No problem! I probably won’t be able to respond to your later points, just because the answers would be complicated and I’d have to go into a lot of detail re how I think about EAG. But to answer some of your other questions:
1. I don’t have concrete data on the counterfactual likelihood of connections, but I expect that it’s not that high (very strong confidence that it’s <50% of connections). There’s no obvious way for many these people to connect virtually, other than attending a virtual EA conference, and I think there are also strong benefits to meeting in person (as well as the possibility of group discussions and meetups). My rough guess would also be that people in general are less interested in virtual conferences than in-person ones, meaning that there are a bunch of counterfactual connections here.
2. The org that said they’d gotten a minimum of $1.25 million worth of value from connections they’ve made at EAG(x)’s was a global health and development org. I don’t know exactly who said that they would trade $5 million in donations for the contacts they made at EAGxBoston, but my guess is that this was someone working in a longtermist/x-risk field (someone on my team told me about this feedback, I didn’t receive it directly myself).
No problem! I probably won’t be able to respond to your later points, just because the answers would be complicated and I’d have to go into a lot of detail re how I think about EAG. But to answer some of your other questions:
1. I don’t have concrete data on the counterfactual likelihood of connections, but I expect that it’s not that high (very strong confidence that it’s <50% of connections). There’s no obvious way for many these people to connect virtually, other than attending a virtual EA conference, and I think there are also strong benefits to meeting in person (as well as the possibility of group discussions and meetups). My rough guess would also be that people in general are less interested in virtual conferences than in-person ones, meaning that there are a bunch of counterfactual connections here.
2. The org that said they’d gotten a minimum of $1.25 million worth of value from connections they’ve made at EAG(x)’s was a global health and development org. I don’t know exactly who said that they would trade $5 million in donations for the contacts they made at EAGxBoston, but my guess is that this was someone working in a longtermist/x-risk field (someone on my team told me about this feedback, I didn’t receive it directly myself).