To be fair, in both cases there is also some encouragement to adapt the talks, although I am not persuaded that this will actually happen much, and that when it does, it might still be obvious that you’re seeing a variant on a prepared script.
I see, I thought you were referring to reading a script about EA during a one-on-one conversation. I don’t see anything wrong with presenting a standardized talk, especially if you make it clear that EA is a global movement and not just a thing at your university. I would not be surprised if a local chapter of, say, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, used an introductory talk created by the national organization rather than the local chapter.
I also misunderstood the original post as more like a “sales script” and less about talks. I also am surprised that people find having scripts for intro talks to be creepy, but perhaps secular Western society is just extremely oversensitive here (which is a preference we should respect if it’s our target audience!)
I get the impression many orgs set up to support EA groups have some version of this. Here are some I found on the internet:
Global Challenges Project has a “ready-to-go EA intro talk transcript, which you can use to run your own intro talk” here: https://handbook.globalchallengesproject.org/packaged-programs/intro-talks
EA Groups has “slides and a suggested script for an EA talk” here: https://resources.eagroups.org/events-program-ideas/single-day-events/introductory-presentations
To be fair, in both cases there is also some encouragement to adapt the talks, although I am not persuaded that this will actually happen much, and that when it does, it might still be obvious that you’re seeing a variant on a prepared script.
I see, I thought you were referring to reading a script about EA during a one-on-one conversation. I don’t see anything wrong with presenting a standardized talk, especially if you make it clear that EA is a global movement and not just a thing at your university. I would not be surprised if a local chapter of, say, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, used an introductory talk created by the national organization rather than the local chapter.
I also misunderstood the original post as more like a “sales script” and less about talks. I also am surprised that people find having scripts for intro talks to be creepy, but perhaps secular Western society is just extremely oversensitive here (which is a preference we should respect if it’s our target audience!)
It’s not just talks (as in presentations), it’s also small-group discussions.