Epistemic status: I’ve been to 2 EAGs, both were pretty life changing, and I think my preparation was a big factor in this.
My tips:
Have some kind of vision
Take ~5 minutes to try to imagine positive (maybe impossible) outcomes. Consider brainstorming with someone.
For example “org X hires me” or “I find a co-founder” or “I get funded” (these sound ambitious to me, but pick whatever’s ambitious to you).
Bad visions in my opinion: “meet people”, “make friends”, “talk to interesting people”. Be more specific, for example, if you’d meet your new best friend at EAG, what exactly would you do together? What exactly would you talk about? Better would be “Looking for someone to co-work in VR 3 times a week”, if that’s what friendship means to you.
Is anyone having trouble with the vision section? Let me know, I’ll try to help
Swapcard #1 most important part
“how can I help people” + “how can people help me”.
“I want to hire senior backend developers” is specific.
“I want to meet people” is pretty bad.
This is where your vision goes.
If you write your wish here, someone might make it come true! (aka Playa Provides)
Swapcard #2 most important part
Tags.
Mark based on how you want people to find you when they search for who to network with.
1-on-1s are more important than lectures
I think that if you can learn something from a forum post and/or youtube, like “what cause areas exist” or “what’s the cutting edge in animal welfare”, it’s a shame to waste potential 1-on-1 meeting time on those things (except at special cases, like if you already went over all the posts).
If you’re having trouble being specific, and your only agenda is to “talk”, consider going back to the “vision” section.
My secret: Post something just before EAG(x)
I did it both times and linked to my swapcard profile, and many people who care about the same things I care about knew that I’d be really happy to talk to them
Just like you wouldn’t schedule a meeting to ask someone what are the names of the U.S states (because you can check wikipedia), I’m against scheduling meetings to ask something you can check in the EA Forum (or lesswrong).
For example, if you’re curious what’s new in global health and wellbeing, check the “global health and wellbeing” tag, and sort by “new”.
(Maybe after checking the tag you’ll still want a meeting for some reason, but I’d at least check the tag first).
Examples:
I wouldn’t do: Ask an org if they’re hiring without checking the 80k job board (and/or the org’s website, and/or the org’s tag).
Seems ok: Reaching out to someone from an org, saying “I see you’re hiring, I’m considering studying for 3 months and then applying, do you think it would be better for me to apply now and if I don’t pass then study and apply again in 3 months?”
Seems great: Asking this in Swapcard, maybe they can just reply in 5 seconds with “yeah sure apply, no problem to repeat after 3 months”? Or maybe they’ll say it’s better to meet.
(If corrolated with your goals) Reach out to speakers/filter 10+ years of exp beacuse it is usually a good filter for people who you can learn from the most
Ask friends/EA staff who have already been to conferences if they can reccomend who to talk to
Order a motel close to the conference is usually very comfortable (use on booking filters: less than 1 mile + over 8 rating + best price to rating ratio)
Sleeping together with other members of your community is fun for feeling comfortable at the conferences, and having someone from ‘back home’ to share you experinces with (however, this might make it a comfort zone to not get to know other people)
Swapcard data may be available in Google Sheets, which is way more comfortable to filter over (ask the EAG team)
You can manage your availability in swapcard, for people scheduling with you
You can narrow down your availability to your preferred slots and only then, if they get taken (or if someone doesn’t find a good slot), open more slots.
How to manage your availability: “My Schedule” --> “My meetings” --> “MANAGE AVAILABILITY”
Probably schedule first to earlier-in-the-event, because you might discover you want to meet more people (or people will discover you) and it’s better if you still have availability then
Swapcard will let you schedule 1-on-1s at the same time that you have events (boo)
Don’t go partying at the evening if there’s EAG the next day—these events are surprisingly exhausting, and sleeping well seems to be key, at least for me
Also, sleep really well before the event, and get flight tickets that will let you do that (if you’re anything like me regarding sleep)
After EAG, there will usually be an after party, plan your schedule accordingly
EAG(x) tips
Epistemic status: I’ve been to 2 EAGs, both were pretty life changing, and I think my preparation was a big factor in this.
My tips:
Have some kind of vision
Take ~5 minutes to try to imagine positive (maybe impossible) outcomes. Consider brainstorming with someone.
