Firstly, I agree with Daniel that we should just do both. Smaller events like the one you’re suggesting here are worth doing (and I expect local EA groups do exactly this)
But I think there are effects that kick in only when events reach a certain size, e.g.
Speakers/experts will travel if they can speak to hundreds of people, but not to a room.
Similarly, if travel is costly for attendees, they might only make the trip for one large event, but not for a small event.
If you’re looking for new opportunities, you want to speak to a wide range of people, and you might not get that with a small event.
FWIW, we have funded lots of small retreats and compared their cost-effectiveness with EAGx events, the post about that is here. The retreats were much more expensive than the pub idea, but we found that they produced a similar amount of value per person despite being almost twice the cost per person. EAG is even more expensive per person, but has the effects described above.
Just want to add that many of the retreats organised by national organisations or uni groups are a fraction of the cost of the retreats analysed in the link Ollie posted. Our most expensive retreat had a per-person cost of around EUR 260. The average retreat analysed in that post had a per-person cost of just under EUR 1,500. See my comment for further details.
The US is 9th on numbeo.com’s cost of living plus rent index, with a score of 61, meaning it’s about 61% as expensive as New York City. The Netherlands is 20th (50.9), the UK is 23rd (48.1), and Germany is 30th (46.5).
Firstly, I agree with Daniel that we should just do both. Smaller events like the one you’re suggesting here are worth doing (and I expect local EA groups do exactly this)
But I think there are effects that kick in only when events reach a certain size, e.g.
Speakers/experts will travel if they can speak to hundreds of people, but not to a room.
Similarly, if travel is costly for attendees, they might only make the trip for one large event, but not for a small event.
If you’re looking for new opportunities, you want to speak to a wide range of people, and you might not get that with a small event.
FWIW, we have funded lots of small retreats and compared their cost-effectiveness with EAGx events, the post about that is here. The retreats were much more expensive than the pub idea, but we found that they produced a similar amount of value per person despite being almost twice the cost per person. EAG is even more expensive per person, but has the effects described above.
Just want to add that many of the retreats organised by national organisations or uni groups are a fraction of the cost of the retreats analysed in the link Ollie posted. Our most expensive retreat had a per-person cost of around EUR 260. The average retreat analysed in that post had a per-person cost of just under EUR 1,500. See my comment for further details.
Agree, our most expensive retreat this year was at EUR ~160 per person, which was fully funded for participants (excluding our working time though).
Other retreats we did were either cheaper or partially funded by the participants themselves.
Are those in cheaper countries than the US/UK?
Pretty comparable according to numbeo.com.
The US is 9th on numbeo.com’s cost of living plus rent index, with a score of 61, meaning it’s about 61% as expensive as New York City. The Netherlands is 20th (50.9), the UK is 23rd (48.1), and Germany is 30th (46.5).
Note that London is much more expensive than a UK average would suggest
I understand your point, but typically retreats aren’t hosted in capital cities.