Often a problem with events is how to ensure a high enough density of “people your target audience is excited to talk to”. Eli touches on this here. I don’t really see how picnics can manage to do this?
Yes, I expect they’ll do worse on fostering great mentor-mentee relationships and I’m not proposing this as a fix-all. That said, I reckon the casual setting might mean the bar for attending is lower, especially if it’s in an EA-dense city e.g. I can imagine a good mentor might not want to give a talk at a uni group, but might swing by a picnic.
Often a problem with events is how to ensure a high enough density of “people your target audience is excited to talk to”. Eli touches on this here. I don’t really see how picnics can manage to do this?
Yes, I expect they’ll do worse on fostering great mentor-mentee relationships and I’m not proposing this as a fix-all. That said, I reckon the casual setting might mean the bar for attending is lower, especially if it’s in an EA-dense city e.g. I can imagine a good mentor might not want to give a talk at a uni group, but might swing by a picnic.