Executive summary: A year-long experiment teaching rationality workshops to EAs in the Netherlands found that while attendance and measurable impact were modest, the sessions were engaging, well-received, and occasionally life-changing; the author concludes that sustaining energy, experimenting with formats, and training good instructors are key to scaling such programs.
Key points:
The author taught 16 rationality and decision-making workshops over 12 months, attended by 119 EAs (243 total attendances), and developed five new workshops covering topics like productivity, disagreement, groupthink, and moral action.
Feedback showed workshops were consistently rated as engaging and useful, with anecdotes suggesting real personal impact (e.g. attendees addressing health issues).
The author emphasizes “fueling yourself” — teaching topics that excite you and maintaining personal energy and humor — as central to effectiveness and sustainability.
Effective outreach involved letting the community vote on workshop topics, starting with popular ones to build trust and word-of-mouth momentum.
Iterative experimentation was crucial: online formats reduced attendance, while exercise-heavy and multi-workshop “EAxRationality days” performed well.
Scaling is challenging because success depends heavily on instructor quality; the author suggests creating training or retreat-style programs to teach others how to run rationality workshops effectively.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: A year-long experiment teaching rationality workshops to EAs in the Netherlands found that while attendance and measurable impact were modest, the sessions were engaging, well-received, and occasionally life-changing; the author concludes that sustaining energy, experimenting with formats, and training good instructors are key to scaling such programs.
Key points:
The author taught 16 rationality and decision-making workshops over 12 months, attended by 119 EAs (243 total attendances), and developed five new workshops covering topics like productivity, disagreement, groupthink, and moral action.
Feedback showed workshops were consistently rated as engaging and useful, with anecdotes suggesting real personal impact (e.g. attendees addressing health issues).
The author emphasizes “fueling yourself” — teaching topics that excite you and maintaining personal energy and humor — as central to effectiveness and sustainability.
Effective outreach involved letting the community vote on workshop topics, starting with popular ones to build trust and word-of-mouth momentum.
Iterative experimentation was crucial: online formats reduced attendance, while exercise-heavy and multi-workshop “EAxRationality days” performed well.
Scaling is challenging because success depends heavily on instructor quality; the author suggests creating training or retreat-style programs to teach others how to run rationality workshops effectively.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.