For example “org X hires me” or “I find a co-founder” or “I get funded” (these sound ambitious to me, but pick whatever’s ambitious to you).
Bad visions in my opinion: “meet people”, “make friends”, “talk to interesting people”. Be more specific, for example, if you’d meet your new best friend at EAG, what exactly would you do together? What exactly would you talk about? Better would be “Looking for someone to co-work in VR 3 times a week”, if that’s what friendship means to you.
Is anyone having trouble with the vision section? Let me know, I’ll try to help
Swapcard #1 most important part
“how can I help people” + “how can people help me”.
Be specific.
“I want to hire senior backend developers” is specific.
“I want to meet people” is pretty bad.
This is where your vision goes.
If you write your wish here, someone might make it come true! (aka Playa Provides)
Swapcard #2 most important part
Tags.
Mark based on how you want people to find you when they search for who to network with.
1-on-1s are more important than lectures
I think that if you can learn something from a forum post and/or youtube, like “what cause areas exist” or “what’s the cutting edge in animal welfare”, it’s a shame to waste potential 1-on-1 meeting time on those things (except at special cases, like if you already went over all the posts).
Reach out
Be specific with your request (same link).
If you’re having trouble being specific, and your only agenda is to “talk”, consider going back to the “vision” section.
My secret: Post something just before EAG(x)
I did it both times and linked to my swapcard profile, and many people who care about the same things I care about knew that I’d be really happy to talk to them
Just like you wouldn’t schedule a meeting to ask someone what are the names of the U.S states (because you can check wikipedia), I’m against scheduling meetings to ask something you can check in the EA Forum (or lesswrong).
For example, if you’re curious what’s new in global health and wellbeing, check the “global health and wellbeing” tag, and sort by “new”.
(Maybe after checking the tag you’ll still want a meeting for some reason, but I’d at least check the tag first).
Examples:
I wouldn’t do: Ask an org if they’re hiring without checking the 80k job board (and/or the org’s website, and/or the org’s tag).
Seems ok: Reaching out to someone from an org, saying “I see you’re hiring, I’m considering studying for 3 months and then applying, do you think it would be better for me to apply now and if I don’t pass then study and apply again in 3 months?”
Seems great: Asking this in Swapcard, maybe they can just reply in 5 seconds with “yeah sure apply, no problem to repeat after 3 months”? Or maybe they’ll say it’s better to meet.
My story from my first EAG:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/QM4QgbbL5bFMMgLmh/please-post-reflections-on-ea-global-london-usd500-bounty?commentId=JX8WYJ3LASRFSJNjN#JX8WYJ3LASRFSJNjN
Amazing! Things I would add for newcomers:
(If corrolated with your goals) Reach out to speakers/filter 10+ years of exp beacuse it is usually a good filter for people who you can learn from the most
Ask friends/EA staff who have already been to conferences if they can reccomend who to talk to
Order a motel close to the conference is usually very comfortable (use on booking filters: less than 1 mile + over 8 rating + best price to rating ratio)
Sleeping together with other members of your community is fun for feeling comfortable at the conferences, and having someone from ‘back home’ to share you experinces with (however, this might make it a comfort zone to not get to know other people)
Before/after EAG(x)
Usually there are small events 1 (2?) days before, and bigger events up to ~3 days after.
But that’s just my vague rule of thumb. It’s better to try to find the groups where these events are organized
More (smaller/technical stuff) :
Swapcard data may be available in Google Sheets, which is way more comfortable to filter over (ask the EAG team)
You can manage your availability in swapcard, for people scheduling with you
You can narrow down your availability to your preferred slots and only then, if they get taken (or if someone doesn’t find a good slot), open more slots.
How to manage your availability: “My Schedule” --> “My meetings” --> “MANAGE AVAILABILITY”
Probably schedule first to earlier-in-the-event, because you might discover you want to meet more people (or people will discover you) and it’s better if you still have availability then
Swapcard will let you schedule 1-on-1s at the same time that you have events (boo)
Don’t go partying at the evening if there’s EAG the next day—these events are surprisingly exhausting, and sleeping well seems to be key, at least for me
Also, sleep really well before the event, and get flight tickets that will let you do that (if you’re anything like me regarding sleep)
After EAG, there will usually be an after party, plan your schedule accordingly
Busy EA’s and their preferences for small talk if you have a question for them:
Also:
This talk is also pretty good!