’s not concrete examples, these two resources (1,2) are helpful.
Just thinking out loud: Diving deeper into each misconception and providing concrete examples (or even “simulations” for practice) might be a good idea for an EA pitching workshop